PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND TEACHERS’ PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN DELTA STATE

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between principals’ leadership styles and teachers’ job performance in senior secondary schools in Delta State of Nigeria. The study was hinged on the System Theory of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy (1968). To guide the study, four (4) research questions were raised out of which one (1) was hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A population size of 565 principals and 7,972 teachers was used while the sample size was 44 principals and 340 teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires. The face and content validity of the instruments were done by the researcher. Three (3) experts in the department of Educational Management made some corrections, observations and suggestions. Their suggestions, observations and corrections were reflected in the final copy of the instruments and thereafter certified adequate for use for the study. The instruments were trial-tested on 20 respondents and the reliability of the instruments were determined using the Cronbach Alpha method which yielded high reliability indexes. Collected data were analyzed and presented in tables. The analysis was done using mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Variance statistics. The findings revealed that the principal leadership styles used in senior secondary schools in Delta State were autocratic, democratic, laisse-faire, and transactional. The findings also showed that the autocratic leadership style was the best style of leadership that could enhance teacher job performance among teachers in senior secondary schools in the State. The job performance of teachers in the schools was high. The study also revealed that autocratic leadership style is the most dominant leadership style used by the principals, followed by the democratic leadership style. It was recommended that the senior secondary schools in Delta State should adopt a blend of autocratic and democratic leadership styles.