The Effect of Headteachers Leadership Styles on Teacher Performance in Uganda. Acase Study in Selected Schools in Kabarole District

Abstract

The study examined the effect of the head teacher’s leadership styles on teacher performance in secondary schools in Kabarole district. The study was guided by three research objectives which were; the effect of autocratic leadership style on teacher performance, the effect of democratic leadership on teacher performance and the effect of laissez faire leadership on teacher performance. The study used cross sectional survey design with both qualitative and quantitative results. Study findings revealed that there is a positive effect of autocratic leadership style on teacher performance (r=.686, p=.000) with coefficient of determination R2=0.471 which shows that 47.1 % variation in teachers’ performance is explained by changes in autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership significantly influences teachers performance (r=.589, p=.000). R2=0.346. This implies that any changes in democratic leadership style would lead to 34.6% chance change in teachers’ performance. Also it was found out that the is a positive significant effect of laissez faire leadership on teacher performance (r=.342, p=.000) with a regression coefficient determination of .117 meaning that any changes in laissez-Faire leadership style would lead to 11.7% chance change in teacher’s performance. It was therefore concluded that most secondary schools in Kabarole district practice autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style is considered a non appropriate leadership style in schools, Head teachers lack the ability and training to apply democratic leadership style, Laissez faire leadership style is not directly applicable largely in all schools. It is therefore recommended that more emphasis be put on training all the head teachers on best practices of applying autocratic leadership, Head teachers need to be a bit more lenient in their autocratic leadership style, train all head teachers in a workshop on the best practices of applying democratic leadership style, employ highly skilled teachers that do not require a lot of supervision for laissez-faire leadership style.