The relationship between leadership styles demonstrated by school heads and students’ academic achievement in community-based secondary schools: a case of Musoma district

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between leadership styles demonstrated by school heads and students‟ academic achievement in community-based secondary schools in Tanzania. The objectives of this study were: (1) To explore dominant leadership style demonstrated by school heads in community-based secondary schools in Tanzania.(2) To examine students‟ difference in academic achievement in relation to leadership styles demonstrated by school heads in community-based secondary schools. The study involved 1809 participants who were randomly and purposively selected. The study used structured questionnaires for data collection where by Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used for data analysis. The study revealed that democratic was the dominant leadership style demonstrated by school heads in community-based secondary schools. However, the findings showed that there were positive but insignificant and very weak correlations (r = .11, p< .56 and r = .05, p< .81) between Autocratic leadership style and school‟s performance in grades A and C respectively. Likewise, there were negative but insignificant and very weak correlations(r = -.05, p<.78 and r = -.08, p<.66) between autocratic leadership style and school‟s performance in grades B and D respectively. Furthermore, there were negative insignificant but very weak correlations (r = -.06, p< .78 and r = -.11, p< .66) between laissez-fair leadership style and school‟s performance in grades A and D respectively. On the other hand, there were very weak insignificant positive correlations(r= .00,p<99 and r =.02,p<90)between laissez-fair leadership style and school‟s performance in grades B and C respectively. Similarly while there were positive but insignificant and very weak correlations (r =.17, p<.38 and r =.08, p>.05) between democratic leadership style and school‟s performance in grades A and B respectively; there were negative but insignificant and very weak correlations (r = -.06, p< .83 and r = -.11, p>.05) between democratic leadership style and school‟s performance in grades C and D respectively. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers should encourage students remember modeled behaviors by encouraging them to use various learning strategies and methods. For further research, to be studied using different sample, methodology and different area of study.