Suchergebnisse

This study sought to examine the effect of principals' leadership styles on students' academic performances in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Examinations in public secondary schools in Homa-bay County, Kenya. The study was premised on a combination of modified Bossert's framework and Pitner's moderated theoretical frameworks which contend that principal's role is influenced by intertwined factors including external antecedent variables and prevailing external environmental conditions. The study had two fold objectives, namely i) assess teachers perceptions regarding their principals leadership styles ii) analyze the relationship between principals leadership styles and students' academic performance. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. From an accessible 39 secondary schools, 36 were randomly selected to provide 36 principals and 216 teachers yielding an overall sample size of 252 respondents. Questionnaires were piloted to determine their validity and reliability before being used to collect quantitative data from sampled subjects. The study established that principals in the study locale used leadership styles that were not conducive to teacher-student interactive learner-centered learning that enhanced students' academic performance. A test of hypothesis using the chi-square test of association (X 2 =15.67, df =5) at ∝ =.05level of statistical significance further established that there was a significant relationship between the leadership styles applied by principals as perceived by teachers and students' academic performance. The schools that embraced more democratic and participatory leadership styles that encouraged group work and team spirit performed significantly better than those that used more autocratic leadership styles that were largely dictatorial. Several recommendations were made key among them being that the Ministry of Education through the Kenya Education Staff Institute (KEMI) should intensify in-service training for school principals on use of ...

The thrust of this study was to examine the effects of principals' leadership styles on students' academic performance in public secondary schools in Homabay County, Kenya. This study was based on combinations of modified Bossert's framework and Pitner's moderated effects model of effective schools. The main objective of the study was to examine the extent principals leadership styles influence students' academic performance in national examinations in HomaBay County Kenya. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design. Combinations of stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to draw 216 secondary school teachers and 39 principals yielding a sample size of 255 respondents. The study employed a questionnaire for teachers and interview guide for principals. It was established that school principals utilize diverse leadership behaviour, some pointing to the more democratic and transactional styles while others skewed towards the more autocratic and laissez-faire types. The use of diverse leadership behaviour notwithstanding, it was evident that most principals were deficient in the types of leadership behaviour that support the creation of a conducive learning environment and support to teachers necessary for effective teaching and the expected enhanced students' academic achievement. A test of null hypothesis retained the null hypothesis that that there was no statistically significant relationship between principals' leadership styles and students' academic performance. It was recommended that school principals should aspire to establish a school environment which is conducive for effective teaching and learning (236 words).