The perceived impact of the head teachers’ leadership style on the performance of public basic schools in the Sene West District of the Brong Ahafo Region

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore the perceived impact of the head teachers’ leadership style on the performance of public basic schools in the Sene West District of the Brong Ahafo Region. The objectives of the study were to find out the leadership styles of head teachers in public basic schools in the Sene West District, ascertain the perceived impact of leadership style of head teachers on teachers’ commitment and to determine the perceived effect of the leadership style of head teachers on the school and student’s performance. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. Closed ended questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The population for the study was 127 head teachers and teachers. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the 46 head teachers and their assistants while simple random sampling was used to select 81 teachers for the study. The study found among others that, head teachers and their assistants demonstrated democratic leadership style, autocratic leadership style and laissez-faire leadership styles in their various schools. The leadership style of head teachers enabled them to provide frequent feedback to teachers regarding classroom performance and also effectively improved head teacher- teacher relationship to enhance school performance. It is recommended that, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service should improve on teacher’s motivation to enable them to maximize their teaching and learning capabilities to improve school performance.