Leadership instability and its consequences. The case of Klo Agogo Senior High School.

Abstract

The rationale underpinning the study was frequent leadership change, which has the potency to disrupt the school’s progress as stability in leadership is very critical to school development. However, in Klo-Agogo Senior High School, persistent leadership instability has been the norm to the extent that the school experienced nine different leadership in a decade. This interpretive qualitative case-study enquiry was conducted to explore stakeholders' thoughts, feelings, and actions to gain deeper in-depth contextual knowledge of the leadership instability phenomenon. Face-to-face interview was conducted with twenty (20) participants sampled purposively for the study supported with documentary evidence to increase the study's trustworthiness. Thematic analysis was employed for the data analyses. The findings unearthed lack of induction, orientation, and coaching services for heads, novice heads, community interference, and poor accommodation as the major causes of leadership instability in the school. Whereas, head retention practices include; induction and orientation service for newly appointed heads, orientation for the community to know the limit to roles as stakeholders of the school, befitting accommodation for the head and staff, and good community-school relationship establishment. The study recommends school support initiative orientation for all stakeholders to help maintain top talented heads in the school. Stable head leadership must be ensured in schools to increase teacher productivity, augment student achievement gains, improve school outcomes, and have positive externalities to the community as a whole to enhance national development