The influence of leadership styles of headteachers on the academic performance of junior high school students at Esereso in the Bosomtwe District

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to assess the influence of head teachers’ leadership styles on the academic performance of basic school students in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region. The objectives of the study was to identify the leadership styles of head teachers among the public basic schools in the Bosomtwe District; establish the effects of headteachers’ leadership style on students’ performance and find out the challenges head teachers’ leadership styles pose to teachers’ performance. The researcher used descriptive survey design with quantitative research method for the study. The population for this study consists of all the teachers of the three public junior high schools at Esreso in the Bosomtwe District. A sample size of 38 were used for the study. Among the head teachers who exhibited transformational leadership style, one prominent behaviour the study established was their ability to foster good human relationship between teachers and their head teachers. The study also found that the head teachers’ leadership built supportive environment that enabled teachers to improve performance, improved students achievement due to improved teaching strategies. Low morale and motivation among teachers were noted as the most challenging situation emerging from head teachers’ leadership style but the least felt challenge was low level of punctuality. The study recommended that the Ghana Education Service together with the District Director of Education should provide head teachers with adequate logistics, infrastructure and residential accommodation to mitigate the challenges they face in their leadership to improve the success of the school.