LEADERSHIP STYLES OF HEAD TEACHERS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON STAFF PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE MFANTSEMAN MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT

The general low academic performance in Senior High schools have been

attributed to teachers’ inability to perform their functions well and head teachers’

lack of good leadership among others (Osei,2006;Akyeampong, 2010; Oduro,

Dachi&Fertig, 2008).The study sought to find out how leadership styles of Head

teachers in Senior high schools in the Mfantseman municipality influence teacher

performance. The instrument used was the questionnaire and responses were

indicated on a five point Likert scale ranging from very strongly agree (5) to strongly

disagree (1). A total of 141 members of teaching staff from the four Government

Senior High schools in the Mfantseman municipality were the respondents. The

responses were tabulated and the data were put into frequencies, percentages, rank

ordering and analysed. Pearson correlation analysis was employed to examine

relationships between staff performance and the various leadership styles. The study

established that teachers believe that for a head teacher to perform his function very

well he/she needs to have further training in educational administration among

others. The study established that the dominant leadership style exhibited by head

teachers as seen by teachers is the delegating style followed closely by the

democratic style. The study also found a significant and positive relationship

between teacher performance and both the delegating and autocratic leadership

styles of head teachers. The study recommends that authorities should ensure that

those being appointed as head teachers have training in educational administration

among others. Leadership training should be conducted for head teachers so as to

learn how to combine all the various leadership styles for maximum performance