Effect of school heads’ leadership styles on teachers’ performance among government aided primary schools in Uganda, a case of selected primary schools in Makindye Ssabagabo municipal council

Abstract

The study examined the effect of school heads leadership styles on teachers’ performance among government aided primary schools in Uganda: A Case of Selected Primary Schools in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipal Council. Specifically, it assessed the effect of autocratic, democratic and servant leadership styles on teachers’ performance among selected government aided primary schools. The study adopted Fielder’s Contingency theory and Path-Goal Theory. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design, integrating adopted a mixed-methods approach, which comprised of both quantitative and qualitative approaches; from a targeted study population of 235; a sample of 148 respondents were determined using Slovin’s formula. Survey and interview methods were used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data was analyzed using, thematic analysis. Correlation results for objective one indicated significant positive correlations between autocratic leadership style and teachers’ performance (r: .587; P-value < 0.01), an indication that autocratic leadership style has a high effect on teachers’ performance among selected government aided primary schools; objective two focuses on democratic leadership style and teachers’ performance scored (r: .679**; P-value < 0.01), An indication that democratic leadership style has a high influence on teachers’ performance among selected government aided scored (r: .654**; P-value < 0.01), an indication that servant leadership style has a high effect on teachers’ performance among selected government aided primary schools. • From the regression analysis results, school heads leadership styles in form of autocratic, democratic, and servant leadership accounted for sixty percent of teachers’ performance among government aided primary schools. In conclusion, therefore, school heads leadership styles in form of autocratic, democratic, and servant leadership highly influences teachers’ performance among government aided primary schools in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipal Council. The study recommended Ministry of Education and Sports to emphasize capacity building for all the head teachers on best practices of applying autocratic leadership in a school environment and as well be able to obtain high teachers’ job commitment, head-teachers should engage teachers on how to take responsibilities, ensure regular assessment of students for effective feedback, encourage and train head-teachers to adopt the attitude of servant leaders so that they implement all the qualities of a servant leader for effective and conducive teaching/learning environment hence enhancing teachers’ performance. Future research should focus on other parts of the country for comparison purposes to allow for generalization of findings on the effect of school heads leadership styles on teachers’ performance