Secondary School Head Teachers’ Conceptions of the Relationship existing between their Leadership Styles and Students’ Academic Achievement

Abstract

Head teachers use different leadership styles to improve their students’ academic achievements. Therefore, it is necessary for the school heads to choose their leadership styles carefully. This study aimed at exploring conceptions of head teachers regarding their relationship between leadership styles and students’ academic achievements at secondary level. Three leadership styles: Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire were considered in this research using qualitative research approach. Criterion purposive sampling technique was used to select participants. A self- constructed ‘Interview guide for Head Teachers’ consisting of 20 open-ended questions was used to collect the data from research participants. Majority of the head teachers perceived that they use multiple leadership styles to improve students’ academic achievement. Moreover, these head teachers were keen to improve academic achievement of the students. For this purpose, they use different leadership styles. Furthermore, it was also evident from analysis that they prefer democratic leadership style. However, sometimes they rely on other leadership styles but with the aim of improving academic achievement of the students.