Leadership Style and School Climate in Government General Secondary and Preparatory Schools of Gambella Region
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Date
2012-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the leadership style and school climate of Gambelia region government general secondly and preparatory schools with the intent of suggesting ways for the betterment of healthy learning environments. It attempted to answer the following basic research questions: What different leadership styles are employed by the principals? What types of leadership style are predominantly manifested by the principals? What are the different dimensions of school climate? Which school climate dominates? To what extent is the leadership styles of principals related with the school climate? In an attempt to answer these questions, descriptive survey design was employed.
To this effect, standardized questionnaires (i.e. OCDQ-RS and LEAD-Other), interviews and observations were used. A sample of 116 teachers and 3 principals were selected using simple random and pwposive sampling techniques, respectively. The quantitative data obtained from standardized questionnaires were organized and analyzed as per the instruments scoring methods, and processed using SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to generate standardized scores for each tools. Hence, ji•equency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were analyzed using thematic analysis. Thus, the following major findings were obtained: Selling was the primary principals ' leadership style whereas telling, participating and delegating were their secondly styles. Principal directive behavior was the highest score among the jive dimensions of school climate. To this end, closed climate existed in all schools. It also revealed that the principals' perceptions of their behavior were different from how the teachers perceive them. This without doubt affects the climate of the schools.
It was concluded that the principals of the three schools were not in a position of providing support and creating respectful relationships within and among teachers. Therefore, it was recommended that principals should familiarize themselves with the various leadership styles and their effectiveness in different situations. It was suggested that the REB should organize workshops where experts in the field will expose principals to all the details of school climate. Principals are, therefore, encouraged to adopt an open pattern of relationship with teachers for a happy atmosphere to exist in schools. Teachers are encouraged to be committed, faithful and to see to the success of their students. Key Words School Climate; Leadership Styles; Open! Closed Climate.
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Keywords
School Climate Leadership Styles Open! Closed Climate.