Principals’ Leadership Styles and Students’achievement: a Comparative Study of Public and Private Secondary Schools In Hadiya Zone
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AAU
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of principals’ leadership styles on students’
achievement by comparing public and private secondary schools in Hadiya Zone. In the study, it
was intended to assess the leadership styles practiced, to identify the dominant style of leadership
styles practiced by principals, and to pinpoint the major challenges that influence leaders’
practice leadership styles. To this end, a descriptive comparative research design with quantitative
and qualitative approaches was employed. Three different groups including teachers, principals,
and WEO and Zone department officers were used as data sources. Six schools which consisted of
three public and three private were randomly selected and data were collected from these schools.
Three data gathering instruments were used to collect data including questionnaire, interview and
document analysis. It has been found that autocratic and transactional leadership styles were
commonly practiced by private secondary schools and mostly democratic but to some degree
transactional styles of leadership styles were practiced in government schools. Problems including
lack of experience of principals, lack of school facilities, and lack of training and unnecessary
interferences from offices were found to be some of the major challenges to implement effective
leadership styles. It can be concluded from the study that principals working both in government
and private schools little help teachers exercise democratic practices and this has influenced
students’ achievement in both government and private secondary schools. . It has been
recommended provision of training, stockholders participation in addressing problems related to
facilities, and devising strategies in minimizing unnecessary interferences.