Contributions Of Secondary School Head Teachers’ Leadership Styles On Teachers’ Work Performances In Geita Urban District

ABSTRACT

This study sought to assess the contributions of secondary school head teachers‟ leadership styles on teachers‟ work performances. The theoretical framework of the study was grounded on the Behavioral and Trait theories. While according to Behavioral theory, leadership was essentially a function of effective role behavior, Trait theory asserted that, a leader is thought to possess certain traits which tend to separate him from the common mass of followers. This study used a Cross-sectional Survey design under a mixed approach including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data were collected through closed form questionnaires and semi structured interviews from 78 respondents. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics whereby frequencies, percentages and means were computed, while on the other hand, the qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. Key findings of this study were that, democratic and autocratic leadership styles were the common styles employed by majority of secondary school heads in the Geita urban district. Further, it was revealed that leadership styles commonly used by the head teachers contributed to teachers‟ work performances, such that, the teachers were involved in effective teaching and similarly participated in different school activities. It was also found that, the democratic leadership style was the best style used by secondary school heads on enhancing the teachers‟ work performances. If we were to guarantee the success of education in Tanzania, it was urged to conduct induction training on leadership skills for the newly appointed heads of schools. Further, the study would be beneficial to school heads and other educational stakeholders who would get first hand information for they would be reminded that, the success of any school tend to depend grossly on the head of schools‟ leadership style.