CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Educational leaders play important role with the intension to make teaching and learning more effective and to give quality education to students. Most educational experts consider administrators as the driving force and main source of the organizational development and academic growth of students (Yukl, 2011).
A leadership style is a leader’s style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. There are many different leadership styles that can be exhibited by leaders in the educational, political, business or other fields. Leadership, more specifically effective leadership, is every bit as crucial in Nigeria organizations as it is throughout the world. Nigerian schools are no different from others worldwide in terms of striving for performance in order to be globally competitive. The Nigeria situation, however, is incredibly complex as many organizations are caught in the middle of a web of authoritarian hierarchies and traditional leadership approaches, as well as bureaucratic hierarchies mixed with modern approaches to leadership (Ajibade, 2000).
The role of school leadership in relation to students academic performance is a topic that has been subjected to close investigation. In this case, quality leadership styles performed by a school heads are considered as the most important tools for achieving and determining the excellence and success of a school performance, especially pertaining to students performance in curricular and co-curricular activities. Best services and good strategic management performed by the highest authority in hierarchical level of school administration especially the principal will directly lead students into the right path of academic and nonacademic excellence.
Nowadays, the role of school leadership is to emphasize the role of a transformational and instructional leader. This is because effectiveness is ultimately determined by the impact of the principal on student learning. Most of the research findings in the literature strongly imply that the principal is the most important person in providing leadership for improved instruction and better curricula (Akerele, 2007).
In order to enhance high-academic excellence in educational performance, it is important to deal with effective leadership styles performed by school authorities, as they indeed play the most important role for determining students excellence in academic.
An effective leadership programme can be of an immense assistance to help build leadership qualities among individuals within the organization. The relationship between leadership and performance was indirect as well as direct which proves the importance of developing leaders through leadership development programmes (Akinwumiju & Olaniyan, 2006).
Organizations heavily invest in Human Resource Development interventions to update the skill of the workers in order to attain job performance, job satisfaction and job involvement. These skills can be impacted by providing necessary technical/non-technical training and coaching (Akinyemi, 2003). . Currently, leadership is widely recognized and verified through research. Leadership development can be imparted through experiential learning’ vicarious learning and transformational learning and it is imparted as leaders can influence the people and motivate them.
Leadership style development is becoming an increasingly critical and strategic imperative for organizations in the current business environment. Some developmental assignments can be carried out concurrently with regular job responsibilities, whereas others require taking a temporary leave from one’s regular job (Yukl, 2011).
At current jobs, some may be used to develop new projects or begin new projects serving as department representative on a cross functional teams. Training sessions play an important role to improve the performance of organizational managers regarding communication skills, listening skills, motivate others, support others, and share information (Bidwell, 2001).
Statement of the Problem
Much of the current literature studying school leadership posits that leadership has a minimal direct impact on student achievement. Kruger, Witziers and Sleegers (2007), postulated that leadership is no longer proposed as having a direct influence on academic outcomes, but indirectly influences instructional organization and culture. It is important to research the extent to which school leaders and leadership styles impact student success. The literature review will integrate current data on the direct effects of school leadership on student success and some indirect effects school leaders might have on student achievement.
School leadership style weakness is not a new issue in school leadership research. Fullan (2001) exposed that there are weaknesses in the school leadership. There are principals who are not able to administer the school well resulting in the school not being able to function effectively. One of the major weaknesses is the bureaucratic leadership style of the principal which makes them vague about the role they have to play as leaders who have to generate the teachers commitment towards school.
In many occasions, teachers attributed the delay in the payment of salaries and allowances to their principals. The argument is that principals might not have been submitting their vouchers to government for processing in good time. Some of them perhaps, felt that the leadership style of many principals was at stake (Bolarinwa, 2002). Many of them seem to feel that principals were not carrying them along in the submission of vouchers to government for the payment of their salaries and allowances. Thus, many teachers felt that the styles of leadership of their principals was questionable and had much to be desired.
Similarly, Evan (2008) express concern as there are still many school principals who administer their schools based on the classic management model. They practice the autocratic leadership style with formal procedures, neglecting the teachers psychological needs, suppressing the teachers creativity, overly emphasing on academic achievement and putting aside their roles as leaders who have to generate quality human capital for the purpose of education development.
Some of the setbacks that prevent leadership influence on student performance are that: In the first place, some leaders do not appreciate the fact that workers have to be motivated to ensure they do what they have to do so that the goals and objectives of the organization are achieved. Because of the prevailing situation in Nigeria where supply of labour is greater than its demand, some employers do not believe much in effective motivation of workers to produce high performance. They uphold the view that even if workers are not properly motivated they cannot leave the job since there is no job in the labour market (Goldring &Sharon, 2003).
Furthermore, lack of training has been associated with poor performance of both teachers and principals with regards to such intrinsic factors like welfare, and cumbersome techniques of management technique, since workers that are not trained, or up-dated faces the risk of stress, being burnt-out or been lackadaisical in their job.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to examine school leadership styles on the academic performance of students. The objectives of the study are stated below:
- To examine the effect of school leadership style of on students academic performance.
- To examine the relationship between decision making process of school heads and the students academic performance.
- To examine the relationship between school democratic leadership style and students academic performance.
- To examine the relationship between students academic performance and the principals performance.
Research Questions
Based on the purpose of the study, the following questions are raised to provide a guide and solution to the research problems:
- What effect does school leadership style have on students academic performance?
- How effective is the relationship between decisions making process of school heads and the students academic performance?
- Does any relationship exist between democratic leadership style and students welfare?
- What relationship exists between students academic performance and the principals performance?
Research Hypotheses
In carrying out this research work, these hypotheses will be tested in the study.
- Ho1: School leadership style of principals does not influence students’ academic performance in the school.
- Ho2: There is no significant relationship between school democratic leadership style and students’ academic performance.
Significance of the Study
The outcome of the study would aid leadership in formulating feasible policies that would be in the best interest of the schools.
At the corporate level, it is expected that the study would become an eye-opener and immensely add to the knowledge of leaders. The assessing of workers performance does not only enhances the methodology or efficiency of the organization, but also project the good image of the organization before the masses.
The finding of this study would also help to identify the problems within the teacher training policy and help to curb general neurosis that lighten tension for an effective performance between school management and teachers.
And again the study would enlighten students about the relationship that co-exist between leaders and workers in an organization which will prepare them for a better work environment.
Scope of the Study
The work examines school leadership styles on the academic performance of students with a view to explore five selected Secondary Schools in Somolu Local Government Area, Lagos. The research study is limited to the selected Secondary Schools. The research seeks to explore variables such as principal leadership styles, responsibility, teachers performance etc.
Definition of Terms
School: School is any institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline.
Student: Student is a person who is studying at a university or other place of higher education.
Academic Performance: this is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals.
Principal: Principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school
Teacher: A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils (children) and students (adults).
Education: This is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university i.e “a new system of public education”.
Leader: This is the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.
Leadership: This is the act of leading a group of people or an organization.
Participative: This is a style of leadership in which the leader involves subordinates in goal setting, problem solving, team building ., but retains the final decision making authority.
Transnational: The transnational leader is the act of given power to perform certain tasks and reward or punish for the team’s performance.
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