Abstract:
Leadership at the various levels of education is considered as a critical
input in the academic achievement of students. Hence, stakeholders in
education always endervour to appoint or recruit the right people with
effective leadership skills as headteachers to manage their educational
institutions. This study therefore investigated the effects of headteachers’
choice of leadership styles on pupils’ academic performance in BECE in the
Asuogyaman District of Education in the Eastern Region. A cross-sectional
descriptive survey was adopted with 32 headteachers from Junior High
Schools (JHSs) who responded to a structured questionnaire. Also, a data
extraction form was designed to collate the BECE results for the respective
headteachers during the past five years of their stay. Data were analysed using
both descriptive and inferential statistical tools including the factor and
correlation analyses. The results revealed that headteachers were most likely
to practice the structural leadership style than the symbolic, human resource
and political styles. The main factors that influenced the choice of leadership
styles among the headteachers were stakeholder involvement, personal
experiences, vision for school, policy directives and teacher-pupil attitudes.
Meanwhile, the structural and political leadership styles were found to have
positively and significantly correlated with the academic performance of
pupils. It is recommended that the Ghana Education Service should regularly
organise workshops for headteachers on leadership, leadership choices and
their ultimate impact on academic performance in their schools. Also,
headteachers must have the free hand to run their respective schools with less
interference.
