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AN
ASSESSMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS TO EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
OF SCHOOLS
ABSTRACT
This study
examined the development of leadership skills in schools; an assessment of the
contribution of leadership skills to effective management of Caleb
International and Supreme Foundation schools located in Kosofe Local Government
Area of Lagos State. Literature review was carried out under relevant
sub-headings. The descriptive research survey design was applied in the
assessment of respondents’ opinions using the questionnaire and the sampling
technique. A total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents were involved in
this study to represent the entire population of the study. A total of four null hypotheses were
formulated and tested using the pearson product moment correlational statistic
and independent t-test statistic at 0.05 level of significance. Also, the
bio-data and the responses of the respondents were analysed using the simple
percentage frequency counts. At the end of the data analyses, the results
obtained showed that: there is a significant relationship between authoritative
and authoritarian leadership styles amongst school principals, there is a
significant relationship between permissive leadership styles and democratic
leadership styles of the principals, there is a significant difference in the
leadership of principals who are skilful and those who are not, and there is a
significant difference between the job performance of teachers who teach in
schools where there is principal-teacher relationship and those who work in
schools where there is none. Based on the results obtained at the end of the
analysis, and the conclusions arrived at, at the end of the study, the
researcher recommended that school leaders or administrators should seek
government’s financial support in funding the secondary school system. They
should ensure that atmosphere of peace and harmony is maintained. Principals
also should create good and healthy school climate where academic work is
carried out without hindrance.
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Teacher
education programme is saddled with the responsibility of nation building for
the Nigerian as development society. The quality of the products from teacher
training institutions determines the pace of the nation’s development.
Quality in
the educational sector is considered in terms of exceptionally high standards,
consistency, fitness for purpose, value for money (accountability) and
transformative effects (Atanda 2007). Onuh (2006) claims that quality in
education is a multidimensional concept which should embrace all functions and activities, teaching and academic
programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, students, buildings,
facilities, equipment, services to the community and academic environment
(UNESCO 1998). There are five indicators of quality measures in an organization
or the school system. They include
highly trained staff; adequate funding; visionary leadership; Service to the
community/academic environment and Research and academic activities
There are
also some elements or indicators of good service delivery in schools or organizations.
They are adequate staffing, population (enrolment of students), management of
funds, and adequate management of infrastructure, accommodation and
equipment, provision of adequate
instructional materials, co-curricular activities, uniform input and output
evaluation procedures and provision of scholarship facilities. In schools that
are extremely good, we inevitably found an aggressive, professionally alert,
dynamic principals determined to provide the kind of educational programmes
deemed necessary no matter what (Gold, 2006).
In another
development, (Hechinger, 2005) has this to say “I have never seen a good school
with a poor principal or a poor school with a good principal. I have seen
unsuccessful schools turned around into successful ones and, regrettably
outstanding schools slide rapidly into decline. In each case the rise and fall
could readily be traced to the quality of the principal. Leadership is the
pre-eminence of one or a few individuals in a group in the process of
controlling the societal phenomena”. By this definition, leadership is meant to
be the central focus of a group of people (workers) in the working goals. Thus,
by virtue of his/her special position in the group, the leader serves as the
primary agent for the determination of group activities (Mumford, 2000).
Gbadamosi
and Adebakin (2006) hold the view that a leader is one who inspires others to
work willingly towards the achievement of a goal through maximum application of
his/her personal qualities and capabilities. In order words, people are said to
be leaders endeavour to the extent that they succeed in their attempt to
influence others to perform a goal or an activity. In doing so, the leader is
expected to have some basic attributes such as skill, intelligence, determination,
imagination, endurance, charisma and courage. This means that leadership means
the process of influencing the activities of an individual or group of
individual in their efforts towards the accomplishment of goals and objectives
of the organization (Hersey and Blanchard, 1999). From the above descriptions,
one can affirm that leadership involves social influence and interaction
between the leader and the subordinates, the aim of which is to achieve a
stated goal.
Therefore,
the importance of leadership in an organization or work environment cannot be
overemphasized. This is because leadership concerns the total manner by which a
manager influences the actions of the subordinates. This includes the issuing
of orders that are clear, complete and within the capabilities of workers to
accomplish. It also implies a continuing training activity in which
subordinates are given instructions to enable them carry out the particular
assignment in the existing situation (Makinde, 2005).
According to
Eskor (2001), there are two broad views of leadership such as psychological and
the sociological views. Eskor opines that the psychological view holds that the
primary function of leaders is to develop an effective motivation system. The
psychologists also believe that the leader must stimulate their subordinates in
such a manner that they would be able to contribute positively to the
organization’s achievement of goals and objectives. They think that the
Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is a model good enough for leaders to use in
developing the most effective motivational system for their subordinates. They
also hold the view that a motivational system which focuses on the entire needs
of the subordinates (i.e.) physiological, safety, social, system and self-actualization,
will have a higher probability of success than a system which covers the needs
spectrum only in parts.
The above
statements show that it is the leadership of the school that makes the
difference between mediocrity and excellence.
A capsule
description of the qualities and behaviours that characterize principals in
successful schools; qualities that have surfaced again and again in the
research literature, runs as follows:
(a) Effective principals have a strong vision
of what their schools can be, and they encourage all staff to work towards
realizing that vision (Gunge, 2000).
(b) They hold high expectations for both
students’ achievement and teacher staff performance.
(c) They observe teachers in classrooms and
provide positive constructive feedback aimed at solving problems and
improvising instruction.
(d) They encourage excellent and efficient
instruction time and design procedures to minimize disruptions.
(e) They use material and personal
resources creatively.
(f) They monitor the individual and
collective achievement of students and use the information to guide
instructional planning (Adamson 2001).
Unfortunately,
many less effective principals define their role as managers of the building
and budget, keepers of the records, chief disciplinarians and communicators
with everyone (Davis, 2000). According to Willower (2002); many less quality or
effective principals leave teaching to
teachers. Research on the activities and behaviours of principals
indicate that most school principals spend very little time on curriculum and
instructional matters; while few of them have been trained and prepared for
instructional leadership.
As Goodhead
(2003) puts it, most teachers, parents and interested others are not aware of
the pivotal role an instructionally active principal can play in creating an
effective school, a school where everyone is concerned with learning and
achievement, where expectations are high and educational improvement is a daily
concern.
The daily
routine of every school principal, although routine is hardly the correct word
includes activities which are described as “varied, brief and disjointed” Lee
(2007), and “varied brief and fragmented” by Martin and Willower (2001); While
Greenfield concluded that the activities of effective school principals involve
“an endless series of brief interpersonal encounters and exchanges with
students, teachers, parents, supervisors and others”.
Principals
must deal with competing values and expectations along with shortages in space,
staff, funds, equipment and materials and miss communications are common
(Barnett et al, 2004) The work of the principal is largely verbal. Principals
dispense information about procedures and politics to veteran teachers,
new teachers, substitute, teachers,
special education teachers, reading specialties, counsellors, school
psychologists, maintenance staff, students, parents and others in the
community. Well-trained and experienced school principals answer questions
about the availability of aids, space, materials and other resources and
details about forth coming events in the schools where they are found
(Bloomberg, 2007). According to Morris et al (2002), the principals’ activities
are classified into monitoring school activities, serving as school
spokesperson, disseminating information to school staff, handling resources and
so on.
The school
principal is the arrow head of the school system. This means that the school
principal determines the pace at which things or events move in the school. In
this regard therefore, the quality of the school principal to a large extent,
determines the services he/she renders to the school. According to Goodhead
(2003), many less effective principals view the role they play in the school as
managers of the school building and budget keepers of the school records and communicators
with every one. They unfortunately, leave the teaching to the classroom
teachers. Most principals spend little time on curriculum and instructional
matters. Most principals in the school system today are poor school leaders,
inefficient administrators, who lack the required capacity and academic process
to keep the school moving ahead. They lack experience and qualification with
which high and qualitative services are rendered in the administration of the
school (Ola, 2004).
Statement of
the Problem
The problem
inherent in the lack of or and adequate leadership skill or competence among
secondary school heads cannot be overemphasized. This is because, principals
who are not competent, who lack the wherewithal to manage the affairs of the
school, will find it extremely difficult to run and control effectively, the
school system placed in their care. Needless to say that most school principals
lack the required skills in terms of the ability and capacity to provide good
leadership quality, to provide good school climate and cooperation. For
instance, in school where there is bad leadership, where the principal lack the
necessary skills and capacities of managing, controlling and organising and
leading effectively, there tend to be chaotic situation in the school. There
may be no leader-follower relationship, and in a situation where there is
non-relationship between the leader and the followers, things do not work well
and this affects growth and development of the school negatively.
For instance,
if there is no good relationship between principals and teachers, and between
principals and students, there will be a confused situation in the school and
this can lead to poor academic performance of students and poor work activities
by the teachers and this gives bad image to the school system on the other
hand.
The above
identified problems gave rise to the examination of development of leadership
skills in schools, a contribution of leadership skills to effective management
of schools.
Purpose of the
Study
The
objectives of this study include to:
(1) examine the difference between
authoritarian and authoritative leadership styles among school principals.
(2) Investigate the relationship between
permissive leadership style and democratic leadership style of principals.
(3) find out the leadership skills of
school principals.
(4) examine the difference between the
leadership skills of principals who are skillful and those who are not.
(5) differentiate teachers’ job
performance in schools where there is principal-teacher relationship and
schools where there is none.
Research
Questions
The
following research questions were raised in this study.
1. Would there be any relationship between
the authoritarian and authoritative leadership styles among school principals?
2. Is there any relationship between
permissive leadership style and democratic leadership style of principals?
3. Can the leadership skills of school
principals be investigated?
4. Will there be any difference
between the leadership styles of principals who are skilful and those who are
not?
5. Will there be any difference between the
job performance of teachers who are in schools where there is principal-teacher
relationship and those who are in school where there is none?
Research
Hypotheses
The
following research hypotheses were postulated in this study:
1. There will be no significant
relationship between the authoritative leadership and the authoritarian
leadership styles of principals.
2. There will be no significant
relationship between permissive leadership style and democratic leadership
styles of principals.
3. There will be no significant difference
in the leadership styles of principals who are skilful and those who are not.
4. There will be no significant difference
between the job performance of teachers who are in schools where there is
principal-teacher relationship and those who are not.
Significance
of the Study
This study
will be beneficial to the following:
This study
will help school principals have better insight on the importance of service
delivery in the school. With the recommendations and findings of this study,
school principals would be more aware of the importance of quality in service
delivery.
This will
enable them to imbibe the culture of being exposed to training and retraining
in the school in order to achieve maximum quality for effective service
delivery in the day to day management and administration.
The findings
of this study enables teachers in the school system, who practice teaching on
daily basis, the opportunity of knowing that the quality of a teacher to a
large extent affect the way at which
he/she delivers service in the teaching profession.
With this
study, practising teachers would be able to imbibe the culture of updating
their academics periodically as that will help them to perform their duties
creditably well. It also helps teachers to know that it pays to deliver quality
services in one’s profession.
This study
would help the school authority to be able to provide conducive environment
towards the production of personnel who will be able, available, ready and
efficient in service delivery in the school system. With this study, the school
authority will be able to make policies that would enable staff to be trained
and groomed for better performance and higher productivity in the school. The study would serve as a good and important
reference material to the public and the upcoming researchers and students in
general.
Scope of
Study
This study
covered an investigation into the development of leadership skills of school
principals in Caleb International and Supreme Foundation schools in Kosofe
Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Limitations
of Study
The
constraints of this study include lack of finance, time frame, lack of adequate
materials and other logistics that may arise as a result of collecting data.
Definition
of Terms
The
following terms were defined in this study:
Quality:
Quality is defined as grade of goodness, excellence or degrees (especially high
degrees) of goodness of work.
Service
Delivery: The control and effective management and utilization of school
population, funds, infrastructures, accommodations, equipment, information communication
technology and so on for growth and development of the school system.
Quality
Service Delivery: This is a situation in
which services or functions are at the apex level. This means the highest
services delivered by those expected to deliver them in an organisation or
institution.
School
Administrators: This refer to those or personnel who manage the schools as
institutions of learning. The headmasters, headmistresses, principals, vice
principals are regarded as school administrators.
Leadership –
It is the way leaders or school principals pilot the affairs of the school.
Leadership also means the way and manner management sees things and applied
control and others in order to get things done.
Effectiveness
– The ability or power to have a notable or desired effect on something.
Performance
– The act of performing something, the action or an act of performing, the
ability to do something especially something needing skills etc. Performance
also means the overall activities of students in a particular school over a
period of time.
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