| The duty of a School Head is to provide guidance and leadership that inspires and motivates teachers to obtain better academic performance of students.The aim of this study was to assess the influence of school heads’ leadership styles in selected junior secondary schools in Botswana.This study was underpinned by three theoretical perspectives;contingency theory,path-goal theory,and upper echelons theory.The study adopted the concurrent triangulation mixed method,applying both qualitative and quantitative approaches.This study was conducted in three educational regions in Botswana.A total of 120 respondents,15 School Heads,and 105 teachers were selected using purposive and simple random sampling respectively.The instrument used for data collection was a 19-item School Heads questionnaire and a 14-item Teacher’s questionnaire.Prior to actual data collection,a pilot study was done by giving several copies to School Heads and teachers as a way of reliability check.The thematic approach of data analysis was employed to analyze qualitative data while quantitative data was analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages and furthermore inferentially using Pearson’s moment correlation coefficient.The study found that the democratic leadership style was the most preferred in secondary schools in Botswana and teachers believed it positively impacted student academic performance.Furthermore,it was observed that teachers despised the autocratic leadership style and believed it was the worst leadership style.It was further established that there was a slight positive correlation between a democratic leadership style and students’ academic performance.Based on the above findings,the study recommended that government should organize training and workshops for principals intermittently to improve their skills and competencies,and more importantly,encourage the use of a democratic leadership style by School Heads. |
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