Leadership Style and Academic Achievement of Students
Description
The study investigates the leadership styles of secondary school administrators in the Sidama Region, focusing on student achievement and school improvements. The research involved 37 schools, 222 teachers, and 106 school leaders. The findings revealed that school leaders' leadership characteristics explain 39.80% of student success differences. Despite research suggesting transformational leadership for school reform, the study found that transactional leadership was used in the area. The Ethiopian Ministry of Education ranked 58 of 108 secondary schools in the region as level II. The main obstacles to academic achievement include lack of resources, knowledge gaps, and low school leader commitment. The study suggests that stakeholders at all levels of education must collaborate to improve school and student performance.
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To develop and perform the research, pragmatic philosophical assumptions were used, as well as a mixed research design and mixed techniques. The qualitative data was used in conjunction with the quantitative data. Teachers, school principals, clustered supervisors, woreda, and regional bureau educational experts provided primary data. Secondary sources included statistical yearly reports, education abstracts from the previous six years, and grade twelve reports from the sampled schools. The appropriate sample size was decided to be large enough to provide adequate representation while being small enough to be economically feasible. In 2022-23, 108 government and privately owned secondary schools in the research area were studied in four levels (I-IV). A proportional sample of schools from levels II and III was chosen using a simple random sampling procedure, with 37 schools, 222 instructors, and 106 school leaders chosen. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), which was developed for this study and linked to transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles, was the primary data gathering tool. Pilot testing was carried out in two secondary schools to assess the dependability of the scheduled questions. Three focus group discussions (FGD) were held with cluster supervisors, woreda, and educational specialists from the regional bureau. Based on school inspection reports and student performance on entrance tests for higher education, recorded evidence was analyzed. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. At a significance level of p 0.05, percentages, mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, multiple regression, and Pearson's correlation coefficient were employed to confirm the study issue. Approaches to qualitative narration were used, and respondents' and organizations' cultures and customs were respected.