THE INFLUENCE OF PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN FINAL YEAR EXAMINATION IN MARIST SECONDARY SCHOOLS, PROVINCE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The basis of the study is to examine principals’ application of leadership styles and how it may influence the performance of students in final year examination in Marist Secondary Schools in the Province Nigeria. The research questions focused on: the main types of principals’ leadership style that influence academic performance of students, the relationship between principal's leadership styles and the academic performance, challenges principals face in improving students’ academic performance, and the strategies used for improving those challenges. The study was anchored on the Behavioral Theory and supported by the Great Man Theory and the Contingency Theory. This study adopted convergent design under a mixed approach whereby cross- sectional survey and phenomenology research designs were employed. The target population was 4 Marist secondary schools, 4 principals, 76 teachers, 33 management team, and 198 final year students. Automatic inclusion, purposive sampling and stratified random sampling techniques were used to sample respondents from the 4 schools. Questionnaires and interview were used to collect data. Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.7 was used to determine the reliability of the Likert scale research tools. Content and face validity were used to validate the research tools. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis and grouped through content analysis. Data were presented in tables and themes supported by direct quotes. Ethical considerations were strictly adhered to. Findings revealed that principals use different leadership styles; transformational leadership style (87.3%), democratic leadership style (79.4%) and transactional leadership style (76.6%). Also, principals’ leadership style (r=0.696), relationship between principal's leadership styles and the academic performance (r=0.647), challenges faced by principals (r=0.701) and suggested strategies (r=0.863) were positively correlated with students’ academic performance. The study recommended that: Ministry of Education should set up a leadership institution that is responsible for training principals on leadership skills to enhance their awareness and competence to effectively carry out leadership styles