Teacher leadership styles and their effects on students’ academic performance in selected secondary schools in Bamenda III Sub-division

Abstract

This work seeks to study the contribution of Teacher Leadership Styles on Students’ Academic Performance in selected secondary Schools in Bamenda III Sub-Division, Mezam Division in the North West Region of Cameroon. It was carried out using four selected secondary schools in Bamenda III Sub-Division Mezam namely GBHS ATIELA, GBHS Bamenda, CAMSCI Nkwen and St. Paul’s College Nkwen. Three research objectives were formulated from which three research questions were generated to guide the study. The research objectives were as follows, (1) To examine the extent to which laissez faire leadership style of teachers has an influence on academic performance of students. (2) To investigate the impact of autocratic leadership style of teachers on students’ academic performance. (3) To examine the influence of coaching leadership style of teachers on students’ academic performance. The hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. A sample of 203 teachers was selected for this study using the simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using a close ended questionnaire structured on a four (4) - point likert scale. The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS version 25. Findings revealed that; leadership styles are significantly related to the students’ academic achievement. The means were greater than 2.5 which is the cuff of mean. On autocratic leadership style 3.21, on Laissez-faire leadership style 2.80, on coaching leadership style 2.85, Academic performance 2.92.This indicates that the respondents all agreed that these different facets put together will improve academic performance although the coaching leadership style has a more positive relationship with students’ academic performance. Some recommendations were made like: There should be in service trainings for teachers on leadership, the coaching leadership style should be massively used in schools, teachers should closely monitor student’s development in collaboration with other teachers and parents. Some recommendations were made.