Comparative study of headteachers' leadership styles in private and public primary schools in Mathioya district and implications on academic performance

The purpose of this study was to compare leadership styles of head teachers’ on academic performance in public primary school in Mathioya District. The objectives of the proposed study were to establish leadership styles used in private and public primary schools in Mathioya District and show their implications on academic performance. The study employed a mixed research design. The target population was the 62 head teachers and 420 teachers of the 62 primary schools in Mathioya District. In the selection of the schools to participate in this study, stratified random sampling was used. After selecting the schools, simple random sampling was used to select the teachers to participate in the study. The sample consisted of all (5) private and 20 public head teachers; 10 private and 60 public teachers. Headteachers and teachers questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents in the study. The study observed that head teachers in public primary schools have shied away from leadership styles that motivate their teachers. This contrasts with the head teachers in the private primary schools who have embraced affiliation, pacesetting and transformational leadership styles as identified by the presence of elements of these types of leadership styles from the respondents. The leadership styles adopted by the private primary school head teachers have led to better performance as compared to that of public primary schools. Public primary school head teachers will be advised to embrace the leadership styles of their private schools counterparts to ensure greater commitment by the teachers and therefore improve performance in public primary schools in Mathioya district