Assessment of Leadership Styles in Relation to Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools : A Case of Tabora Municipality

Good leadership of the school plays an important role in raising the students’ academic achievement in Tanzania. This study investigated the leadership styles in relation to the students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Tabora municipality. Specifically, the study sought to identify major leadership styles employed in running Secondary schools, to establish the extent to which leadership styles influence students performance and to explore the relationship between leadership styles and their effectiveness in managing curriculum implementation in secondary schools. Qualitative and Quantitative research methods were used under the mixed research approach. A total of 46 respondents comprising of 6 heads of schools, 35 teachers, 2 regional education leaders and 3district educational leaders were interviewed using interview guides and Questionnaires respectively. In this study both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. The findings revealed that democratic leadership styles mostly influence students’ academic achievement/ performance (R-value was 0.932), implying that there is a strong and positive influence and significant at p=0.004 level of democratic leadership style on students’ academic achievement. For Laissez-faire leadership style, the relationship revealed negative influence on students’ academic performance and was very weak (R-value of 0.1) and not significant (p=0.072). Autocratic leadership style, although the relationship was very strong (R=0.546, the relationship was insignificant with p value = 0.08. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that educational administrators should ensure that Heads of schools are given appropriate orientations before they are appointed as school heads. Additionally, Heads of schools are asked to use more democratic leadership style if they want students to achieve or excel good academic performance