Influence of Headteachers’ Leadership Styles on Pupils’ Performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination in Dagoreti District, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which headteacher leadership skill influence pupils academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in primary schools in Dagoreti District, Nairobi County, Kenya. The study had three fold objectives; namely (i) to determine the extent leadership styles influence pupils academic performance , (ii) establish the extent headteachers involve teachers in decision making; and (iii), determine the types of leadership styles that affect curriculum delivery. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. A combination of purposive and random sampling strategies was employed to select a sample of 126 respondents comprising 104 teachers and 22 head teachers to participate in the study. The major findings were that headteachers applied various leadership styles with the most frequently used being democratic and laissez fair styles. A majority of teachers from top performing schools reported frequent use of democratic leadership styles, and were more frequently involved in decision making process by their headteachers. It is recommended that training in modern transformational leadership styles should be intensified for headteachers to enhance schools academic performance (182 words). Key words: Headteachers leadership, Pupils’ academic performance, Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Examinations, Primary schools, Dagoreti District, Kenya