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A Review of Impact of School Leadership on Students’ Academic Performance

Kule Ashirafu Masudi, Tukur Muhammad and Abdul Rahim

Department of Foundations & Science Education Faculty of Education, Kampala International University, Western Campus, Uganda

Corresponding Author Email Address: kule.ashraf@kiu.ac.ug

ABSTRACT

This review article discusses the impact of school leadership on students’ academic performance.  School leadership is one of the most important factors in determining academic performance. Students’ academic performance has been a concern of all nations including; German, Asia and Africa. Students’ academic performance both inside and outside classroom is crucial for all partake parties, including school leaders, parents, education policymakers, and community at large. Researchers conducted a historical methodology evidence and interpretation study that included written, oral, and physical evidence, as well as primary and secondary sources, including unpublished Information. The aim of this review is to establish the impact of school leadership on students’ academic performance.

Keywords: School Leadership, Students’ Academic and Performance

 INTRODUCTION

This review paper is going to discuss the impact of School leadership on students’ academic performance.  School leadership has been identified as a fundamental issue supporting effective schools and researchers focus on leadership behaviours of principals for school effectiveness in terms of school outcomes [1]. School leadership has comprehensive effect on students’ achievement and it has been an area of concern in all countries for example U.S.A and even in Asia [2].  [3], has defined school leadership as all administrative and management tasks focusing on student outcomes. The all the mentioned are needed to improve students’ academic performance. Whereas [4] defined academic performance as the extent to which a student has attained his or her short or long-term educational goals. Different scholars have related school leadership and students’ academic performance. For instance, in [5] examined the effects of transactional and transformational principal leadership on teacher job satisfaction and secondary student performance. The findings demonstrated that the principal leadership styles can have an impact on work satisfaction and student achievement. In a study conducted by [6] using a mixed methodology, the impact of effective educational leadership on students’ performance in Malaysian schools was examined. The findings showed that effective leadership (distributed leadership) and quality teachers are the two main factors influencing students’ performance.  [7], carried out a study on the influence of school leadership on student outcomes in Austria. The results revealed that school leadership significantly influence the quality of teaching and learning and consequently student achievement. However, [8] they studied the Management challenges facing school administrators and pupils’ academic performance in public primary schools in Sengerema District Mwanza, Tanzania. The findings revealed that there were management challenges facing school administrators and pupils’ academic. Similarly, [9] investigated on a systematic review of research on the relationship between school leadership and student achievement. Using Descriptive, the findings revealed that instructional leadership as the most frequently used school leadership model in the relevant research. In the USA and Turkey, [1] conducted a meta-analysis evaluating the impact of school leadership on student accomplishment. The outcomes of the studies using a random-effects model showed that school leadership had a modest but beneficial impact on overall student success. Although it is tiny in the USA, the effect size is moderate in Turkey. Taking into account the study’s findings, it may be suggested that chances for professional growth should be encouraged for the optimum use of instructional leadership behaviours.  Even further research was done on the four-Frame Leadership and Students’ Academic Achievement in Malaysia by [10]. The results of this study supported the idea that principal leadership styles can have a direct impact on student accomplishment since they revealed a positive, direct, and tangential association between students’ academic achievements. [11], did a study on the impact of organizational civic behaviour, leadership style, work happiness, and religion on the performance of female teachers in Indonesia. Using a quantitative approach, the findings demonstrate a favourable association between transformational leadership style and teachers’ work satisfaction and performance as well as a negative relationship with transactional leadership style. The findings also showed that the relationship between teachers’ performance and the principal’s leadership style serves as a mediator. 

The factors that affect work satisfaction and how well Indonesian lecturers perform were examined by [5]. The findings demonstrate that job satisfaction is influenced by organizational climate, work environment, and leadership style. Lecturer performance is influenced by job satisfaction. The effectiveness of lectures will also be impacted by the leadership style, workplace culture, and organizational climate. The impact of leadership style, work environment, and organizational climate on lecturer performance and successes on lecturers in Indonesia might be mitigated by job happiness. The results of the quantitative study approach showed that there is a direct relationship between instructional leadership and teachers’ performance, as well as between transformational leadership and teachers’ performance and spiritual leadership.

Further still, [12] conducted research on how student traits based on local culture relate to principal leadership and performance in senior high schools. There is a substantial association between the principal’s leadership variable and teacher performance, according to the results of this study’s correlational design, which showed that the results of these data are significant. Indonesian primary school teachers’ performance and students’ academic successes were examined by [13] in relation to instructional, transformative, and spiritual leadership. The results of the quantitative study approach showed that there is a direct relationship between instructional leadership and teachers’ performance, as well as between transformational leadership and teachers’ performance and spiritual leadership. The association between secondary school students’ academic achievement on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Bomet County, Kenya, and principals’ transformational leadership style was examined by [14]. The target population for this study, which utilized a descriptive survey approach, included five Quality Assurance and Standards Officers in Bomet County and 130 secondary schools. The findings showed that pupils’ academic achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education was significantly influenced by principals’ idealistic impact. [15] examined how transformational leadership affects students’ academic success in English language learning. According to the study’s findings, academic success among students is positively correlated with transformational leadership approaches.

[16] used a comparative survey of public and mission secondary schools in Nigeria to conduct a study on the principal’s leadership styles and students’ academic achievement in Enugu metropolitan. The findings showed a connection between pupils’ academic success and authoritarian leadership style. Similar to this, [17] used a qualitative method to investigate the leadership styles of school administrators and students’ academic achievement in South Africa. The results showed that learners’ educational achievement is greatly influenced by both democratic and transformational leadership styles.

Similarly, [18] looked at how organizational innovation played a mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. As a result of inspiring teachers and paying careful attention to them, the results showed that transformational leadership style raises the degree of work satisfaction and organizational commitment of the instructors, which in turn impacts kids’ academic achievement.  In addition, [19] conducted research on secondary school instructors, principals, head departments, and students to examine the relationship between school leadership effectiveness and students’ academic accomplishment at Guraghe Zone secondary schools in Ethiopia. Co-relational research design is used. The results showed that there is a substantial and positive correlation between leadership effectiveness and academic success among students (r=.653*, p.0.041).  The results of [20] investigation on the effect of teachers’ leadership on students’ academic performance revealed a significant positive influence of teachers’ leadership on students’ academic performance. Both forms of leadership are said to have a substantial and uplifting impact on kids. The impact of teachers’ transformational leadership on academic performance is considered to be greater than that of their transactional leadership. It is advised that instructors employ their leadership skills with pupils to affect their behaviour and performance for a successful future. In a similarly way,

[21] used a cross-sectional survey to evaluate the impact of leadership styles on students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Tanzania.  The results showed that democratic leadership styles had the greatest impact on students’ academic performance (R-value was 0.932), indicating that these styles have a substantial and positive influence that is significant at the p=0.004 level on students’ academic performance. The association between the laissez-faire leadership style and pupils’ academic achievement was very weak (R-value of 0.1) and not statistically 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 head teachers are given appropriate orientations before they are appointed as school heads. And, head teachers are asked to use more democratic leadership style if they want students to achieve or excel good academic performance.

Using a correlation research methodology, [22] examined the impact of school leadership on students’ academic progress in Bosaso secondary schools in Puntland. The findings showed that democratic leadership styles had a major impact on students’ academic performance and accomplishment, suggesting that these styles have a significant and favourable impact on students’ academic success.  The relationship was weak and inconsequential for the Laissezaire leadership style and had a detrimental impact on students’ academic achievement.  Despite the connection being strong, the leader had an autocratic approach.  In relation to the aforementioned, [23] looked into how principals’ leadership styles affected students’ academic performance in secondary schools in the Awendo Sub-County of Kenya. The results showed that democratic leadership explained 37.4% of variation in students’ academic achievement, as shown by adjusted R square 0.374, using descriptive survey and correlational methods. Laissez faire leadership style and autocratic leadership accounted for 15.7% and 43.8%, respectively, of the difference in students’ academic achievement. The employment of both democratic and authoritarian approaches is encouraged in schools, although laissez faire is discouraged.

[24] carried out a study on the influence of principals’ leadership styles on senior secondary school students’ achievement in chemistry in Nigeria on teachers and learners. Using correlation research design. The results revealed that authoritarian leadership was the dominant leadership style used by the senior secondary school principals in Kogi State. In addition, chemistry students under the leadership of democratic principles performed better than their counterparts under authoritative and laissez-faire principals. It is recommended, among others, that principals of senior secondary schools adopt a democratic leadership style and that principals should be given orientation on the use of democratic leadership.

In their research of school administrators, teachers, students, and parents in an Eritrean environment of Eastern Africa, [25] focused on the relationship between leadership styles and academic achievement. The study, which employed a descriptive research approach, discovered that principals’ leadership styles do have an impact on school performance either favourably or negatively and that no one leadership style is always optimal. In contrast to autocratic and laissez-faire leadership styles, which were found to have detrimental effects on school performance, democratic and situational leadership styles were found to have beneficial effects.

METHODOLOGY

This study traced research conducted on impact of school leadership on students’ academic performance using ProQuest as the primary scanning bibliographic database. The reason for choosing researches conducted on school leadership and students’ academic performance is paramount because in Uganda there’s a friction in Ugandan schools’ which need to be addressed for better students’ results. The chance to make use of ProQuest has been significantly at ease with the appearance of web-based providers which includes: google scholar, academic, Elsevier and Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC), All the databases were scanned to retrieve the published articles in Education (Humanities). The key search terms used in screening the articles: school leadership and Students’ Academic Performance. However, the articles were examined and analysed according, all this was done to avoid bias when searching, screening or analysing the articles. These crucial terms are seen as representative of the search carried out in the databases concerning the study’s goals.

CONCLUSION

The above discussion of the literature led to the making following conclusions school leadership and student academic performance. Based on the findings, for the success to the effectiveness of school leadership on students’ academic achievement, the school leaders are advised to do their best in setting a good school vision, mission and goals to improve their student’s achievement teachers and concerned Stakeholders in secondary schools set up. Further still, school leadership should be improved by introducing leadership training sessions in schools that at the end may improve students’ academic performance.

 REFERENCES

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CITE AS: Kule Ashirafu Masudi, Tukur Muhammad and Abdul Rahim (2023). A Review of Impact of School Leadership on Students’ Academic Performance. INOSR ARTS AND HUMANITIES 9(2):26-31. https://doi.org/10.59298/INOSRAH/2023/2.4.4000

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