Teachers’ Perception of Transferred Headteachers’ Self Awareness Competences in Central Uganda Government Secondary Schools

Owing to the inherent challenges in the headteacher transfer and succession process in Uganda and the extraordinary new challenges of school leadership, a headteacher’s cognitive, academic and technical competencies are no longer sufficient for effective school leadership. This brings emotional intelligence to the fore of effective school leadership. This multiple case study explored teachers’ perception of four transferred headteachers’ self-awareness competencies in government secondary schools. Using an interview protocol, data was collected from 12 teachers, three from each school. The study established that teachers had a positive perception of the three headteachers, whose self-awareness competence was deemed to be high, and a negative perception of the headteacher, whose self-awareness competence was low. Besides, no direct link was discerned between the nature of headteacher transfer and their self-awareness competencies. Accordingly, the study recommends that all headteachers develop self-awareness competencies needed for effective leadership, particularly in the schools where they are transferred.