The Relationship Between Principals’ Leadership Styles and Teacher Performance in Secondary Schools in Kenya

The Kenyan education system has for some time experienced low academic performance of students in its primary, and secondary schools. As a result, many stakeholders have expressed grave concern over this very unfortunate situation. Poor academic performances of some of these students are laid at the feet of the classroom teachers with unlimited amount of blame which in many cases cannot be rationally justified. The principals’ leadership styles may have a tremendous effect on teachers’ performance and consequently students’ academic performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between principals’ leadership styles and teachers’ job performance in secondary schools in Hamisi Sub-County, Kenya. The study focused on autocratic, democratic and laissez faire leadership styles. The study used descriptive survey design and the target population consisted of teachers and principals in 30 secondary schools in Hamisi Sub-County. A sample of 130 secondary school teachers and 10 principals was selected using cluster sampling and random sampling. The data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found out that there is a significant relationship between principals’ leadership styles and teachers’ job performance in secondary schools.