Examining perceived influence of gender-sensitive leadership practices on educational achievement of senior high school girls from low income households in Bolgatanga municipality

Although the implementation of free senior high school (SHS) policy which has expanded access to secondary education in Ghana, girls from low-income households in Bolgatanga Municipality continue to battle with socio-cultural, economic and structural barriers which posed a significant threat to their education. This descriptive, perception-based explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was therefore conducted to examine SHS girls' perceptions of gender-sensitive leadership practices; identify the perceived barriers affecting the education of girls from low-income households; and explored strategies for improving their retention and perceived educational achievement. The study integrates survey and interview evidence from SHS girls and educational stakeholders. Out of 5634 girls, criterion-based purposive sampling identified 322 SHS girls from low-income households, after which simple random sampling was used to select 270 participants for the quantitative survey, while the qualitative phase purposively recruited 3 heads of SHSs, 3 teachers, 1 Girls Education Officer, 1 NGO staff, and 30 girls from low income households for interview. Four-points Likert scale questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. Piloting was conducted to test for reliability and validity of the instruments using Cronbach's alpha reliability reporting, member checking, content validity Index reporting, and the triangulation of survey with interview data. IBM SPSS statistics version 27 was employed to analyse the survey data using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The qualitative data from interviews were analyse by means of narration, anecdotes and thematic analysis to triangulate the quantitative results. The findings revealed that girls perceived gender-sensitive leadership practices as moderately supportive of their schooling, although structural and socio-cultural barriers continued to constrain their educational experiences. The study recommends strengthening gender-responsive leadership capacity, improving school WASH infrastructure, and enforcing sexual harassment policies to create safe and gender inclusive learning environments for young girls in SHSs.