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- Create Date January 31, 2025
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Relationship Between Autocratic Leadership Styles and Teachers’ Performance: A Case of Selected Church Funded Schools in West Ankole Diocese, Uganda
The study analyzed the relationship between autocratic leadership style and teachers’ performance in church funded
schools using a mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative methods). It adopted a correlation survey research
design. Data for this study were collected on the independent variable, which was leadership styles, and that of the
dependent variable, which was teacher’s performance. The relationship between the two variables was investigated
in order to determine the strength of their relationship and the coefficients of determination existing between them.
Together with observations during school visits, interviews were also conducted with head teachers and teachers and
focused group discussions were held with selected students and parents, to identify factors affecting school teachers’
performance and the effectiveness and relationship between leadership styles and teachers’ performance. The study
established that there was a relationship between the age of the head teachers and their leadership style. Head teachers
tended to become more democratic with age professional maturity and with experience. It was also noted that the
young teachers, because of over ambition, tended to be more aggressive which led to the head teachers adopting a
more autocratic leadership style. The study established that unless head teachers are well equipped with knowledge
and skills in management and leadership, they would not be able to improve school performance significantly. From
the study’s findings, the autocratic leadership style of school head teachers was found to have a negative effect on
school performance in secondary schools in Uganda. It was accordingly recommended that school head teachers
avoid the use of the autocratic leadership styles in the management of schools. Most recent conceptions of educational
leadership indicate that there is a move away from autocratic leadership styles to a more democratic mode of decision
making in schools. This is in a bid to ensure that decision-making takes place at the lowest possible level. The study
recommended that a specialized course for those aspiring to become head teachers be designed; a specialized
management and leadership training course be designed for those aspiring to become head teachers in secondary
schools; and a Continuous Professionals Development (CPD) system for teachers be established and institutionalized
in the education system.