Teachersa Perception of Principalsa Leadership Effectiveness In Public and Privatesecondary Schools in Ondo State

Abstract

The study investigated Teachers#x2019; Perception of Principals#x2019; Leadership effectiveness in the important salient aspects of school management: Pedagogical skill, Administrative skill and community relation skills effectiveness. Three hundred and sixty (360) teachers were selected from 10 public and 10 private secondary schools in Ondo State on the basis of proportionate stratification to reflect the varying degrees of their proprietorship, academic qualifications and local government areas. The instrument for data collection was a 30-item questionnaire tagged, Teachers#x2019; Perception of Principals#x2019; Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire (TPPLEQ). Three hypotheses were formulated and tested for using t-test statistical tool. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the teachers#x2019; perception of principals#x2019; leadership effectiveness in public and private secondary schools, with the principals of public secondary schools having low level of leadership effectiveness in pedagogical and community relation skills effectiveness, but high administrative skill effectiveness while the reverse is the case in private secondary schools. The paper finally recommended that since the principals of public secondary schools are perceived to be less effective than principals of private secondary schools in school leadership, appointment as principal should not be based on seniority alone but also on capability as a change agent to influence others through collaborative problem solving strategies with students, staff, community and stakeholders.