School head leadership style and its perceived influence on teachers' performance in Bikita District rural secondary schools of Masvingo Province

Abstract

This study was carried out to establish the perceived influence of school head leadership styles on teachers' performance. In this study the researchers used a mixed method research design that incorporated both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The population consisted of ten school heads and sixty teachers, thus a total of seventy respondents. The research instruments were opened and closed ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The major findings revealed that the school heads in Bikita district of Masvingo province were generally perceived to display a high degree of democratic style of leadership based on the frequency of responses. It also emerged that leadership style of school heads influence performance of teachers. Calibre of students, teacher incompetence, lack of professional development and lack of motivation were also some of the factors that affected performance of some teachers.