Influence of school managers leadership styles on pre-school teachers motivation: case for Ndundori division Nakuru county

Abstract

The responsibility of developing an effective preschool lies with the school manager. In order to achieve this responsibility, the support from a motivated staff is very important. Positive leadership behavior of the school manager and the decision making process makes an impact in developing teachers interest in school activities, loyalty and job satisfaction. This study investigated the influence of school managers leadership styles on preschool teachers motivation. The target population was 79 preschools from Dundori Division in Nakuru County out of which 60 were private, 13 were public and 6 were faith based institutions. A sample of 51 teachers from the population of 79 institutions was picked through stratified sampling technique. Data collection was done through questionnaires .The data collected from the field was then organized, coded and analyzed qualitatively using the SPSS Version 17 software. The findings revealed that the school managers did not restrict themselves to one management style. However out of the different leadership styles used by the school managers, Democratic leadership style was noted to elicit the greatest motivation among teachers while autocratic leadership style was observed to create the least motivation. In terms of school categories, private preschools teachers were observed to have the highest level of motivation followed by public institutions while faith based institutions teachers were found to be least motivated.