Influence of head teachers’ leadership styles on students discipline in public secondary schools in Nairobi county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate influence of Head teachers’ Leadership Styles on students discipline in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. Discipline of the students is a major factor in academic performance. Head teachers are expected to give the right leadership to both teachers and students in order to achieve excellent academic performance. Four research objectives were formulated to guide the study. Research objectives number one sought to determine how head teachers’ autocratic leadership style influence students discipline in secondary schools. Objective number two sought to establish how head teachers’ democratic leadership style influence students discipline. The research objective number three sought to find out to what extent head teachers’ Laissez-faire leadership style influence students discipline in secondary school and objective number four sought to determine the strategies used by the head teachers when instilling discipline using their leadership style. The design adopted for this study was descriptive survey. The sample comprised of 6 public schools, 6 Head teachers, 24 teachers and 48 students. This data was collected using questionnaires and data analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that teachers are given leadership role after attaining teaching experience of about ten years. It also revealed that most schools that applied democratic leadership style did not experience major indiscipline cases such as strikes. All the three leadership styles discussed were identified in different schools and their impacts on student discipline were different. The head teachers therefore may have to apply the leadership style that brings the best results for the school. The findings also showed that head teachers leadership styles are more or less personal attributes that need to be improved to influence students’ discipline. Based on the study findings it is concluded that use of democracy in schools is necessary to improve discipline of students in public secondary schools. The study findings hence recommended that Ministry of Education should have a policy where all Head teachers can train on democratic leadership style to improve on students’ discipline. The study further found out where a head teacher uses autocratic leadership style s/he is able to suppress indiscipline for some time but soon or later students become in disciplined. All head teachers should be given courses of proper management of human resource and other resources.