Influence Of Principals’ Autocratic Leadership Style On Students’ Performance At Kenya Certificate Of Secondary Education In Public Schools In Lari Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that school leaders‘ leadership styles influence students‘ performance. The purpose of carrying out this study was to provide empirical evidence that would help in establishing whether autocratic leadership style influence students‘ academic performance. The objectives of this study were to: establish influence of principals‘ ways of consulting during decision-making on students‘ performance; determine the influence of principals ‘use of interpersonal skills on students‘ performance; influence of principals‘ delegation of duties on students‘ performance and examine the relationship between principals‘ domineering behaviour and students‘ performance. The researcher utilised ex-pos facto survey design in the study. The study target population was 40 principals, 521 teachers and 2,520 form four students in 25 public secondary schools in Lari Sub-county. A sample size of 20 principals, 60 teachers and 252 students was arrived at through use simple random sampling techniques. Three sets of questionnaires aided in collecting data for this study. Data were analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that majority of the principles used autocratic leadership style. The methods of decision-making did not influence tacher performance, communication skills were important and to a large extent influenced students‘ performance while delegation of duties and principals‘ domineering behaviour produced mixed results according to participants‘ views; with teacher reporting negative influence on learners‘ performance and students indicating no influence on their performance. From the results, students‘ academic performance was largely predicted by the number of co-curricular activities a student was involved in. It was concluded that principals‘ leadership style influenced students‘ performance.