Leadership and school principals - a study

As countries are seeking to adapt their education systems to the needs of contemporary society, the expectations for schools and school leaders have changed profoundly. The role of school leaders has changed radically as countries transform their education systems to prepare young people to function in today's world of rapid technological change, economic globalization and increased migration and mobility. In the school set-up, optimum contribution of the staff involved is the function of the leadership of the school heads. Hence it would be imperative to study the preferences of the school heads regarding leadership in terms of the preferred leadership style and traits. This paper is an integral part of the doctoral dissertation - ‘A study of Management Practices of Secondary Schools’. A sample of 188 secondary schools - about 34% of the population in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh in India, was selected through stratified sampling technique. The primary data was collected through self designed questionnaire and interview schedules. The findings reveal that the democratic style of leadership was preferred by more than 75% of the school heads. Among the five traits tested, private unaided principals showed a high positive inclination towards all the traits. The school heads of others categories were good only on the trait of motivation which directly supports their preference for democratic style of functioning.