Abstract

This study examined principals’ leadership capacities and styles as perceived by teachers in public secondary schools in Katsina Local Government Area of Katsina State. A descriptive research of survey type was used for the study. Two research questions guided the study. A total of 200 teachers and 10 out of 27 public secondary schools in Katsina Local Government Area were sampled for the study through a simple random sampling technique. A modified ‘Principals’ Leadership Capacities Questionnaire’ developed by Luo (2004) and a self-structured questionnaire were used to collect data, which was analyzed by using simple percentage technique and frequency counts. Findings showed that, the teachers perceived their principals as either having no capacity, little capacity, moderate capacity or excellent capacity. The principals were considered to have little capacity in the area of communicating the school vision to staff, students and parents, among others. The principals were considered to be having moderate capacity in the use of effective strategies to implement this vision; allocation and use of human and material resources effectively, legally and equitably, among others. The principals were also considered to have excellent capacity in the area of the vision of learning to promote students’ success and effective use of time management. Furthermore, the principals were considered adopting a democratic leadership style in almost all areas in the study. The study, therefore, recommended among others that, school principals required more leadership capacities through professional development programmes/training such as workshops, seminars and conferences so as to enhance their abilities in communicating school vision, accommodating learners’ needs due to little capacity identified in these leadership variables.

Keywords: Teacher, perception, principal, leadership capacity, leadership styles.