Leadership Style of School Heads in Relation to Teachers Classroom Practices in Selected Secondary Schools in PASIG

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the leadership style of School Heads in relation to Teachers’ classroom practices in selected secondary schools in Pasig, responded by the School Heads and Teachers. The researcher used a descriptive survey method in collecting quantitative information in a conducive condition that enable respondents to answer the questionnaires through a checklist concerning the leadership style of school heads in secondary schools in Pasig in relation to teachers’ classroom practices honestly and thoroughly. In this study, the school heads, and teachers at secondary schools in Pasig were assigned to answer research questions. From a total of 156, there were 6 (six) school heads and (150) hundred fifty teachers participated in the research questions. Based on the information gathered through survey questionnaires, most of the principal respondents are 35-41 years old, female married, has master’s degree with doctorate units and in up to 36 years in service, as per the results, most school heads are using their instinct as a guiding mother to their children while updating their skills and knowledge in terms of leadership competence through post-graduate studies and used their gained abilities for the betterment of their schools in terms of teachers\' classroom practices, using the scales on the questionnaires, the teachers also assessed the level of the leadership style of school heads in terms of achievement-oriented as very satisfactory with a weighted mean of 3.44, which showed that the leadership style of most school heads manifests an achievement-oriented style, the respondents are very satisfied with the school heads’ showing concern for the welfare of teachers; helping teachers overcome profession, and motivating teachers through material and non-material, incentives and support, while directive, supportive and participative as satisfactory, while the teachers’ respondents are 28-34 years old, female, married, has bachelor’s degree with master units, with a position as Teacher I and teaches for below 7 years, being new to the profession teachers combined their theoretical, applied learnings and mentored deftness to lift the standard of their performances when it comes to classroom practices, teachers in terms of mastery of the subject, teaching skills, classroom management, and education skills was assessed as always. There is a significant difference between the school heads’ leadership style and their gender, highest educational attainment, position, and length of service. There is a significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership style and the classroom practices of the teacher respondents.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The success of a school as an organization largely rests on the leadership style of the school head. As a leader, the school head orchestrates all the personnel involved and all components of the school to achieve the vision, mission, and goals of the institution. Indeed, a well-organized school that runs smoothly daily is an efficient and effective system that benefits the teachers and students significantly. “The leadership impact is desirable in an organization to aid easy ad maximum success” (Adegbesan, 2015).1The foregoing studies demonstrate the critical role that school head leadership style plays in the management of the school system. There is however a dearth of studies on how the leadership of school heads affects or influences how teachers execute their practices in the classroom. Hence, this study seeks to fill that gap. The school heads and teachers at the secondary schools in Pasig Division are in forefront of the implementation of the k-12 curriculum in the area. Thus, it is necessary for the school heads and teachers of these schools to work as one and be a united organization for the benefit of the students and the community they serve. The dynamic relationship between them deserves to be critically examined in one of its crucial aspects- school heads’ leadership and its relation to teachers’ classroom practices. This study will adopt the Positive Discipline Model of Classroom Management according to Frederic H. Jones. According to Jones, to build positive classroom discipline, “teachers must model appropriate behavior and appropriate classroom management methods”.

According to Rajbhandari (2007), leadership is a dominant factor in schools. It emerges from the type of environment of working forces prevailing in the school, whether private or public. Furthermore, leadership styles vary depending on the school’s vision, mission, and goals set by the policymaker. Ukeje (20027) observes that leadership means influencing people to work willingly with zeal towards the achievement of corporate goals. A leader cannot work alone, he must have people to influence, direct, carry along, sensitize, and mobilize toward the achievement of the corporate goal. The manner that a leader performs these roles and directs the affairs of the organization is referred to as the leadership style. Some leaders are more interested in the work to be done than in the people they work with while others pay more attention to their relationship with subordinates than the job. Nathan (2002) states that providing leadership is a very essential component of a leader’s role. The leadership style leaders choose to perform the above-mentioned roles will determine whether they will accomplish the task at hand and long-term organizational goals or not, and whether they will be able to achieve and maintain positive relationships with staff.

Goleman (2000) states that leaders using the democratic or participative style of leadership build consensus through participation, but these leaders also expect a higher level of excellence and self-direction. From my own experience, I have observed that these leaders have time to listen and share ideas with their followers. They also tend to be more flexible and responsive to one’s needs. They can motivate teachers to participate in decision-making and are respectful. Hoy and Miskel (2001) directive leadership style is similar to the task-oriented style. The leader who uses this type of leadership style provides teachers with specific guidelines, rules, and regulations with regard to planning, organizing, and performing activities. This style is deemed to be appropriate when the subordinates’ ability is low and or the task to be performed is complex or ambiguous. Job satisfaction s increased when the leader gives more directives. The supportive leadership style is more of a relationship-oriented style. it requires the leader to be approachable and friendly. He /she displays concern for the well-being and personal needs of the subordinates. He/she creates an emotionally supportive climate. This style is effective when subordinates lack self-confidence, work on dissatisfying or stressful tasks, and when work does not provoke job satisfaction. Hersey and Blanchard (1998), state that there is no single best style of leadership. Situational leadership is achievement-oriented and is defined around four characteristics: directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. The directing characteristics are based on one-way communication, where the leader defines the role of the individuals/followers based on specific tasks. Generally, there is little to no importance placed upon relationships, and this can be an effective leadership style when subordinates lack motivation. School heads can use this style when giving directions or instructions to teachers and when supervising staff at the school. This style is suitable when dealing with a teacher who is in their first year of teaching and someone who requires more attention and supervision.

A logical approach to understanding leadership is to study the traits and characteristics of effective leaders. For many years, scholars downplayed the study of leadership characteristics, but an interest in the inner qualities of leaders was reawakened, particularly with respect to ethical qualities and charisma, including vision. The traits of leaders relate closely to the degree to which others perceive their people to be leaders, for example, a person who exudes self-confidence would generally be perceived as having leadership qualities. Research evidence confirms that effective leaders are different from other people they have the “right stuff”. The current interest in leadership traits is also reflected in the demand for leaders with vision and mission. According to Charlotte Danielson (2006) in preparation programs, teachers learn the skills of teaching. Few have the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to exercise leadership in their schools. If teachers are to be leaders, they must have the skills to do so. The most important teacher leadership skills are described below: Collaboration skills- establishing group norms, selecting a leader, and determining roles. Facilitation skills- introducing a topic, leading the discussion, keeping the group on track, clarifying, mediating, dealing with negativity, and knowing when to summon outside expertise. Planning skills- teachers typically pass through the following steps: brainstorming, determining what would count as evidence, collecting and analyzing relevant data. Action and evaluation skills- setting goals, determining evidence of success, planning actions, maintaining logs activities. Astin and Astin (2001) describe leadership as the ability to get all members of the organization to perform tasks required to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Good leadership is essential if schools are to improve. Exemplary leadership creates a sense of excitement about teaching and learning within the school and community by focusing on the dreams and expectations of students, parents, and the community.                   

The study aimed to determine the leadership style of School Heads in relation to Teachers’ classroom practices in selected schools in Pasig Cluster II in School Year 2021-2022. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the School Heads and teachers at selected Secondary Schools in Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig City in terms of: Age, Gender, Civil Status, Educational Attainment, Position, Length of Service, 2. What is the level of the perceived style of the school heads of selected Secondary Schools in Pasig Cluster II in terms of Directive leadership, Supportive leadership, Participative leadership, Achievement-oriented leadership?

What is the level of teachers’ classroom practices of selected Secondary schools in Pasig Cluster II Division of Pasig for School Year 2021-2022 in terms of, Mastery of the subject matter, Teaching Skills, Classroom Management; and Educational Skills? Is there a significant difference between the leadership style and demographic profile of the school heads in selected secondary schools In Pasig City? Is there a significant difference between the teachers’ practices and their demographic profile in selected secondary schools in Pasig City? Is there a significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership style and the teachers’ classroom practices in the selected secondary Schools of Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig City School Year 2021-2022?

For the statistical questions stated above, namely questions 4,5 and 6, the following null hypotheses are offered, respectively 1. There is no significant difference between the leadership style and demographic profile of the school heads in selected secondary schools of Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig City, SY 2021-2022. 2. There is no significant difference between the teachers’ classroom management practices and their demographic profile in the selected secondary schools of Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig City, SY 2021-2022. 1. There is no significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership style and the teachers’ classroom management practices in the selected secondary schools of Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig City, SY 2021-2022.

This study was conducted within the school year involving the school heads and teachers at the Selected Secondary Schools of Pasig Cluster II, for the school year 2021-2022. The inquiry will be limited only to the leadership styles of the school heads in relation to the teachers’ classroom practices.

II. METHODOLOGY

The descriptive survey method of research was used in this study. It involved collecting data to test hypotheses or answer questions concerning the leadership style of school heads in selected secondary schools in Pasig Cluster II in relation to teachers’ classroom practices and to explore the causes of particular phenomena. The descriptive survey type utilized the questionnaire which is a distinguishable aspect of the technique for obtaining and analyzing quantitative data. This study is an organized attempt, interpret and report the leadership style of school heads in selected secondary schools and this method signifies the gathering of data regarding the present condition. Since the present investigation is concerned with the leadership style of school heads in selected secondary schools in Pasig Cluster II in relation to the teachers’ classroom practices, the descriptive survey method of research is the most appropriate method to use because it dealt with survey and description of facts and present condition existing in terms of the leadership style of school heads in selected secondary schools. The respondents of this study were the secondary heads of selected secondary schools in Pasig. A total of 156 (six (6) school heads and one hundred fifty (150) teachers) are used as the sample of the study using a stratified random sampling technique, the stratified random sampling technique is a technique used for selecting samples in such a way those specific subgroups have a sufficient number of representative within the sample to provide sample number for sub-analysis of the members of these sub-groups. In this strategy, the target population is first divided into groups each belonging to the same stratum. This is to avoid the possibility of getting samples from another stratum. Selected secondary school heads in Pasig cluster II were taken as the population of the study. The researcher decided to consider several secondary school teachers and school heads to maintain the reliability and validity of the data gathered through the questionnaire.

The distribution of respondents for school is shown in table 1. The distribution shows equal per school.

The respondents of the study were the secondary school heads of the Secondary School in Pasig. A total of 156 (six (6) school heads and one hundred fifty (150) teachers) were used as the sample of the study using stratified random sampling techniq

The questionnaires were the main instrument used in gathering data in this study. The researcher constructed it after he had available related to the topic; leadership style and demographic profile by the researcher and were submitted to the adviser for corrections and suggestions. After the correction, it was again shown to the adviser for final approval before the questionnaire was conducted among the respondents.

The questionnaire consisted of various parts, Part I dealt with the school heads’ and teachers’ profiles such as age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, position, and length of service. Part II dealt with the level of the leadership style of the school heads of the Secondary Schools in Pasig Cluster II, Division of Pasig for S.Y. 2021-2022 in terms of directive, supportive, participative and achievement oriented. Part III dealt with the level of classroom practices of the school heads and teachers of the Secondary School in Pasig Cluster II Division of Pasig for 2021-2022 in terms of mastery of the subject matter, teaching skills, classroom management, and education skills.

A five-point Likert scale was used in describing the level of leadership styles of school heads, and the classroom practices of the teachers.

The scale and meaning were listed below:

                                                    Range of Mean                 Verbal Interpretation

                                                                5                  -                Outstanding

                                                                4                  -             Very Satisfactory

1.               -                 Satisfactory

                                                                  2                  -                       Fair

                                                                1                  -                       Poor

The means of the responses in the research-made instrument were also given equivalents which served as bases for the interpretation of the findings. The following summarizes the verbal equivalents of the responses and the verbal interpretations of the means.

Scale                                    Range of Means                                Interpretation

                                   5                                    4.20-5.00                                              Always

                                   4                                   3.40-4.19                                             Often

                                   3                                   2.60-3.39                                          Sometimes

                                   2                                   1.80-2.59                                             Rarely

                                   1                                   1.00-1.79                                             Never

All data gathered by the instruments were tallied, tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted accordingly by the statistician. The data were treated in the following:

Percentage was used to determine the proportion of the respondents belonged to a specific category, Weighted mean was used to determine the mean age and the final weight in each item on the profile of the school heads and the profile of the teachers at the secondary schools.

Chi-square was used to determine the relationship between the leadership style and demographic profile of the school heads, relationship between teachers’ classroom management practices and their demographic profile and school heads’ leadership style and teachers’ classroom management practices.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Profiles of the School heads and Teacher Respondents

Table 1 presents the frequency distribution of respondents in terms of demographic profile.

As reflected, most of the school heads respondents were ages 42-28 years old with a frequency of three (3) or 50 percent and most of the teacher respondents were ages 28-34 years old with a frequency of forty-six (46) or 30.67 percent. Most of the school heads respondents were females with a frequency of four (4) or 66.67 percent and married with a frequency of three (3) or 50 percent while majority of the teachers were female with a frequency of one hundred seven (107) or 71.33 percent and married with a frequency old seventy-eight (78) or 52 percent. As regards to their educational attainment, a frequency of two (2) or 33.33 percent have a master’s degree with doctorate units and most of the teachers have a bachelor’s degree with masteral units with a frequency of ninety-four (94) or 62.67 percent. Most school heads are Principal I and II with a frequency of 2 or 33.33 percent and one (1) or 16.67 percent were Principal III and IV. Most of the teacher respondents were teacher I with a frequency of 102 or 68 percent. Nineteen or 12.66 percent were teacher II, sixteen or 10.67 percent were Master teacher I, ten (10) or 6.67 percent were teacher III and 3 or 2 percent were Master teacher II. Most of the Principal respondents were in the service for 1-7, and 36-above years with a frequency of two or 33.33 percent. One (1) or 16.67 percent for 15-21 and 22-28 years. Most of the teachers-respondents teach for 1-7 years with a frequency of 78 or 52 percent. Forty-eight or 32 percent teach for 8-14 years, and eighteen or 12 percents teach for 15-21 years. While five (5) or 33.33 percent teach for 22-28 years and only 1 or 0.67 percent teach for above 36 years.

B. Level of the perceived leadership style of the school heads at the selected secondary schools as perceived by themselves and teachers in Pasig City Cluster II.

As per the results, the area of mastery of the subject matter resulted in an overall weighted mean of 4.30 and was interpreted as A or Always. The respondents were always comprehending and had an accurate grasp of the subject m

The results show that participative leadership has the least weighted mean with 3.29 and verbally interpreted as S or satisfactory, as well as directive and supportive leadership has a weighted mean of 3.35 and 3.27 respectively and verbally interpreted as S or satisfactory, however, Achievement-oriented leadership style had the highest weighted mean with 3.44 and verbally interpreted as VS or very satisfactory. The respondents are very satisfied and motivated at accepting all bona fide students, felt fair and justice in resolving complaints and grievances of teachers, vividly saw the concern for the welfare of teachers, improves at facing professional challenges, and were highly motivated through incentives and support of the school leaders.

C. Level of teachers’ classroom practices of selected Secondary schools in Pasig Cluster II Division of Pasig for School Year 2021-2022.

As per the results, the area of mastery of the subject matter resulted in an overall weighted mean of 4.30 and was interpreted as A or Always. The respondents were always comprehending and had an accurate grasp of the subject matter; relating subject matter to the fields of knowledge; integrated subject matter with relevant topics; enriched discussions with contemporary issues and events; answered students’ inquiries intelligently and to point; providing intelligent resolution of the students question and often possessing the skill in the science and art of motivation; explaining difficult concepts well and providing appropriate reinforcement. In the area of teaching skills resulted to an overall weighted mean of  4.38 and verbally interpreted as A or Always, the respondents were always organizing and presenting subject matter clearly and coherently; communicating ideas effectively in English/Filipino fluently; presenting the lesson systematically and analytically; using language effectively in expressing ideas in class discussions; stimulating thinking and clarify lesson through effective questions; adjust teaching methods to students’ needs, interest, and abilities using a variety of teaching techniques, approaches, and strategies to make the lesson interesting and meaningful. In the area of classroom management resulted in an overall weighted mean of 4.39 and was verbally interpreted as A or Always, the respondents were always commanding respect on the students; preparing adequately for the day’s learning activities; starting learning activities promptly; coming to class early and leaves it on time; utilizing class periods productively; awakening and maintaining students’ interest in the lesson and class discussion; administering test effectively and returns corrected papers and other students’ work promptly; achieving teaching objectives to the optimum degree possible for the particular subject lesson, or activity within a reasonable time frame; handling disciplinary problem effectively and making classroom atmosphere cordial and cooperative to enhance the learning process.  In the area of education skills resulted to an overall weighted mean of 4.47 and was verbally interpreted as A or Always, the respondents were always evaluating students’ performance fairly and use adequate and accurate standards measures of evaluation; selecting and utilizing criterion-referenced tests; analyzing and interpreting evaluation results skillfully; utilizing evaluating result as basis for improving instruction; using varied forms of evaluation tools; evaluating the performance of the students on the basis of the course objectives through discussions, quizzes, and major examinations; giving grades on the basis of students performance; treating each student fair and square and acting according to own intellectual judgment.

D. Significant Difference between the leadership style and demographic profile of the school heads in the selected secondary schools in Pasig City.

Table 4 presents the computed F-value on the significant difference between the leadership style and demographic profile of school heads in the selected secondary schools in Pasig City

Table 4.a. showed the results of the significant difference performed on the leadership style in terms of age, Civil status, and Highest Educational Attainment. With an F (6, 150) and a p-value = 0.065, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus the null hypothesis was accepted, hence, there is no significant difference in the level of leadership style and age. With an F (3, 153) and a p-value = 0.290, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus the null hypothesis was accepted, hence, there is no significant difference in the level of leadership style and Civil status. With an F (4, 152) and a p-value = 0.004, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus the null hypothesis was rejected, hence, there is a significant difference in the level of leadership style and Highest Educational Attainment. With an F (10, 146) = 3.803 and a p-value= 0.000, which was lower than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. There was a significant difference in the level of leadership style when grouped according to their position. With an F (5, 151) = 10.661 and a p-value= 0.000, which was lower than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. There was a significant difference in the level of leadership style when grouped according to their length of service.

Table 4. b.

Significant Difference between the Leadership Style and Gender

Table 4.b. revealed the results of the t-test performed to find out if there was a significant difference between the levels of leadership styles when grouped according to sex. Based on a t-value = -2.618 having a value = 0.000 which was lower than the alpha level of 0.05, the Null hypothesis was accepted, there was a significant difference levels of leadership styles of the school heads when grouped according to their sex. This implied that the level of females’ leadership style confidence was significantly higher than the males’.

1. Significant Difference between the level of Teacher’s classroom management practices and their demographic profile in the Selected Secondary Schools in Pasig.

Table 5. a

 Table 5 showed the results of the significant difference performed in the classroom management practices of the teachers in terms of Age, Civil Status, Highest Educational Attainment, Position, and Length of Service. With an F (6, 150) = 1.364 and a p-value = 0.241, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was accepted, there was no significant difference in the classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their age. With an F(4, 152) = 1.056 and a p-value = 0.370, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was accepted, there was no significant difference in the classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their civil status. With an F(5, 151) = 0.651 and a p-value = 0.627, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was accepted, there was no significant difference in the classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their educational attainment. With an F (10, 146) = 2.960 and a p-value = 0.003, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was rejected, there was a significant difference in the classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their position. With an F(5, 151) = 0.815 and a p-value = 0.518, which was higher than the alpha level of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was accepted, there was no significant difference in the classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their length of service.        

Table 5. b

Significant Difference between the Classroom Management Practices and their Gender

Table 5. b presented the results of the t-test performed to find out if there is a significant difference between the levels of classroom management practices of the teachers when grouped according to their Gender. Based on the t-value = -.661 having a p-value = 0.21 which was lower than the alpha level of 0.05, there was a significant difference between the levels of teachers’ classroom management practices when grouped by gender. This implied that the level of confidence of the female teachers was significantly higher than the level of the male teachers.

Table 6.

Significant Relationship between the Leadership Style of the School Heads and the Classroom Management Practices of teachers.

Table 6 revealed the results of the significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership style and the teachers’ management practices. With an F (74, 82) = 7.713 and a p-value = 0.000 which is lower than the alpha of 0.05, thus, the null hypothesis was accepted. There was a statistically significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership styles and the teachers’ classroom management practices.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Teachers should continue to study and attend activities that will further develop their capabilities.
2. Teachers should always support the school head in all undertakings that will prepare them to be future leaders.
3. School heads should act as a role model with good leadership style to teachers, parents, and students.
4. School heads should consider the plight of every teacher to motivate them.
5. School heads should always be flexible and versatile in his or her subordinates.
6. School heads should always manifest fair and just leadership so the teachers will always be effective.   

Conclusion

A. Most of the school heads are female and married and were well experienced with the craft, they can use their motherly approach to cater the needs of their teachers, and they can share their skills and knowledge as well as their motivating personalities to mentor the teachers, teachers, on the other hand, are truly coachable and open for new ideas because most of the teachers are neophytes in the system and considered rookies. B. Educational attainment and years in the service of the school heads can greatly influence the teachers’ trust in the school heads’ mentoring and coaching ability, believing that the school head has mastered the different courses in the field. C. There is a great relationship between the leadership style of the school heads and the teachers’ classroom management practices, teachers are performing well, doing their best, and working beyond expectations if they can see and feel that their school head is concern about their welfare, in terms of being supportive in teachers professional growth, helpful and directive for teachers to get their targets, allowing the teachers to participate and collaborate in school governance, fair and just in giving rewards and acknowledging their efforts achievements.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Christian Lloyd M. Garcia. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.