Leadership Research Summary:
- Educational leadership is a multifaceted area of study. Unquestionably, leadership is the most deliberate field within the social sciences. Still, administrators have evaded the notions of leadership concept like a haunting tune. This study has focused particularly on the significance of varied leadership styles in teaching to sustain academic excellence at the secondary school level. The quantitative research method was used. Data was collected through the scale of diverse leadership styles (strategic, cultural, instructional leaderships and sustaining academic excellence) from 103 secondary schools in Punjab, Pakistan. The sample consisted of 540 teachers who were enacting as teachers presently. Based on research objectives and questions, two hypotheses were formed and tested using mean analysis to determine the average ranking of leadership styles.
- Pearson correlation to know the statistically significant relationship between each leadership styles, and overall scales with sustaining academic excellence. The results revealed that most teachers give preference strategic leadership, then instructional leadership, and finally cultural leadership in their teaching to sustain academic excellence. Moreover, the findings also indicated that a statistically strong positive relationship among diverse leadership styles in teaching and sustaining academic excellence with the value (r = 0.752). Based on the findings, it has been concluded that when teachers increase their effort in the use of strategic, instructional, and cultural leadership styles, academic excellence may also sustain and improve.
Leadership Research Implications and Findings:
- The current study findings also supported earlier studies, such as; Day et al. (2016) concluded that self-governing leadership styles of institute managers were associated with positive effects on teachers’ performance. As summarize by Gerbi (2021) and Jay (2014), the leadership style of a school teacher is positively related to teacher performance that directly relates to students’ academic excellence, as indicate by Fatana (2021), that discovered a positive association among leadership style and instructors’ performance at work.
- The findings confirmed that teacher leadership styles are the most prevalent kind of leadership among instructors, followed by school leadership (Harris, 2002). Moreover, leadership styles significantly affect the teachers’ performance in the institution, which affects the teaching and learning process (Eyal and Roth, 2011). Lynch et al. (2016) synthesized 11 meta-analyses comprising almost 500 studies with over 1 million participants. It determined an overall effect of 0.36. As a result of leadership, a school’s ability to improve its performance can result in an increased leadership capacity in reciprocal relationships (Heck and Hallinger, 2010). Burns et al. (2017) compared the effects of different leadership activities; small to moderate benefits were reported for defining goals and expectations and fostering teacher learning and development. Ensure an ordered and positive teaching environment by planning, coordinating, and monitoring strategic resourcing. So, effective leadership for learning requires following school values, beliefs, and expectations. Borrowing from Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to you see in your school” (Robinson et al., 2008).
- This study will be helpful for teachers because it will provide information to understand the role of teaching in various leadership styles. Identifying aspects may help the teachers to maximize sustaining academic excellence.The central theoretical significance of this study is its contribution to the literature on the importance of leadership styles and management that helps to review the role of teaching in sustaining academic excellence perspective.