Leadership Styles And Practices Toward Educational Effectiveness:A Case Study On High School Principals In Greater Accra Region,Ghana

Owing to the high school clientele's interest in the effectiveness of education on their wards as education is made free from the government of the day,the interest in happenings in Ghanaian high schools have risen.These stakeholders on demanding the substantial use of the tax payer's money on pre-tertiary education places a demand on high school leadership to how the school is subsequently managed and its positive impact on students.These lead to the high burden on Ghanaian high school principals in the 21^stcentury expecting to perform more,hence,the need for the application of various educational leadership styles.Exploring into how the school is managed in some selected category schools in Greater Accra,Ghana,this study was designed to dig deeper into the resourceful leadership styles and practices that are employed by some principals.Adopting a qualitative research method,an explorative case study was designed holding 3 high schools.The total participants of the study were 201 out of an estimated participant of 219.These participants were principals,assistant principals,teachers and students.Formal and informal interviews,and focus group discussions were conducted.In achieving the purpose of this explorative research these questions guided the perspective to which data collection was undertaken;searching on the patterns of practices and roles of these principals,leadership styles,and how effective they reveal in realising a transformative and impactful educational result on students.To further legitimize the data received,the researcher conducted artefact mining,and investigations during and after interview,and observed various factors affecting the study.Data was then transcribed,using NVivo 12 and manual coding.Upon expounding the themes and further discussions,the study found that principals in the case schools apportioned 90%of their vision prospects to transformative learning(academics).Furtherance to that,it was revealed that these principals employed distributive leadership models with‘management by working';this was a style which saw the school principal getting involved in assignments and also being keen on monitoring and supervision.Also,the findings affirm that the leaders used transformational and transactional models together in one approach,this was then coined as‘transfor-sactional model'.This saw the holistic development of the students in their quest to education.The study developed a‘Student Educational Outcome Model'.This model is based on the impact of school principals,and presents two significant factors affecting students'educational outcomes in high schools.The study in its conclusion states that,the principals revealed an outstanding practice through their various educational leadership styles to create a learning environment for students.In the study's recommendation,similar or related study can be conducted using different research approach to solicit more responses from participants.This research further accentuates that there is the need for an in-depth educational background for principals at least master's degree clutched with experience and innovative minds which must be the yardstick for employing principals in such a result-oriented generation.