Abstract

In a school setting, apart from teaching and learning, school leadership is seen as one of the critical ingredients for successful schools. Based on this proposition, the study sought to examine the relationship between head teachers’ leadership styles and job satisfaction as perceived by public basic school teachers in Kwabre East Municipal, Ghana. Specifically, the study was conducted to determine the predominant head teachers’ leadership style used as perceived by the teachers, determine the level of teachers’ job satisfaction, and ascertain the relationship between leadership styles of head teachers and teachers’ job satisfaction. The study adopted a descriptive survey design, and 286 teachers were randomly selected for the study. A questionnaire was the main data collection instrument for the study. The collected data were analyzed using means, standard deviations and Spearman Correlation Moment Product. Results indicated that head teachers predominantly used a transformational leadership style, and teachers generally had a moderate level of job satisfaction. Furthermore, it was found that the transformational leadership style of head teachers correlated significantly with the teachers’ job satisfaction. Based on the findings from the study, it was concluded that head teachers’ leadership style determined the level of job satisfaction among teachers in public basic schools in the Kwabre East Municipal of Ashanti Region. Among others, it was recommended that head teachers in the municipal should be trained on how they can effectively use transformational leadership style in their day-to-day administrative duties.

Key words: Ghanaian basic school teachers; job satisfaction; laissez-faire, leadership styles, transactional, transformational.