Principals’ Leadership Style and Teachers’ Job Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Oyo State

This study investigates the relationship between principals' leadership styles and teachers' job performance in public secondary schools in Oyo State, South West Nigeria. School leadership is a critical determinant of institutional effectiveness, and the style adopted by principals shapes the work environment, motivation, and professional commitment of teachers. In Oyo State, uneven school performance across local government areas has been partly attributed to differences in leadership quality and approach. This study adopts a descriptive survey design and collects data from 280 teachers in 20 public secondary schools across Ibadan North, Ogbomosho, and Oyo East local government areas. Leadership style is assessed using an adapted version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire measuring transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire dimensions. Teacher job performance is evaluated through self-report measures and validated by heads of department ratings. Data are analysed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression. Results reveal that transformational leadership is significantly and positively associated with teacher job performance, while laissez-faire leadership shows a significant negative relationship. Transactional leadership demonstrates a moderate positive effect. The study concludes that principals who adopt transformational leadership approaches elicit superior teacher performance in Oyo State public secondary schools. It recommends that the Oyo State Teaching Service Commission incorporate leadership training modules into principal appointment processes and provide ongoing professional development in instructional leadership for serving school heads.

Keywords: leadership style, transformational leadership, job performance, secondary schools, Oyo State.