| Summary: | Poor academic performance in high schools continues to be a concern to Lesotho. It
is this apprehension, which has prompted this study. On the research front, the
disquiet has been with scarcity of investigations on what school principals, through
their leadership practices, could do to influence a school culture that supports high
academic performance of learners. As a result, the main aim of the study was to
investigate and identify the leadership practices of school principals that are intended
to create and nurture a culture conducive to high academic performance in high
schools in Lesotho. The study also compared the leadership practices at schools
that perform academically well with those typical of schools that display poor
academic performance.
There are conflicting views on the influence of school principalsâ leadership practices
on school culture, which supports high academic performance of learners. Some
researchers maintain that the influence is little, but significant. However, principals
are held accountable for the advancement of schools and academic performance of
learners. It is therefore, in order that principals, through their leadership skills, should
effectively utilise human and material resources for the wellbeing of the schools they
lead. Leadership and school culture are considered as intertwined processes, which
exhibit reciprocal effects. The challenge has been to investigate what principals
could do to create and maintain an environment that enables teachers and learners
to work effectively.
The study adopted a positivist approach, which employed a quantitative research
designed to identify and describe the leadership practices of school principals and
the cultures prevailing at schools. A questionnaire was developed and used to collect
data from 120 respondents comprising teachers and principals chosen from 20 high
schools in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The data collected were analysed and
interpreted statistically for the results to be displayed in tables.
Given the scope of the research and the limiting factors therein, the results of the
study cannot be generalised to other settings of a similar nature. However, the study
has made recommendations that may help to alleviate the problem of poor academic performance in schools. The study has also contributed to the existing knowledge by
providing further areas of research in the field of educational leadership and
management.
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