The Influence of Distributed Leadership on Teachers’ Competency in Secondary School

Abstract

School leadership plays an important role in achieving the desired goals and objectives of quality education. The leadership practices of principals are vital in effecting meaningful change and improvement in schools. In this study, the distributed leadership role of the principal is examined as a key strategic aspect that leads to teachers’ competency. This is due to the main functions of distributed leadership that model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to identify the level of distributed leadership practices of principals in secondary schools. Moreover, this study investigates the relationship between distributed leadership practices of school principals and teachers’ competency. A quantitative research design was adopted to collect data, and a survey questionnaire was randomly distributed to 395 secondary school teachers. Data gathered from the respondents were analysed using SPSS (v.23) statistical software for both descriptive and inferential analyses. A descriptive analysis (mean and percentage) was used to identify the level of distributed leadership among principals and teachers’ competency. Next, a Pearson linear correlation test was used to determine the relationships between five dimensions in the independent variable (distributed leadership) and dependent variable (teachers’ competency). The research findings showed that the overall mean score for the level of distributed leadership of principals was moderately high (mean = 4.19; SD = 0.585), and the overall mean score for the level of teachers’ competency was also moderately high (mean = 4.39; SD = 0.430). Additionally, there was a significant correlation between distributed leadership practices of principals and teachers’ competency (r = .496, p = 0.05).