Impact of teachers’ demographic characteristics on their perceptions of headteachers’ leadership styles in selected public senior high schools, Ghana

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which teachers' demographic characteristics (age, gender, and educational qualification) are associated with their perceptions of headteachers' leadership styles in two public senior high schools in the Atwima Mponua District, Ghana. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed, involving 168 teachers selected through a census approach. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire measuring teachers' perceptions of transformational, democratic, authoritative, laissez-faire, and situational leadership styles. The instrument demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency across all subscales (Cronbach's α = 0.761–0.852). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and independent-samples t-tests.The findings showed that age was significantly associated with teachers' perceptions across all five leadership styles (F(6, 161) = 2.91–4.52, p ≤ 0.006, η2 = 0.098–0.144), indicating small-to-moderate effects. Post hoc analyses further revealed that these differences were concentrated primarily between younger teachers (26–35 years) and older teachers (41 years and above). Gender was associated with perceived democratic leadership to a small extent (d = 0.33) and perceived transformational leadership to a moderate extent (d = 0.57), whereas no significant gender differences were observed for authoritative, laissez-faire, or situational leadership. Educational qualification was not significantly associated with teachers' perceptions of any leadership style (p > 0.05), although this finding should be interpreted in light of the limited variability in qualification levels across the sample. The study contributes to educational leadership scholarship by demonstrating that teachers' perceptions of headteachers' leadership styles are more strongly associated with career-stage differences than with formal educational attainment. By adopting a follower-centred perspective, the study extends relational understandings of educational leadership and provides context-specific evidence from Ghanaian secondary education. The findings highlight the value of adaptive and context-sensitive leadership practices, while remaining bounded by the study's cross-sectional, perception-based design, which supports associative rather than causal interpretations.