Abstract

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of individuals to do tasks in achieving desired goals. The leader is a source of inspiration for workers. The purpose of the study was to examine the school leadership effectiveness at the secondary level in Punjab. The study was quantitative in nature and survey design was used. Three hundred principals, headmasters and headmistresses of secondary schools of districts Hafiz Abad and Sargodha were the samples of the study. For data collection, an instrument that was based on three factors i.e. anticipation, alignment and action was used. Five educational experts ensured the validity of the instrument and the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient value was 0.86. Mean, Standard Deviation, and independent sample t-tests were applied for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between male and female heads in school leadership effectiveness. Male leaders were better in school leadership effectiveness as compared to female leaders. Training is recommended for female leaders.

Key Words

School Leadership Effectiveness, Transactional, Transformational

Introduction

Human humans have the fundamental right to education. Education is essential for the moral, social, and economic development of a nation (Kopnina, 2020). The aim of education is to expose the potential of humans and to equip them to meet the emerging needs of society. Learners become capable to play a positive part in society. Education also prepares the younger generation to meet the demands of society. The learning process starts at home and continued throughout life. All the stakeholders are important for the education of the child. But the leaders of the institutions are considered the most important that play an effective part in the education of children (Suriagiri, 2022).

There are many definitions of leadership. Leadership is the art of motivating a group of individuals to action in achieving desired goals. The leader is a source of inspiration for workers and gives direction for new tasks. So workers follow directions as directed by the leader. The leader possesses a good personality, special traits and skills that make others follow. The leaders have a central role in the improvement and development of institutes. The leaders have a strong hold on the organizations. The people strongly follow their leaders. A leader creates a vision of the organization and effectively shares his/her vision with their workers (Budur, 2020).

Leadership is the art of having an influence on the behaviour of a well-organized group in order to achieve goals. Leadership is a personal trait that combines persuasion and compulsion. The assessment of own efforts is the quality of a leader. Leadership entails gaining the trust and cooperation of employees to the point that they will gladly and willingly execute any task assigned to them. Workers want their leaders to lead by example by being efficient, just, and truly concerned about their own well-being. Workers require sensitive care, just like we do for our children. Do not say something good about them in front of them, and do not dismiss any gesture of affection. Such kind of attitude develops loyalty, devotion and goodwill among workers. Take care of very little of their wants and create strong comradeship. Sometimes very timely little help brings comfort to them and their level of confidence increases. The workers never forget you in your hot time (Convey, 2020)

The great man leadership theorist believed that leaders are extraordinary people. They are born with leadership characteristics in order to lead people. The characteristics theorist stated that leadership skills are abundant and continue to produce. Leaders have characteristics such as intelligence, physical appearance, and good communication skills. Behavioural theorists believed that effective leaders display positive behaviours and have positive interpersonal relationships. They believed that a leader's behaviour was more essential than their characteristics. The pattern of behaviour is known as leadership style (Smith & Squires, 2016)

A situational leader responds according to the situation. Leaders can adopt a different style in each situation and can be the same in different situations within the same organization, they adopt autocratic as well as democratic styles (Maberah & Darawsha, 2021). While contingency theorists believed that a leader's success is dependent on two factors: first, the situation, and second, the style of leadership. Sometimes one style of leadership in one situation may be suitable, but not the same style for other situations. It is the refinement of situational theory. The theories of the 21st century focused on visionary and charismatic leadership. Transactional and transformational are the two approaches to leadership. In transactional leadership, the relationship between the leader and workers is always based on bargaining. Each party try to get its maximum benefits. Both leaders and workers get maximum benefits. Whereas in transformational leadership, there is mutual trust between leaders and workers. Leaders through their personal attributes develop a caring and trusty relationship. Workers do their tasks happily and willingly (Purwanto & Sulaiman, 2023).

In the literature, different aspects of leadership were studied by the researchers. The most popular areas of educational leadership research are leadership effectiveness and leadership styles. Researchers mostly treated school heads as leaders. The success of schools depends on a common and shared vision of head teachers and their promotion of cooperation trust and decentralization of power. A system can flourish and make progress because of leaders. So the success of the system depends upon the leaders. The leader's role is very important in making the institutes at the highest rank of excellence. The leader's right decision at the right time makes an organization more productive (Goolamally & Ahmad, 2014). A leader should be keenly interested to solve the problems that are occurring in the institution and also capable of presenting his point of view at all levels. The school's success is based on a learning environment for learners and the professional grooming of staff. This can be effectively done by emotionally literate leaders. The leader's emotional literacy plays a fundamental role in enhancing the performance of school heads (Hayat & Akbar, 2022) 

Alpha Leadership Model

This model of leadership is the latest model which is developed by three experts and master trainers of leaders throughout the world. It gives the latest approaches to ineffective leadership Robet Dilt, Anne Deering and Julian Russel designed this after a series of discussions and conservation. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek language which means first thing (Deering et al., 2009).

Leadership means to go advance as a guide. The word leadership is not authority or command or supremacy. Leadership is leading people through their own actions. The leader is always proving to be number one in actions and deeds. Leadership is leading and influencing through deeds and words. Effective leadership is the ability to involve persons in the process of attaining goals within an organization. A good leader always motivates people to attain common goals in an organization, social community or environment. (López-Fernández & García-Álvarez, 2023).

There are three factors of the Alpha Leadership model i.e. anticipation, alignment and actions. Anticipation is the leader’s ability to be aware of future and upcoming challenges in the system. The leaders should have the flexibility to react quickly and effectively. Alignment means the leader aligns all the workers to achieve the desired goal. In school, all stalk holders align to achieve the goal. The leader's ability to interact with others effectively and achieve the desired goals. The leader knows the impact of interpersonal relationships and winning the confidence of others so that they work happily.  Acting means what to do to achieve the goals and how to achieve goals. It also involves a commitment to achieve the goals. The leaders take effective action to achieve the goal and know exactly where to tap and keep the task right on course.

School Leadership

The school leadership is making the list and supervises the energies and talents of the teachers, students, parents and other employees of the institution to get specific objectives within the frame of time. Leadership has changed dramatically over the last two decades, and it has now emerged as a critical issue in educational reforms. Historically, principals' roles were limited to administrative and managerial tasks, with no regard for leadership. However, it is considered that the role of school leaders could be made more effective through training for school effectiveness (Aung & Hallinger, 2023). According to Fullan (2002), the moral aim of leadership is to embrace changes for the benefit of learners in and out of the institution. Williams, et al., (2022) School leadership was conceived of as a tool for guiding others towards the achievement of goals. Managing is the process of developing, shaping, and regulating available resources in order to bring about the desired objectives. According to Topping (2002), in order to work in efficient organizations, leaders should develop managing leadership capabilities and skills.

According to Sharma (2015), the performance of principals is mostly determined by their knowledge and skills in several areas, as well as their ability to make decisions. Only then school leadership be able to work effectively in a variety of school environments. According to YLuo et al. (2012), teachers assessed school leadership from the perspective of their talents. Teachers' perceptions of a principal's competence effects positively towards good school leadership (Hoyle et al., 2005). The educationists and researchers both were of the view that school leadership programs were needed to make relevant to the demands of emerging technologies. 




School Effectiveness

Most conducted research gave stressed the effective role of the principal but no school become effective without an effective principal. The effectiveness of schools directly depends on school principals. Principals have to play various roles in developing a supportive learning environment for learners. They have to gain staff commitment for the maximum use of human resources. It is also their responsibility to supervise individual teachers and the instructional strategies along with fulfilling the demands of the school education department as well as the higher hierarchy of administration. 

Babaliki, et al., (2011) documented that there was significant vagueness about specific activities to make the school effective. They wanted to find out the principles that can make the school effective. These are

1) Positive activities 

2) Good environment 

3) The maximum allocation of sources.

Bergseson and Heuschel (2004) highlighted the following factors which enhanced the effectiveness of a school.

1) Proficient school leadership.

2) Consistent hard work for betterment.

3) suitable teaching methodology

4) Accountability of teacher performance.

5) A curriculum is suitable to the needs of the society.

Jantzi et al. (2004) made a conclusion that the effectiveness of the school performance of learners heavily depends on school heads. The school heads directly impact on learning environment interpersonal relationship trust and student achievement. The professional behaviour and communication skills of school leaders enhance the trust of teachers in their administration. Kirby, et al., (2008) concluded from their study that the performance of learners and teachers is strongly correlated with the effectiveness of school leadership effectiveness. Effective leaders make their schools more effective and academically productive. The results also revealed that the performance of teachers and learners is poor because of ineffective heads. Effective Principals focused on a strong vision and students' academic performance. They gave more focused on students' basic skills for better learning and performance. They preferred to start at the planned time, focused on new instructional strategies and provide a comfortable zone for learning. Principals are the central figures who protected the integrity of the classes. They anticipated problems and difficulties regarding discipline and other areas in the school context. Effective principals developed good working relationships with the teachers and other staff of schools. The quality of higher mainly rests on the quality of secondary education. Secondary education is one of the most important levels of education. At this level, students decided their future plans in which fields they will go in future. Leadership plays a crucial part in developing and enhancing teaching quality, students' academic performance, improving the school learning environment and the relationship of school with the all stakeholders at the secondary school level.  Keeping in view the importance of school leaders at the secondary level. The main objective of the study was to examine the school leadership effectiveness at the secondary level in Punjab.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives were to:

1 Compare the school leadership effectiveness of the secondary level of district Sargodha and Hafiz Abad.

2 Compare leaders on school leadership effectiveness by gender, experience, age and area. 




Hypotheses of the Study 

The following were the null hypotheses of the study:

H01: There is no significant difference between school leaders of district Hafiz Abad and Sargodha on school leadership effectiveness.

H02: There is no significant difference between male and female leaders in school leadership effectiveness.

H03: There is no significant difference between the school leaders in their school leadership effectiveness by their age 

H04: There is no significant difference between the school leaders in their school leadership effectiveness by their experience.

H05: There is no significant difference between rural and urban school leaders in their leadership effectiveness.

Research Methodology

The study was quantitative in nature and survey research design was implemented. The population was all principals, headmasters and headmistresses of secondary schools in the province of Punjab. Multiple stage sampling technique was used to select the sample. In the first stage, two districts were selected randomly out of thirty-six districts of the province of Punjab. In the second stage three hundred principals, headmasters and headmistresses were selected randomly from districts Hafiz Abad and Sargodha. According to Gay (2000), random sampling is the process in which all individuals have an equal and independent chance of being selected. A sample of 300 is sufficient for an unknown population (Creswell, 2014; Fowler, 2013). A tool was developed by the researcher which was based on three factors: anticipation, alignment and actions. It consisted of thirty items on a five-point Likert scale. The validity of the instrument was ensured through five educational experts in that particular area. The reliability coefficient value was found 0.86, which showed high reliability. A technique of data collection should be valid and consistent. It is a laborious and patient task. The researcher personally visited the school heads through their consent and data were collected from two districts Hafiz Abad and Sargodha. Responses were analyzed by applying appropriate statistical techniques.

Findings of the Study

The following were the findings of the study

1 An Independent sample t-test was applied to compare the school heads of district Hafiz Abad and Sargodha on school leadership effectiveness at the secondary level. A significant difference was found between the heads of secondary schools of district Hafiz Abad and Sargodha on school leadership effectiveness. The heads of district Hafiz Abad were better in school leadership effectiveness as compared to the heads of district Sargodha. The value of p was (.001<.05). There was a significant difference found between the two districts. Hence heads of the secondary school of Hafiz Abad were better at school leadership effectiveness as compared to Sargodha.

2 The male heads were more effective leaders than female heads in school leadership effectiveness. Moreover, the mean score of male heads i.e. 4.1 was also greater than female heads 3.6 on their school leadership effectiveness. The value of p (.001<.05). There was a significant difference in the anticipation aspect of school leadership effectiveness. So males were more effective leaders than females in school leadership effectiveness.

3 There was no significant difference in the experience base of school leadership effectiveness. Moreover, the mean score up to year 10 was 3.80 and above 10 years was 3.81 which means no difference was found between the heads in their school leadership effectiveness. The value of p (.54 >.05). There was no significant difference in experience on school leadership effectiveness. 

4 There was no significant difference in age in school leadership effectiveness. Moreover, a mean score of up to 35 years heads was 3.89 and above 35 years was 3.88 which means there was no difference found between the school leaders in school leadership effectiveness. The value of p (.41>.05). There was no significant difference in age in school leadership effectiveness.

5 There was no significant difference between Urban and Rural school leadership effectiveness. Moreover, the mean score of urban heads was 3.85 and rural heads was 3.81 which means there was no difference between rural and urban heads on school leadership effectiveness. The value of p was (.56>.05). There was no significant difference in the locale on school leadership effectiveness.

Male Secondary school leaders were found better as compared to female secondary school leaders, while there was no significant difference found in age experience and locale wise. It was also found that secondary school heads of district Hafiz Abad were better in school leadership effectiveness as compared to secondary school heads of district Sargodha.

Discussion

The purpose of the study was to examine the school leadership effectiveness at the secondary level in Punjab. The study was descriptive in nature. The population was all the principals and headmasters/headmistresses of secondary schools in the Punjab. The random sampling technique was used. A sample of three hundred heads of secondary schools of district Hafiz Abad and Sargodha were selected randomly. The instrument was based on three factors including anticipation, alignment and action. The researcher's approach was to evaluate the school leaders on the alpha leadership model. The study is aligned with other studies in the literature. 

 When data were interpreted it was found that male leaders were better leaders in school leadership effectiveness. The results of the study are consistent with the results of studies (Salfi, Virk & Hussain, 2014; Tatla & Iqbal, 2012; Zahid & Gihar, 2012).  In our society there is gender discrimination so male-dominated society where females do have not equal chances to compete in the environment. The school leaders who were up to 35 years and above 35 years were the same in school leadership effectiveness. The school leaders above 10 years of service and up to 10 years were the same in school leadership effectiveness. The rural leaders were slightly better leaders than urban heads. The school heads show their authority to tackle the situation rather to adopt modern approaches of leadership to handle the situation. That is why there are no significant differences in experience age and area-wise school leader. 

Recommendations

The following recommendations were made on the base of the findings and conclusion.

1. Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development may arrange training for female school leaders to make them effective leaders. 

2. The male school leaders also need training for further development of skills in school leadership effectiveness. Online training sessions may be held for male secondary school leaders.

3. Male school leaders may be appointed in female schools for Better Performance

4. Clusters centre-wise workshops  may also be arranged to train them and maybe created a competitive environment among heads relating their performances

5. Such type of research may be replicated at the elementary level in other parts of the country. 

6. This article would be an excellent resource for educators and school leaders in Punjab, providing valuable insights into school leadership effectiveness.

7. Researchers and scholars interested in the field of school leadership effectiveness may find this article to be a valuable contribution to the existing literature, offering a comprehensive analysis of the factors that contribute to school leadership effectiveness at the secondary level in Punjab.

8. Teachers and educators working in secondary schools in Punjab could use the insights presented in this article to enhance their own leadership practices, improving the overall performance of their schools and benefiting their students.

9. Finally, students studying education and school leadership may use this article as a reference for their own research studies, gaining a deeper understanding. 

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