Al-Hikmah University Journal

The study examined principals’ managerial styles and school effectiveness in public senior secondary schools in Kwara State, Nigeria. Two research questions and 4 research hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively based on the research purposes. Descriptive research design of correlation type was adopted for this study. This study purposely explored the managerial styles adopted by the principals and determined the level of effectiveness of principals’ managerial styles on school effectiveness. The population of the study comprised 6, 483 teachers and 384 principals in all the 384  public senior secondary schools in the three senatorial districts that constitute Kwara State (Kwara Central, Kwara North and Kwara South). Multistage sampling technique was employed for the study. Ten public senior secondary schools were randomly selected from each of the three senatorial districts that make up the Kwara State, thus 30 public senior secondary schools were selected for the study. The population of teachers in the sampled schools consisted of 956. Also, 278 teachers were selected using Research Advisor (2006) and Simple Random Sampling Technique was used for the study as the number of teachers in the sampled schools varied. Principals’ Managerial Styles and School Effectiveness Questionnaire (PMSSEQ) was designed to elicit relevant information from the respondents. The instrument was validated and subjected to reliability through a test  re-test method which gave 0.69 co-efficient. Thus, the instrument was adjudged reliable. The data gathered for the study were statistically analyzed using of frequency, percentage, mean rating and rank ordering to answer the research questions raised in the study. Pearson Product – Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. The data collected were tested using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft excel. The findings of the study revealed that principals’ managerial styles influence school effectiveness in public senior secondary school in Kwara State. It was recommended among others that: principals should ensure free flow of communication and carry all staff along in decision making to enhance effectiveness of the schools and principals should not restrict themselves to just one style of leadership, but rather have many varying styles depending upon the situation in order to improve the overall efficacy of the school system.