Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between School Culture and
Principals’ Leadership style in Secondary Schools of Bishoftu Town Administration. In that
regard, it employed a mixed research method involving both qualitative and quantitative
data. A sample of 197 participants inclusive of school heads, teachers, and supervisors were
selected through stratified simple random and purposive sampling techniques with
probability proportion to size. Both primary and secondary data was collected. The major
sources of data include secondary schools Principals, supervisors, department heads, and
teachers. Primary data was gathered through survey questionnaire, and key informant
interviews. Secondary data sources such as government reports, books and educational
journals were also consulted for related information. Descriptive statistics such as
frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviations as well as inferential statistics like t test and correlation were used for data analyses through SPSS-Version 20 software. Key
findings from the study showed that most of the secondary schools were lacks strong work
culture and committed leadership to improve the overall performance the school system.
Weak enforcement of school norms, values and rules by the respective leaders were
constituted the major reasons poor culture which can be insignificantly influenced the
achievement of the stated goals and objectives. The study also found that laissez-faire
leadership style was the most common practiced leadership style followed by democratic
and autocratic leadership style in the study area. Though inadequately practiced by the
school heads, a democratic leadership style had has a strong association with school
culture and can be explained by the school culture taken into consideration. This implied
that any improvement in school culture would positively affect the practices of democratic
leadership style in secondary schools of the study area.The study concluded that unless a
well-established school cultures with proper leaderships style, of which democratic
leadership style is adopted, school performance will continue to decline and the
surrounding community lacks faith on the capacity of the respective leaders to bring
significant changes in school performance. The researcher recommended that the Bishoftu
Education Office school leaders in collaboration with training institutes have to provide
training for current principals on the concepts and practices of leadership styles and
organizational culture; encourage the adoption of leadership strategies by school leaders as
democratic or participative style, facilitating annual forums and experience sharing
programs among school leaders; and conducting further studies on issues related to school
culture and leadership styles.