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The concept of teacher leadership has been widely discussed in the literature, with research conducted in various parts of the world including the United States of America, Canada, UK, China, and Australia. However, there has been limited exploration of this form of leadership in the Nigerian context. The present research utilized the full range of leadership model to investigate teacher leadership in Nigerian secondary schools. Specifically, the present study was focused on determining the prevalent teacher leadership style in Apo secondary schools according to students’ perception. Secondly, the research sought to establish which leadership style that consistently predicted students’ extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction with the teacher. Lastly, the researcher was interested determining whether any significant differences exist in teachers’ leadership styles by gender and school type. To achieve these objectives, a quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted across 20 secondary schools in Apo district, using a revised version of the multi-factor leadership questionnaire (5X Short) in pen-and-paper format. The survey was self-administered by 574 senior secondary students (SSS3) from both public and private secondary schools in Apo district, Abuja Municipal Area Council, Nigeria, with a mean age of 15.9 years. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and independent samples t-test statistics on SPSS. The findings of the study showed that transformational teacher leadership style was more prevalent in secondary schools in Apo district. More so, transformational teacher leadership style was found to significantly predict extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Additionally, transactional teacher leadership style significantly predicted effectiveness. Female teachers displayed more transformational leadership style than male teachers, and public secondary schools had more occurrences of transformational teacher leadership style than private secondary schools. These results suggest that active leadership behaviours as described in the full range of leadership model are present in the classroom according to students’ perception, and teachers are displaying a more transformational leadership style, which is considered the most effective form of leadership. The study has important implications for the development of teacher leadership in Nigeria. It highlights the existence of teacher leadership in the secondary school classroom context, particularly in AMAC secondary schools, and the benefits associated with the display of transformational teacher leadership style. Educational stakeholders in Nigeria, including government, teacher training institutions, principals, and teachers, should embrace teacher leadership as a pedagogical practice and develop it. Further research is needed to explore the extent and impact of teacher leadership in Nigeria. |
