Abstract:
In Pakistani metropolitan cities, at school level, there are two types of educational
systems running parallel to each other. These are public schools run by Federal
Government, overseen by federal directorate of education. And chains of private
schools who either operate at provincial or national level with limited number of
campuses in key cities of Pakistan. Principals of schools in these systems have
different level of power and authority. This study was conducted to ascertain the type
of leadership exercised by principals in both type of schooling systems in the city of
Islamabad. Effects of leadership style of principal on HR functions that are
Recruitment and selection, Training and development, and Empowerment of faculty
members and consequently, its effects on student outcomes.
The researchers have developed two separate questionnaires for principal and faculty.
A sample of 30 schools was constructed which had equal proportion of Public and
Private sector schools. With public sector further segmentation was done on the basis
of girls and boys schools. Response rate was 86.66% in public sector and 46.66% in
private sector schools.
The analysis of the data showed that in Islamabad principal leadership style is slightly
tilted towards instructional leadership in public sector and is more towards
transformational leadership in private schools. Regression and Hierarchical Multiple
Regression (HMR) was used to see the effects of Principal Leadership Style on
student outcomes. The results show that Principal Leadership Style varying level of
effects on student outcomes. But this effect is mediated by faculty, working
conditions of school and human resource practices. Independently,principal’s
leadership stylehas not much effect. It was also found that Empowerment of faculty
had most profound effects on student outcomes in relation to HR functions mentioned
above. Other important results are also found which are elaborated in relevant
sections of the document.
