Abstract:
Education is a lifelong investment whose processes and outcomes are critical in the
development of a nation and civilizations. The quality of educational processes and
outcomes is of great concern to stakeholders. The study sought to determine the influence
of ethical leadership on the performance of public secondary schools within Dagoretti
sub-county, Nairobi County, Kenya. This was to assess the values, challenges and
possible mitigations to ethical leadership and performance of public secondary schools.
A total of 220 respondents were sampled from nine public secondary schools within
Dagoretti Sub County, with a population of 9597 students, 353 teachers, school boards of
management and sub-county education officers. Dagoretti sub-county is a cosmopolitan
rural and peri-urban environment with similarities with most sub-counties within Kenya.
The study was anchored on the theories of transformational leadership, distributed
leadership and stakeholder-based view. Descriptive survey research design guided by
mixed-method research philosophy was adopted. A response rate of 57.73% was
achieved. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and in-depth interview
guides. Data analysis, interpretation and presentation was done using descriptive statistics
of the mean, frequencies, percentages, graphs and tables. Correlation analysis was done
using the Spearman’s rho to evaluate the strength of relationship between ethical
leadership and school performance. The findings of the study revealed that ethical school
leadership values and practices to a great extent influence school performance. Ethical
leadership values of honesty, respect and service to others were found to have a moderate
positive relationship with effective implementation of school curriculum, plans, teaching
and learning environment, and school performance. The study recommends commitment
to capacity development of ethical school leaders, mainstreaming value-based education
and training, stakeholder involvement and improved communication so as to address
ethical lapses and challenges in leadership and school performance. This would enhance
the quality of education leadership, processes and outcomes within public secondary
schools nationally and in the Sub County. Further research on mainstreaming value-based
teaching and learning and stakeholder involvement in public secondary schools would be
necessary for better education leadership and management.