Contemporary Leadership Approaches of Principals and the Management of Crisis in Public Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study examined how principals’ contemporary leadership approaches relate to effective crisis management in public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Four research questions were raised and four null hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The study focused on four contemporary leadership styles: transactional, transformational, charismatic and servant. A correlational research design was adopted. The population comprised 7,676 teachers in 270 public secondary schools, from which 562 teachers were sampled using multistage sampling. Data were collected using the researcher-developed instrument titled ‘Principals’ Contemporary Leadership Styles and Crisis Management Scale’ (PCLSCMS), which was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha which yielded 822 and .908 for Principals contemporary leadership styles and crisis management respectively. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used for data analysis at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed significant positive relationships between transactional, transformational, charismatic and servant. The study concluded that contemporary leadership styles are important determinants of effective crisis management in public secondary schools. Integrating contemporary leadership competencies can enhance principals’ capacity to prevent, manage, and resolve crises. The study recommends continuous leadership development, and comprehensive professional development programmes for principals to strengthen crisis preparedness, response, and management and promote a stable, cooperative, and safe learning environment in public secondary schools.

Contemporary Leadership styles, Crisis Management, Public Secondary Schools, Principals

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