Leadership Styles and Retention of Teachers in Selected Secondary Schools in Ruhinda County, Mitooma District Uganda

This study examined the relationship between the leadership styles and retention of teachers in Ruhinda County, Mitooma District, Uganda. Leadership styles were studied in terms of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire on a sample of 107 secondary school teachers. The study adopted the correlational and cross-sectional designs and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaires as well as interview guides. Data analysis involved descriptive and inferential analyses. Descriptive results revealed that teacher retention was good. Nevertheless, while the use of transformational leadership was also good, there was moderate use of transactional leadership and low use of laissez-fair leadership. Regression analysis revealed that transformational leadership had a positive significant relationship with retention of teachers. Nevertheless, transactional leadership had a positive but insignificant relationship with retention of teachers while laissez-faire leadership had a negative and insignificant one. Therefore, it was concluded that transformational leadership is imperative for retention of teachers, transactional leadership is not the most probable leadership style for retention of teachers, and laissez-faire leadership is not a desirable leadership style. Therefore, the researcher recommended that head teachers should make it a priority to be transformational in their leadership, limit their use of transactional leadership style, and avoid laissez-faire leadership.