Leadership and Academic Staff Performance in Teacher Training Colleges in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Teacher Training Colleges hold a significant place among the various higher education institutions in the country. These are the oldest teacher education institutions in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted to identify the relationship between the leadership provided by Principals and Deputy Principals and the performance of academic staff (lecturers), and to determine the impact of leadership on staff performance across the eight existing teacher training colleges in Sri Lanka. Data were collected through the structured questionnaires from 18 leaders and 43 academic staff members across the eight teacher training colleges in Sri Lanka. The analysis was carried out using relevant statistical techniques. Accordingly, a correlation coefficient was utilized to identify the relationship between the performances of academic staff; however, this value was found to be statistically insignificant. The study revealed there was no relationship between leadership styles like work centered, employee centered and shared leadership and the overall performance of the academic staff. In addition, each leadership styles have not been correlated with the staff performance or its six determining factors: the nature of the work, employee knowledge and skills, achievement factors, intrinsic factors, professional factors, and ethical factors. Furthermore, leadership has not impact on the performances of the academic staff members (R square = 0.05). That means Work centered, employee centered (people oriented) and shared leadership have not contributed to the determination of performance.