Teachers’ perception of transferred headteachers’ emotional intelligence competences in Central Uganda Government Secondary Schools

Abstract

Traditionally, school headship efficacy has been determined by cognitive, academic, and technical competences. However, given the administrative inefficiencies inherent in the headteacher transfer process, coupled with the exceptional new challenges faced by contemporary school leadership, cognitive, academic and technical skills are no longer sufficient for effective school leadership. This state of affairs brings emotional intelligence to the fore of effective school leadership. Thus, this study explored teachers‘ perception of transferred headteachers‘ emotional intelligence leadership competences in Central Uganda Government secondary schools. The study was guided by four objectives namely: to examine teachers‘ perception of transferred headteachers‘ self-awareness leadership competences; to examine teachers‘ perception of transferred headteachers‘ self-management leadership competences; to explore teachers‘ perception of transferred headteachers‘ social awareness leadership competences; and to explore teachers‘ perception of transferred headteachers‘ relationship management leadership competences. The study employed interpretivist philosophical underpinnings, was qualitative in nature, and a multiple case study by design; involving four headteachers purposively selected from four districts in Central Uganda. The basis for selecting the four headteachers was the nature of each headteacher‘s transfer from their former schools to their current schools as; forced, requested, promotional, and overs stay transfer. Data was collected from 12 teachers, three from each school, using key informant interview protocol. Data was analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The results obtained indicate that: Three headteachers out of four, whose transfer was forced, promotional, and overstay, were perceived to possess adequate emotional intelligence leadership competences in terms of: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. However, one of the four headteachers, whose transfer was requested, was perceived to have limited self-awareness, selfmanagement, social awareness, and relationship management leadership competences. Besides, the results show that the three headteachers, whose level of emotional intelligence competences were high, were perceived positively by teachers, while the headteacher, whose level of emotional intelligence competences was low, was perceived negatively by teachers. Furthermore, the study did not establish a direct connection between the nature of headteacher transfer and their emotional intelligence leadership competences. Instead, the perceived emotional intelligence competences, or lack thereof, of the four headteachers were largely determined by their individual personalities, the internal and external environment of the school to which they were transferred, and the headteachers‘ approach to achieving their goals. The study recommends the need for headteachers to develop emotional intelligence competences; the need to introduce or strengthen emotional intelligence training to teacher trainees, need to organize the same training to in-service teachers, and the need to induct headteachers who are due to be transferred by giving them emotional intelligence leadership skills.