Leadership Styles and Student Outcomes in Secondary Schools: Exam Pass Rates, Attendance, and Discipline Incidents in Selected Schools of Chingola District, Zambia

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between educational leadership styles and student outcomes—exam pass rates, attendance, and discipline incidents—in selected secondary schools in Chingola District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. Using a mixed-methods descriptive design, data were collected from six secondary schools through surveys (n = 60), semi-structured interviews with school leaders, and document analysis of school records. Leadership styles examined include transformational, instructional, distributed, transactional, and laissez-faire. Quantitative analysis shows strong positive correlations between transformational and instructional leadership and higher exam pass and attendance rates, and strong negative correlations with discipline incidents. Distributed leadership demonstrates moderate positive relationships; transactional leadership shows weak positive associations; laissez-faire leadership correlates negatively with academic and attendance outcomes and positively with disciplinary problems. Qualitative findings support these patterns, highlighting practices that promote teacher development, collaborative decision-making, and data-driven instruction. The study recommends targeted leadership development, promotion of distributed leadership, strengthened data systems, and supportive resource allocation. Implications for policy and practice in resource-constrained contexts are discussed.