Teachers’ Perceptions of the Ethical Leadership of Male and Female Headteachers in Ghanaian Basic Schools

Abstract

The lack of ethical leadership is a pervading factor in today's society. Although interest in ethical leadership has increased dramatically in Ghana as a result of the June 4 revolution by the military that preached probity, accountability, and integrity, ethics within the context of leadership has not been a subject of much discourse. Being a skillful school leader presumes the competence to judge the ethical consequences of actions. This implies a need for all school leaders to analyze values at stake and in turn reconcile didactic rationality with ethical rationality. This article examines the ethical leadership practices of male and female headteachers of basic schools in Cape Coast Metropolis. In sum, 571 and 14 male and 38 female headteachers participated in the study. Furthermore, 128 teachers evaluated the ethical leadership practices of male headteachers, while 443 teachers evaluated that of 38 female headteachers. The purposeful sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The independent t test was used to analyze the data. It was found that there was no significant difference in the ethical leadership practices of male and female headteachers in Cape Coast Metropolis. It was recommended that headteachers should uphold ethical leadership practices, as this is key in gaining cooperation and group cohesiveness toward the achievement of stated goals.