Principals' Leadership Practices and Their Influence on Pupils' Character Development in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Urban Sierra Leone

Abstract

This study investigated principals' ethical leadership practices and their influence on pupils' character development in public senior secondary schools in urban Sierra Leone. The study was motivated by growing concerns over persistent indiscipline and the decline of moral values among secondary school pupils. A mixed-methods research design was employed, combining quantitative data from structured questionnaires administered to 84 teachers and qualitative data from Key Informant Interviews with 12 principals and Focus Group Discussions with 288 pupils, giving a total sample of 384 respondents selected from 12 public senior secondary schools across four major urban centres: Freetown, Bo, Kenema, and Makeni. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26 was used to analyse quantitative data, yielding descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA with a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of 0.826 for the teacher questionnaire, while NVivo software was employed for thematic analysis of the qualitative data. The findings reveal that school principals demonstrated ethical leadership through ethical role modelling, upholding ethical standards, enforcing fair and consistent discipline, and maintaining accountability and trustworthiness. Ethical role modelling was the most strongly endorsed dimension (total mean = 4.69), while accountability was the lowest rated (total mean = 4.24), though all dimensions fell within the “Agree” category. ANOVA results showed no significant gender differences in most dimensions (p > 0.05), except in the administration of rewards and punishment (p = 0.022). With respect to character development, teachers perceived pupils as having high moral awareness (mean = 4.69) and reasonable active participation (mean = 3.60) but showing deficiencies in punctuality (mean = 2.79), responsibility (mean = 2.24), empathy (mean = 2.71), and avoidance of examination malpractice (mean = 2.73). Qualitative findings corroborated these quantitative results, affirming that ethical leadership contributes to pupils' character development while acknowledging the persistence of indiscipline. The study recommends that principals consistently model ethical conduct; that the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) integrate ethical leadership into professional development programmes; and that schools implement comprehensive character education curricula emphasizing moral values such as honesty, fairness, responsibility, and empathy.