School-Based Leadership Strategies of Secondary School Heads: Basis for Practical Management Plan

This study aimed to assess the extent of practice of school-based leadership strategies of secondary school heads and to develop a practical management plan based on the findings. Specifically, it examined the profile of school heads with respect to age, sex, civil status, position, length of administrative service, size of the school handled, highest educational attainment, and relevant training attended. It also determined whether significant relationships and differences existed between leadership strategies and profile variables. Data were collected through a structured survey questionnaire administered to public secondary school heads in the Schools Division of Bataan, supported by qualitative responses. The weighted mean was used to determine the extent of leadership practices across the domains of instructional leadership, curriculum and teaching, learning environment, human resource and team development, finance and resource management, and governance and accountability. Pearson correlation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were employed to test for significant relationships and differences. Findings revealed that school-based leadership strategies were practiced at a very high level across all domains, with finance and resource management and learning environment obtaining the highest ratings. Results further indicated that most profile variables were not significantly related to leadership practices, except for school size, which showed significant relationships with human resource and team development. Moreover, significant differences were found across several leadership domains when grouped by school size and age. The study concludes that leadership practices are consistently implemented but are influenced by organizational context, particularly school size. A practical management plan was developed to enhance leadership effectiveness in secondary schools.