Abstract:
This study investigated the head of department’s leadership role in improving performance in English Second Language by exploring the views of Heads of Departments and teachers in Kandjimi Circuit on what they thought those roles were. The study also sought to uncover challenges faced by HODs and how they can be addressed to enable the HOD to fulfil his/her role towards improving performance in ESL. The population of this study consisted of teachers and HODs in Kandjimi Circuit’s secondary schools. From this population, 10 teachers and 10 HODs were purposefully selected to participate in the study. An interview guide with open-ended questions was used to explore views of teachers and HODs on what they perceived were challenges hampering HODs’ abilities to fulfil their roles towards the improvement of performance in ESL. Likewise, a document review guide was used to interrogate training received by HODs and challenges they faced and how those challenges could be resolved. Data from interviews and documents were analysed thematically to allow themes to emerge from the data for the research questions to be answered. The findings showed that HODs faced many challenges like interfence in their work that hamper their ability to successfully fulfil their roles to improve ESL performance. The study recommended that school principals should decrease the workload of HODs to empower them to fulfil their role in the improvement of performance in ESL.
