An Assessment of Leadership Practices and Challenges of Private Schools Principals in Zaria Metropolis

The study assessed leadership practices and challenges of private schools principals in Zaria metropolis as at 2015/2015 academic session using survey research. Data for the paper was derived from primary source only, using a structured questionnaire which was adopted from the works Edwards and Aboagye (2015) that employed Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) developed and tested by Jim Kouzes. The sample size of the study was drawn using purposive sampling, thus a sample size of twenty two (22) principals drawn from private schools in Zaria metropolis which is restricted to Tudun wada, Sabongari, kwangila, samaru and shika axis. The data was analaysed to test hypothesis of the study using one sample t-test after aggregating the mean scores for responses. Thus from the results the leadership practices adopted for the study which include model the way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Hearts serve as point of challenges to principal of private schools in Zaria metropolis. Therefore the null hypothesis of the study is rejected. Therefore, the study recommends that the proprietors or managements of the schools should provide institutionalised mechanisms or frameworks to propel or encourage the principals to effectively deploy these leadership practices to the general good of the organisations.