Relationship Between Leadership Styles and Training Mode Implementation in The TEVET Sector in Zambia

Abstract

Management and leadership are important concepts that institutional managers exhibit in the day-to-day operations of a training institution. Institutional leadership is about influencing others to achieve desirable institutional outcomes. According to Technical Education, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) regulatory requirements, training institutions ought to comply with minimum training standards to maintain the relevance of the output of training by meeting labour market needs. However, a considerable number of the TEVET institutions are lowly graded (grade three), an indication of low compliance with quality standards. The number of registered TEVET institutions in grade three deteriorated to 62.3 percent in 2020 from 50.3 percent in 2015, which could be attributed to these institutions having challenges in managing training. This presents a gap in knowledge and practice regarding the role institutional leadership plays in TEVET because little was known about the functional relationship between institutional leadership and the selected attributes of technical and vocational training regarding training mode implementation. The purpose of the study was to examine whether there was a relationship between leadership styles and training mode implementation. A correlational explanatory survey design was used; a structured questionnaire was used to collect data, and descriptive and inferential statistics were presented. The study revealed a statistically significant relationship between Leadership Styles and Training Mode Implementation based on multiple linear regression. Transformational Leadership exerted the greatest effect on Training Mode Implementation. This implies that institutional managers should champion the blended use of training modes to enhance the service delivery of TEVET. In this paper evidence of institutional leaders having a significant role in training mode implementation in the TEVET sector is adduced and is the major contribution to empirical evidence on TEVET leadership and quality.