Abstract:

Interpersonal relationship amongst stake-holders within an organization undoubtedly determines the extent of team building, cohesion, fulfilment of collective shared agreement, strategic thinking, etc., hence achievement of set goals and objectives. This paper explores how internal school stakeholders interpersonal relationship dynamics influence student academic performance in two public schools operating within comparable context. These schools are owned and operated by the government, located very close to each other in an education district, share similar context in terms of economic location, financial outlook, possess well qualified staff, physical/resources and infrastructural outlook. However, one of these schools is performing excellently well, compared to the other which is underperforming. The paper therefore argues that excellent academic achievement of the high performing school is a consequence of how interpersonal relationship is modelled, compared to the underperforming school. Qualitative case study approach was utilized to uncover reality from each school. A teacher (who offers compulsory subject which every student must attend and write an examination), Principal, Vice-principal and Head of Department (HOD) were selected from each school and that sums-up to 8 participants from both schools. The overall finding indicates that the high performing school status was attained through a robust school culture which has been upheld and cherished over the years, culminating into inter-personal relationship ethos; compared to the under-performing school. The research findings indicate that interpersonal relationship and its accompanying fundamentals determine student’s amount of focus and self-discipline towards their study. Arising from the findings, implications and suggestions for internal school stakeholders interpersonal relations best practices, which may further enhance students academic performance were offered.

Keywords:

Academic Performance, Head of Department (HOD), Interpersonal relationship, performing school, Principal, Student, Teacher, Under-performing school, Vice-principal.