Dissertation (MA Education)The purpose of this study was to investigate stakeholders' perceptions on the leadership styles of head teachers in public and private secondary schools in Tanzania, focusing on Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es salaam. Situational Leadership Theory (SLT), advocated first by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) was applied to guide the study. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. The study targeted 6 head teachers, 60 teachers, 12 school committee members, 48 students and a DEO. Data were collected through questionnaire, interview and focus group discussions. The study revealed that the democratic leadership style is the most used style in public schools while autocratic leadership style was mostly applied in private schools. Also, in both private and public secondary schools, the leadership styles used by head teachers were valued in improving teachers' teaching and learning spirit, enhancing teachers' job satisfaction and giving chances to teachers to participate in decision making. However, the levels of effectiveness deferred in private and public schools. Many public school teachers seemed to be satisfied by their heads‟ leadership style where the majority of heads of schools employed a democratic leadership style, while in private schools, most of head teachers employed an autocratic leadership style, which was not preferred by many teachers in the schools. The main recommendation of this study was that, school administrators should find out the best leadership styles by involving all education stakeholders in the school in order to apply the most effective leadership style in the management of the schools. In the same vein, a specialized management and leadership training course should be designed for those aspiring to become head teachers in secondary schools and also the current serving heads should undergo in-service and refresher courses on the modern rudiments of leadership styles so as to improve their leadership skills.