The Assessment of the Leadership Roles of Principals in the Management of Secondary Schools

The Assessment of the Leadership Roles of Principals in the Management of Secondary Schools

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the Study

Secondary school level is the bridge between the primary and the tertiary levels. The importance of secondary education made the Federal Government to state the broad aims of secondary education as preparation for useful living within the society and for higher education. The underline principle here is that the secondary schools should be able to provide quality secondary education to all those who can benefit from it.

A secondary school consist of the principal, teachers, non teaching staff and students who interact with each other to accomplish pre-determined goals. In secondary school administrative system, the principal is the chief executive. He guides the tutorial and supporting staff to educate and render different services in the teaching and learning process. He mobilizes the available human and material resources towards achieving educational objectives.

Whawo (2003), sees the principal as an employee of the government who is expected to interpret and execute educational polices. Ezewu (2003), describe the principal as someone who performs dual function as a teacher and an administrator. As a teacher, the principal co-ordinates the teachers towards meeting instructional task, as an administrator, he is involved in planning, organizing, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and budgeting.

Since the principal is the link between the Ministry of Education, the community and the society at large, his roles in secondary school management becomes imperative. With the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria, the school system becomes complex and comprehensive. The subjects taught proliferated especially at the junior level. The school systems needs constant innovation in the methods and techniques of instruction and create an enabling environment for the successful transfer of knowledge.

Equally demanding for the school head is the introduction of continuous assessment at the secondary level, the scores obtained by a student in tests and examinations used for certification purposes. Therefore, the principal in a secondary school keeps an up-to-date record of a student’s academic records. He cannot oversee this complex administrative system alone, so accordingly he delegates to his sub-ordinates based on ability and inter-personal relationship. The cordial working environment created by the school head is aimed at improving instructions; stimulate the academic growth of teachers, revision of educational objectives and evaluation of educational outcomes. The leadership roles of the secondary school administrator are multi-various and include the following

1. Goal setting
2. Vision establishment
3. Creation of effective learning environment for students and teachers
4. Staff management
5. Supportive system arrangement for student’s learning
6. Classroom instructional system
7. Professional development of teachers for learning improvement
8. Assembly of community and parents involvement
9. External links for advocacy of resources
10. Innovation and commitment

In recent times, the numbers of educational institutions are increasing in an alarming proportion especially in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State. Many of these new secondary schools are established in the Urban and rural areas, these schools (Public and Private) are not equipped with the minimum educational facilities needed for the transfer of knowledge and the facilities available are not maintained.

In Delta State, there is no doubt that many school buildings are dilapidated and many societal miscreants are turning them into safe haven for their nefarious activities. The present economic situation in the country is biting hard on school personnel; this is occasssioned by inflation and absence of motorable roads in the rural schools and many teachers stay away from school especially during the raining season. Equally affected are parents that find it difficult to meet the increasing needs of their children in school. Consequently, the children contribute to the economic well being of their parents at the expense of their economic pursuit.

The aforementioned state of affairs poses numerable problems to educational improvement and the principal’s leadership roles in secondary school management. Despite the unhealthy prevailing situations in schools, principals are expected by the society they serve and the educational authorities to work magic in meeting educational goals and objectives.

It is against this background that this research was carried out with special focus on Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State.

The Assessment of the Leadership Roles of Principals in the Management of Secondary Schools

• Statement of the Problem

Education is indispensible for the development of any nation and occupied a central place in the national policy of Nigeria. Therefore, the need for functional leadership roles in secondary school management cannot be over emphasized. In secondary school the principal as the administrator, the responsibility of leadership role in the school management rests on him. He creates a conducive atmosphere that will flower instructions in the school.

It is said that “a tree cannot make a forest” hence the principal cannot carry out the activities of the school alone; he therefore needs the services of the teachers in order to achieve its objectives. Some of the functions of the principal are accomplished by the teachers through his leadership.

Since the principal works with the teachers, it therefore follows those teachers who act as the immediate reference group are in better position than any other reference group to assess the principal’s actual performance of their functions, so the teacher’s perception is a true assessment of the leadership roles of principals in the management of their respective schools.

There is no doubt that most principals are engaged in the administrative functions described above, but it is doubtful whether many of them are really performing their functions to a satisfying degree. As the chief executive of a secondary school system, his role is to improve teaching-learning situations. Therefore, if he cannot improve on the existing academic standard in the school where he directs the affairs, then he is not worthy to lead.

• Purpose of the Study

In this study, the researcher has certain objectives which he wants to achieve

1. To find out if the sex (gender) of a principal affects his leadership roles in school management.
2. To find out if the working experience of a principal has any effect on his leadership role management
3. To find out the extent to which principals perform their administrative functions as perceived by the teachers working with them.
4. To investigate the influence of the principals’ leadership style in the achievement of administrative functions
   • Hypotheses

To guide in the collection of data, the following hypotheses are formulated and will be tested for acceptance or rejection.

1. There is no significant difference between male and female principals in their leadership roles.
2. There is no significant difference between principals having many years of work experience and those having few years of work experience in their leadership roles.
3. There is no significant difference between principals with different leadership styles in their leadership roles.
4. There is no significant difference in teacher’s perception of the leadership roles of their principals.

• Significance of the Study

1. This study will be of immense help to students, teachers, principals and researchers in the educational field.
2. It will provide an insight into the extent to which principals are fulfilling their roles
3. It will also identify leadership lapses of the principals and how it can be remedied.
4. This study will be of immense assistance to researchers carrying out studies related to principals’ leadership roles in school management.
   • Delimitation of the Study

The study is centred on the assessment of the leadership roles of principals in the management of secondary schools. It also takes into consideration the inter-personal relationship between the principals and their teachers in the achievement of administrative functions.

The study has been restricted to only public secondary schools in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State as a special case study in view of limited time and available resources.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1   Theoretical Frame Work

The theoretical frame work is provided by extensive studies in Contingency Approach to Leadership as carried out by Dyke L. Alegbe (2002). This approach is premised on the belief that leaders are the product of given situations and consequently, a leader in situation “A” may not fit as a leader in situation “B”.

Alegbe enumerated some variables that have been pointed out as been situational determinants of leadership. They include

1. Structural properties of the organisation such as size, hierarchical structure of formation
2. Organizational climate such as openness, participation and group atmosphere
3. Role characteristics like position, power type and difficulty of task procedural rules.
4. Subordinates characteristics such as their knowledge and experience, tolerance, responsibility and power.

This approach basically sees a leader as a product of his functional relations to specific situations. This Contingency Approach to Leadership helped the current study to assess the leadership roles of principals in the management of secondary schools.