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FACTORS INFLUENCING PRINCIPALS’ PERFORMANCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN PANKSHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page-       –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -i

Declaration-    –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -ii

Approval page –          –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -iii

Dedication-     –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -iv

Acknowledgement –    –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           v

Table of contents-       –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -vi

Abstract –        –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           -ix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study                                                                                1         

1.2       Statement of the Problem                                                                                5

1.3       Purpose of the Study                                                                                      6         

1.4       Research Questions                                                                                        7         

1.5       Research Hypotheses                                                                                      7         

1.6       Scope of the Study                                                                                         8

1.7       Significance of the Study                                                                               8

1.8       Operational Definition of Terms                                                                     9                                 

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1       The concept of performance of administrative duties                                    10

2.2       Public day secondary schools                                                                         12

2.3       Finances and performance of administrative duties                                       13

2.4       Human resources and performance of administrative duties                         16

2.5       Infrastructure and performance of administrative duties                               18

2.6       The influence of community around the school and performance of administrative duties.                                                                                                             22

2.7       Summary of literature review                                                                         27

CHAPTER THREE

METHOD AND PROCEDURE

3.1       Research Design                                                                                             28

3.2       Population and Sample of the study                                                               29

3.3       Sampling Technique                                                                                       29

3.4       Instrument for Data Collection                                                                       30

3.5       Validity and Reliability of the Instrument                                                      30

3.6       Method of Data Collection                                                                             31

3.7       Method of Data Analysis                                                                                32

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1       Presentation of Bio-data                                                                                 32

4.2       Analysis of Research Questions                                                                     34       

4.3       Discussion of finding                                                                                     37

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1       Summary of Findings                                                                                     41

5.2       Conclusion                                                                                                      42

5.3       Recommendations                                                                                          43

5.4       Suggestions for further study                                                                         44

            REFERENCES                                                                                              46

            APPENDIX A Letter of Introduction                                                             47

ABSTRACT

This study x-rayed on factors influencing principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area. A survey research design was employed for the study. The population of this study is made up of all principals in the secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area. The sample of this study consisted of the twenty (20) principals in the selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area. The research instrument was the questionnaire. Simple percentage was used for analyzing the bio-data of respondents, mean score was used to answer the research questions and Chi-square was used for testing the hypothesis. The finding revealed that Inadequate finances have led to the school ‘s inability to purchase teaching/learning resources leading to poor academic performance; Inadequate funds make the running of the school difficult; Poor payment of fees by parents affects the running of the schools; Delay in disbursement of funds affects the running of the school. The study also revealed that the schools in the selected secondary schools in Pankshin is not in position to hire enough support staff; inadequate staff in the school has hindered the running of the school; Inadequate teachers is a major challenge to the running of the schools  and The school does not have adequate teachers. The study further revealed that the schools had inadequate classrooms, inadequate well-equipped laboratories, inadequate text books and stationery, inadequate chairs and tables for teachers. The study recommends that the government should avail adequate funds in time for the running of schools. The Free Secondary Education funds should be released in time to enable the principals effectively run the schools.  On human resource, the Ministry of Education should avail adequate funds for recruitment and selection of staff. The funds should be used during the selection process to help advertise the job vacancies, hold a workshop for recruiting panel and possibly an induction program. In addition, the principals should use the alternative methods to motivate their staff in cases where the resources are not enough. The researcher recommends regular workshops and short courses to help principals keep abreast with trends in performance of administrative tasks. Forums such as Nigeria Secondary School Heads Association meetings could be very useful in this regard.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Educational administration is considered to be a field of study concerned with the management and operation of educational organizations whose history is replete with intellectual struggles and ferments as well as reflections over the nature, methodologies, purposes, boundaries and knowledge base of the field (United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 2005). Bush and Bell (2007) opines that management is the utilization of physical  and  human  resources  through  cooperative efforts and it is accomplished by performing the function of planning, organizing, staffing directing and controlling. They further note that administration is concerned with the performance of executive duties, the carrying out of policies and decisions to fulfill a purpose, and the controlling of the day-to-day running of an organization. It is also the careful and systematic arrangement and use of resources (human and material), situations and opportunities for the achievement of the specified objectives of a given organization (Bell & Rhodes, 2008).

Administration is a sub-set of management (Mutegi, 2008). Individuals in organizations are assigned particular roles in order to bring all the units to harmony with one another. If the goals are set in relevance with time, they become clear and successful. An organization such as a school operates on two crucial aspects; efficiency and human relations. These entail satisfaction in performance, motivation to the individual for example, good salaries, fringe benefits, in-service courses and other related allowances. Maximization of profits or the satisfaction of performance can thus be explained as efficiency. This can be attained through supervision. This is intervention to ascertain, maintain and improve the quality of work. It is a crucial element in the administrative set up (Onyango, 2011).

Leadership is generally regarded as the key factor in making a difference to the success of schools and in promoting the learning of the students (Ndana, 2010). With increasing pressure for a higher quality of secondary schools, the head teacher plays a vital role in creating an effective school environment (Odali, 2012). A number of African researchers have focused on the idea that leadership is one of the most important aspects in determining whether an educational institution is successful or not (Wekesa, 2013). However, to my knowledge, other countries such as Saudi Arabia have a lack of theoretical and experiential literature namely school buildings, students, and parents. The reason for this could be that the Saudi educational context has failed to focus adequately on preparing head teachers, and the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia has not placed enough emphasis on the head teacher‘s  role.  According to Alzaidi (2008) the context surrounding the headship position in Saudi Arabia has a number of features, such as a flat managerial structure and a centralised educational system. Therefore, the role of the head teacher could be considered more as that of an operational manager than that of an actual school leader. This has an effect on how they deal with the challenges they encounter in their administrative tasks.

In the years 2010 – 2019, many students have been enrolled for secondary school education. The biggest challenge is management of such schools due to lack of physical structures, un-conducive physical and psychological learning environment, library facilities, adventurous play ground, furniture, enough classes and staffroom (Gichuru, 2009). To alleviate the shortage of secondary schools concerted efforts from the government, parents and donors both local and foreign have been focused in increasing the number of secondary schools. The Education for All Policy (2013), have led to a surge in numbers of pupils seeking secondary education. In response different players have concertedly embarked in establishing new schools to accommodate the extra numbers. However, secondary schools are expensive to set up and maintain thus the resources available to the schools are far more limited than the demand. This has resulted in the emergence of small and unviable schools in some localities, many are still under construction and without qualified teachers or with limited number of teachers (Majanga, 2018).

The school principal as the administrator of the school shoulders the responsibility of the success or failure of the school. However, the principal must ensure that the multi-faceted problems facing  the  newly  established  secondary school  do  not  hinder  the  efficient service delivery towards producing quality outputs. Given that newly established secondary schools have been set up to cater for the large number of primary school leavers, and the already existing ones have been expanded, the issue of administrative challenges faced by school principals has become a serious issue of concern (Atieno, 2010).

There are various challenges that educational administrators face in their day to day running of schools. These challenges determine the level and effectiveness of the management and administration of the school.  In Columbia, according to Kharmes, (2013) the main problem, faced by school administration in secondary schools is inadequate educational facilities. In Africa, new principals face several challenges as they often work in poorly equipped buildings with inadequately trained staff. There is rarely any formal leadership training and principals are appointed on the basis of their teaching record rather than their leadership potential. A study done in six Sub-Saharan African countries namely, Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Madagascar indicate that new principals face serious problems with students who cannot pay fees as parents are reluctant to do so, teacher shortage and inadequate teaching and learning resources (Leu & Bryen, 2011). According to Diete (2012) in his study on transforming schools with a focus on modeling in Botswana, some of the pertinent problems affecting management of secondary schools include lack of adequate finances, physical facilities, lack of adequate human resource among other challenges. Adequate funding for provision and maintenance of infrastructure, provision of qualified human resources for innovative management and education delivery is urgently needed in the public day secondary schools. In their survey on the relationship between corporate performance and human resource, Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2011) established a significant correlation between corporate performance and proper management of human resource.  They found that human resource practices when applied in a comprehensive package are likely to contribute in the competitive success of an organization.

Onyango (2011) asserts that the head teacher is vested with the responsibility of all the administrative tasks. Mbaabu (2014), notes that the school principals have financial constraints especially in keeping the cash books and that inadequate funding hinders the school principals in carrying out their administrative duties. Muasya (2012), notes that the school principal has a big role to play especially in coordinating Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to raise funds for school‘s development and the principal is bound to assist in estimating the costs to be incurred while putting up new facilities. He continues to say that if the principals do not know their budget and how to collect money for the improvement of physical facilities and proper keeping of records, they will find themselves in big problems. Mbaabu (2014) notes that, most of the schools lacked facilities like social halls, dining halls, dormitories and libraries which are attributed to lack of adequate funds, proper planning and enough support from the local leaders. Inadequate or lack of these facilities hinders the principals in carrying out their administrative tasks.  Opondo (2008) on the other hand notes that school  material  and  other  physical   facilities  are  some  of  the administrative areas highly affected by the problem of insufficient funds in educational institutions. All these impact negatively on the principals’ performance of administrative tasks.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Principals’ administration and management implies the arrangement of human and material resources available in education and using them systematically for the achievement of educational objectives.  However, in doing so the principals face challenges which hamper the performance of the tasks. A number of studies have been carried on management of public schools. These studies did not address the factors influencing principals’ performance of administrative duties in Secondary schools hence the gap in their studies. The principals of secondary schools are mostly faced with challenges in the running of the schools in terms of inadequate funds, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate human resources and lack of support from the community. It is in this respect therefore, the researcher was motivated to investigate the factors influencing principal‘s performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate factors influencing principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area. The study is guided by the following research objectives:

1. To establish the influence of finances on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.
2. To establish the influence of human resources on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.

• To assess the influence of infrastructure on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.

1. To determine the influence of the community around the school on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.

1.4       Research questions

The study was guided by the following research questions

1. What influence does finance have on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area?
2. To what extent does human resources influence principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area?

• What is the influence of infrastructure on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area?

1. What influence does the community around the school have on principals’ performance of administrative duties in some selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area?
   • Significance of the Study

The study findings may be significant in a number of ways. To the school principals, the findings may highlight the factors that hinder principals’ performance in their administrative tasks. This study may be of practical value in helping abate the challenges faced by the principals of the secondary schools hence enhance high quality management.

To the Ministry of Education, the study findings may be of importance in establishing the challenges facing the public day secondary schools and hence come up with strategies for alleviating the challenges. The donors, financiers and well-wishers may use the findings of the study to identify areas they need to improve so that better mechanisms can be put in place to bettering education management and administration for effective running of the schools.

To the Union of Teachers (UT), the study findings may be important in making the commission aware of the human resource challenges and hence see the need of posting more teachers to such schools. To future researchers, the study may also be of great help to other researchers in the same field which may act as a resource material to facilitate their study. They could use it as a point of reference during their study as well as fill the gaps that have been left out.

The study findings may also form a base for other students and researchers willing to carry out studies related to this one.

1.6       Scope of the Study

The study delimited itself to specific administrative factors that had a direct impact on principals ‘administrative tasks. These included finances, human resources, infrastructure and the community around the school. They were deemed by the researcher to be important variables because they have an impact on the principals ‘performance of administrative tasks. There was a possibility that there could be other factors which were likely to be found outside this scope. It was therefore worth noting that a general assumption should not be made that the findings can be applicable to all categories of secondary schools.

1.7       Operational Definition of Terms

Administrative tasks: Administrative tasks refers to the administrative duties that the principal performs in the school to ensure smooth running of the school

Community around the school: Community around the school refers to the physical community that neighbors the school and the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and the Board of Management (BOM) 

Financial resources: Financial resources refers to the monies that the school principal needs for the running of the school.

Human resources Human resources refers to the teachers and support staff in the school