Assessment of School Administrative Constraints on the Effectiveness of Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Umuahia Educational Zone, Abia State Nigeria

Abstract

This study was centered on the assessment of the school administrative constraints on the teachers’ effectiveness in public secondary schools in Umuahia educational zone, Abia state Nigeria. Three research questions and one null hypothesis was formulated to guide the study, using a descriptive survey and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was made up of all the principals and Teachers of the public secondary schools in the 13 local government areas that constitute the three educational Zones of Abia state, numbering about 338 principals and 3042 teachers (3380 members). The sample size for the study was 269 respondents consisting of 184 teachers and 85 principals of the public secondary schools who were randomly selected from the population across the LGAs while a researchers’ self-developed questionnaire formed the instrument for data collection, which was validated by three experts and a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha, which yielded a co-efficient index of 0.83. The researcher and 7 research assistants administered and retrieved the questionnaire, with a 98.3% return rate. Mean and standard deviations was used to answer the research questions and t-test statistic were used to test the null hypotheses at.05 level of significance. The analyzed data found out that the following constitute constraints to teacher effectiveness in public secondary schools in Umuahia educational zone: inadequate organization for curriculum implementation, poor school community relations and in-adequate motivation factors. The study recommended among others that staff development programs should include training in the rudiments of instructional supervision to endow teachers with the necessary skills to carryout peer supervision.