THE IMPACT OF PRINCIPALS AND INTERNAL SUPERVISION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER QUALITY AND STANDARDS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ABIA STATE
ABSTRACT
This study entitled principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance is presented as a result of a study conducted in secondary school in Aba South LGA of Abia State Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine principal instructional supervision, to assess teachers‟ performance, and to establish the relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance. The researcher employed descriptive correlational design. The correlational design was used to find the relationships of the two variables principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance. A thirty-item questionnaire was design based on 4-point linkert’s scale was distributed to principals and teachers to obtain the primary data. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for descriptive statistics while
Pearson’s coefficient correlation was used to measure the relationship between variables, using (SPSS version 16.0) the findings of the study indicated on principals‟ instructional supervision with an overall mean was (2.78)which indicated that principals of the secondary school perform their instructional supervision and the findings of the study on teachers‟ performance indicated an overall mean of (2.57) which imply that teachers perform their school responsibilities. The findings on the relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers „performance was indicated by the R and sig value (R-Value=0.000 and sig=0.01),this was so because the sig-value was less than 0.05 which is the required level of significance in order to declare a significant relationship, the null hypothesis was therefore rejected and this implies that improvement on principal instructional supervision through monitoring of teachers attendance on daily bases, ensuring the professional development of teachers and assisting of teachers when they have problems in their lessons .while teachers performance will increase when teachers‟ fill in their weekly scheme of work on the first day of the term ,prepare the scheme of work using the curriculum . The researcher concluded that the principals should intensify more effort in their instructional supervision in term of inspecting student note books to ascertain the level of coverage of topics and supporting teachers in their lesson, in terms of scheme of work, lesson plan and lesson note this will help to improve teachers‟ performance. The study also recommend that Government and professional bodies in the education sector should organize periodic capacity development workshops for teachers of secondary schools on teachers‟ performance in terms of how to prepare their scheme of work, preparation of lesson plan and lesson notes, various methods of lesson delivery which can help them to improve in their teachers‟ performance as well as teaching and learning processes in secondary schools.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives, research questions, hypothesis, and scope of the study and significance of the study.
1.1. Background of the study
The background of the study includes historical, theoretical, conceptual and contextual perspectives.
1.1.1Historical Perspective
Education is aimed at imparting knowledge and skill, and inculcating human values which help in personal and professional growth. It is the „education‟ which constitutes an essential prerequisite for achieving national goal of inclusive development and equitable justice to the society at large. Giving quality education is the priority of each and every nation, it forms the basis of socio economic and personal growth, an indicator of national progress. Of late, there have been high expectations from schools in terms of transparency and accountability to improve the quality of education. This demand has augmented the need for better supervision of in house activities of schools. Shilpa, (2015) Emphasizing the role of supervision for teachers, observed that the quality education partly depends on how well teachers are trained and supervised since they are one of the key inputs to educational delivery.
Verspoor (1991)
Organizations supervise and evaluate employee performance for a variety of reasons including retention, promotion and accountability for completing job related tasks. Education is not different as it requires supervision of classroom instruction to evaluate teachers‟ effectiveness. Also, education aimed at bringing about a positive change in behaviour of the learner. The behavioural change can only occur in learners based on the amount of instruction given to them at any level of education vis-a-vis how such instruction is been delivered during the teaching and learning process. However, well packaged instruction at any level of education without effective supervision during the delivery period, such instruction may fail to achieve its desired results. In Nigeria, education is on the concurrent list of government and this makes the issue of instructional supervision to vary from one state to another. However, some states have adequate arrangement in place to effectively supervise instruction at all level of education, particularly in secondary schools while some states failed to put necessary machineries in place to effectively supervise instruction in their secondary schools, (Nwaogu, 1980).
The broad goals of secondary education include, among others, the preparation of the individual for useful living within the society. Thus, in order to achieve the stated goals, there is need for effective supervision of instruction in secondary schools. In general, instructional supervision is geared towards the improvement of the teaching and learning situation for the benefit of both the teacher and the learners. Evidence from previous studies conducted by scholars (Handal & Lauvas, 1987; Gregory, 2005 & Bilesanmi, 2006) showed that instructional supervision has always been regarded as an essential and integral part of school administration and basically geared towards the improvement of all factors in teaching and learning.
Blumberg (1985) notes that at this time supervision began to focus on improving instruction. He offers the following quote from an 1845 document titles the annual report of the superintendent of common schools of the state of common schools of the state of New York. “Too much reliance ought not to be placed upon visitation to the schools, to give methods to the teacher and efficacy to his instructions. Instruction is the primary object of visitation, and more instruction can be given to teachers of a town when assembled together in one day” Blumberg asserts that although supervisors were no longer clergy, that were no less evangelical. Within a given country, Superintendent stated. “The only salvation for the republic is to be sought for in our school”.
Supervision of instruction in present day Nigeria could be traced to the 1982 Education Ordinance. It was the first attempt by the colonial administration to establish any form of control over the development and growth of schools. The ordinance provided for the Establishment of a general board of education which was to appoint an inspector of schools in West Africa. This appointment marked the beginning of the recognition of the need for a form of supervisory service in the educational system. The Federal Republic of Nigeria, (2013) identified management of curriculum and instruction, supervision of classroom instruction, monitoring and evaluating students‟ progress and achievement, promoting and enhancing learning environment, establishing and supporting continuous staff development and procuring instructional materials for teaching and learning as major supervisory functions of secondary school principals. The educational policy also makes it clear that one of the cardinal objectives of administration in education is to ensure quality control through regular and continuous Supervision of instruction and other educational services.
1.1.2Theoretical perspective
This study adopted the psychological theory of supervision which was explored in education by planturroot (2006), according to this theory ,organization stands as a body where it has other parts of the body that work together and it has a head that delegate duties to other parts of the organization, this head serve as an overseer who supervises the function of each part of the organization, This theory is in line with my study in which the principal stands as the instructional supervisor who delegate and supervises the performance of teachers in the organization.
According to this psychological theory the growth and management of an organization is carried out by the use of the three advocated philosophers namely, essentialism, experimentalism and existentialism. The supervisor will determine and direct the parts of the organization according to these three philosophers.
1.1.3. Conceptual perspectives
(Marecho, 2012). View supervision as a coinage that was derived from two Latin words: ‘super’ and ‘video’. Super means „over‟ or ‘above’, while video means ‘to see’. Therefore, taken together, super-video simply means ‘to see from above’ or to ‘oversee’. According to Mohanty (2008), education supervision carries the same general concept and is applied to both academic and administrative tasks. Administrative functions of supervision included providing physical facilities to the teachers, checking the safety and security of the school plant, maintaining proper service conditions and redressing grievances of teachers in time, checking the accounts and records of the school and maintaining proper distribution of work load. The academic tasks included monitoring of instruction, providing guidance to teachers for improving teaching evaluation and assessment of pupil’s achievement.
According to Okumbe (1998), supervision is considered as that phase of educational administration that helps in the effectiveness of instruction. Glathorn (1990), stress out in his view point, sees supervision as the comprehensive setoff services and processes that is used to help teachers in facilitating their professional development so that teachers can attain their goals. Supervision is divided into two; there is general supervision and the instructional supervision.
Ijaiya (1991) is of the view that school supervision is all the legitimate efforts made by designate professionals to assist the classroom teachers to improve on his competence so that he became a staff propelling practitioner as well as ensuring favorable setting for effective teaching and learning. Similarly, Glickman et al. (2004) shared the above idea as supervision denotes a common vision of what teaching and learning which can and should be, developed collaboratively by formally designated supervisors, teachers, and other members of the school community. According to Igwe, (cited in Enaigbe, 2009) indicated that to supervise means to direct, oversee; guide to make sure that expected standards are met. Durotulu (2002) also supported the above statement that supervision is a “the day -to-day guidance of all educational operations, coordination of the detailed work and cultivation of good working interpersonal relations among all people involved in the teaching-learning process”.
Furthermore, according to Chiovere (1995) supervision involves the assessment of proper implementation of policy, correction of identified weaknesses, direction and redirection of defects attainment of stated aims, objectives and goals of an education system at a given level. It is therefore evident that a principal as a supervisor should be a leader with requisite skills for effective discharge of his/her supervisory role. Similarly, the definitions of supervision highlighted above imply that the focus of supervision in a school is mainly related with providing professional assistance for teachers, the improvement of instruction and increasing of students‟ learning performance.
Instructional supervision is concerned with the student learning in the classroom. It is also referred to as clinical supervision and plan to assist teacher in his/her classroom performance
(Sergiovanni $ Starratt, (1993). Okumbe (1998) as well view instructional supervision as a help in the formation and implementation of the scheme of work. It is also used in the evaluation of instructional program and how instructional resources are delivered. Instruction supervisor helps to conduct and coordinate staff in-service. He advice and assist the teachers that are involved in instructional activities.
The helping aspect of supervision involves facilitating, supporting, guiding and assisting teachers to improve their performance professionally. The purpose of this supervision is to see that teachers maintain and improve their classroom instruction, the principal play the overseeing function by offering advisory and consultancy services in the areas of subject specialization and giving policy direction and guidance which also helps to improve teachers performance, the principal who is the head of school ensures that classes are held, students work are marked and check ,teachers prepare and have the scheme of work and lesson plan ,punctuality of teachers and students, monitoring and fair appraisal of all teachers performance.
On the other hand principals and vice principals of schools who are the head teachers play an important role in assisting teachers to grow professionally through staff development training program. He also offers guidance on the principal instructional in classroom teaching so as to improve teacher performance.
Teacher Performance
Teachers‟ Performance – refers to lesson preparation, involvement of co-curricular activities of work, pupil discipline management, counselling and guidance, participating in staff meetings, actual teaching, routine assessment of learners, maintenance of record of work covered and learners‟ records and time management. Performance implies a combination of doing a job effectively and efficiently, with a minimum degree of employee created disruptions
(Decenzo & Robbins, 1998). By performance therefore the researcher‟s operational definition implied: teacher‟s overall classroom management, effective teaching, motivation to teach, school and classroom punctuality as well good team work.
Katarasibwa (2006) looked at Teacher performance as the process by which the teacher is able to attain a maximum requirements level of their job in an effort to fulfill the school objectives. Teacher performance must be geared towards promoting the process of teaching and learning for the benefit of the pupils through proper use of lesson plan and lesson notes during the lesson. In this study, teacher performance is conceptualized as the extent to which the teacher achieves school objectives through lesson preparations which involve making schemes of work, lesson plans, record of work done, preparing and using learners‟ registers, actual classroom teaching, assessment and evaluation of the learners, attending staff meetings, management of learners‟ discipline, involvement in co-curricular activities, counselling and guidance, are all means by which teachers‟ performance can also be achieved.
1.1.4. Contextual perspective
Danko-Wasagu Local Government is among the twenty one (21) Local Government Areas of Abia State, Nigeria. It covers a geographical land area of four thousand two hundred and eight
(4,208) square kilometers. It is boarded in the south by Sakaba Local Government area of Abia State, in the west by Zuru Local Government of Kebbi State, and in the North – East by Bukkuyum Local Government of Zamfara State. Danko/Wasagu lies between latitude 110 N and longitude 50 and 60E of the equator (Girma, 2008). The estimated population of the Local Government Area is about two hundred and sixty five thousand, two hundred and seventy one (265,271) people (NPC. 2006 as cited in Girma 2008). The topography of the local government is flat low land area with a fertile soil covered by sandy soil, sometimes coarse in texture with the several fadama and alluvial plain suitable for Agricultural activities. The local government is made up of eight administrative districts namely: Danko, Wasagu, Ribah, Waje, Kanya, Bena, Kyabu and Wari districts. The weather is marked by a single rainy season and long dry season. The average rainfall is 720mm, the rainy season period is between May to October and the length of rainy season is about four to five months. The mean temperature range is 310C and 380C respectively. Hence, the months of November to February are particularly cold due to dry harmattan and from March to May are generally hot and wet as in the tropics (Girma, 2008).
During this months of May to August this is the period which the external examinations are written nationwide. Most of the teachers in this area are farmers and consist a high level of indigenes of that area, which is also far from the state capital most teachers do not accept posting in this area except few. The teachers are more concern about their farming activities these are some the real problems on ground which could have attributed to high level of poor performance of principal supervisory activities in the school which affect the general performance of schools in the external examinations. The researcher intends to look at the relationship between principal instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Aba South LGA of Abia State.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The basic goal of secondary education in Nigeria is to develop the individual‟s mental capacity and character for higher education and useful living within the society (FRN, 2013). In spite of the societal demand for teacher performance in education and the need for thorough supervision in schools, there is a growing concern about the realization of secondary education objectives due to doubt that many principals give little attention to supervision of instructional activities in secondary schools. The recent poor instructional competence and performance of teachers which results in students‟ poor academic performance has been a subject of concern to stakeholders of education in Abia State.
This development motivated the researcher to carry out a study to investigate the relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teacher‟s performance OF secondary schools in Aba South LGA of Abia State, Nigeria.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between principal instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA of Abia State, Nigeria.
1.4 Specific Objectives
The following specific objectives were,
- To determine the level of principals‟ instructional supervision in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA, Abia State.
- To assess the level of teachers‟ performance in selected Government Secondary Schools in Aba South LGA, Abia State.
- To establish the relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA., Abia State.
1.5. Research Questions
The study answers the following research questions,
- What is the level of principals‟ instructional supervision in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA, Abia State?
- What is the level of teachers‟ performance in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA., Abia State?
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Is there a relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA, Abia State?
- Null Hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance in secondary Schools in Aba South LGA., Abia State, Nigeria.
1.7 Significance of the Study
The study will be of importance to the following stalk holders in education:-
- Zonal Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Education:-The study will provide relevant information to educational administrators on the relationship between principals‟ instructional supervision and teachers‟ performance. This information will serve as a basis for the educational administrators to strengthen the policy on principals‟ instructional supervision to improve teacher performance. It will assist the Zonal Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Education in Aba South LGA and Abia State with new knowledge on the importance of principals‟ instructional supervision of schools to improve teacher performance.
- Principals and vice principals: –It will help principals of schools on various areas to supervise in schools so as to assess teachers‟ performance, and also to improve, prioritize, and re-strategize the process of principal instructional supervision.
- Teachers:-The outcome of this research study will provide teachers with new knowledge on the importance of preparing scheme of work, lesson plan and lesson notes and the relationship between principal instructional supervision and various factors that affect teachers‟ performance.
- Academic research:-The study will also serve as a source of information for other researchers who wish to carry out a study on a similar study in other parts of the state.