ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDUCATION DISTRICT 1 OF LAGOS STATE
ABSTRACT
A conscious and deliberate gift to give to the child is to get the child educated and this is what every parent strive to give to their children. However, the school as a custodian of knowledge and a tool for public growth and development is faced with so many challenges but the overwhelming challenge is the administrative challenge it is daily faced with. An aspect of this administrative challenge is the administrative staff quality which is related to the effectiveness of the school. This study was undertaken to examine the relationship that exists between administrative staff quality and effectiveness of private schools. The study adopted a descriptive survey method where 60 respondents formed the sample of the study. The findings reveal that there are factors that influence the administrative staff quality of private schools which includes programme design, rewards system and policies formulation and implementation. The study recommends appropriate policies that would enhance academic growth to be adopted and implemented in schools.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Purpose of the study
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Study hypotheses
1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study
1.7 Definition of Basic terminologies
1.8 Organization of Study
CHAPTER TWO:
REVIEW OF RELATED AND RELEVANT LITERATURE
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Sources of data collection
3.3 Determination of Population
3.4 Determination of sample size
3.5 Instrumentation
3.6 Instrument Validation
3.7 Adopted Method of Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Data Presentation
4.3 Data analysis
4.4 Data Interpretation
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION, SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Conclusion and Findings
5.3 Summary of the Study
5.4 Recommendation
Bibliography
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The world ‘administration’ has been derived from the Latin word “minister” which means, ‘service rendered to others for their welfare’. The classical and medieval meanings of the terra ‘administration were - perform, take charge of or accomplish’. The recent dictionary defines it as direction or management. The term ‘Educational Administration is very comprehensive. It is concerned with the formulation, execution and appraisal of educational policies.
A school comes into being through the process of organising. Then comes its administration. Running or functioning of the school is the job of the head of tHe institution. 'This does not mean that only the Head and none else is responsible for administration. In fact, administration is a job of many minds and many heads. All combined into one. The Head of the institution is the leader who is to make all others follow him. Thus educational administration is more or less a co-operative undertaking and in the language of economics it is a ‘Non-profit making enterprise’.
Education administration has been defined variously. Some of the important definitions1 are given below :
American Association of School Administration describes administration as “the total of the processes through which appropriate human and material resources are made available and made effective for accomplishing the purpose of an enterprise.”
Campbell, Corably and Ramesyer observe in Introduction to Educational Administration that the educational administration “consists of facilitating the development of goals and policies basic to teaching and learning, stimulating the development of appropriate programmes for teaching and learning and procuring and managing personnel and material to implement teaching and learning.”
Dictionary of Education by Good defines educational administration as “All those techniques and procedures employed in operating the educational organisation in accordance with established policies is defined as administration.”
Grayson Kefauner has observed in The Forty Fifth Year Book of as, “Educational administration approaches statemanship when there are clearly formulated long term policies and objectives, and when day-to-day activities and problems are dealt with under the guidance of the perspective given by such long - term policies .” According to National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) “Educational Administration is a social statemanship which guides educational activities, plans, programmes mid facilities, and provides leadership in a long-term but broad social perspective.” Educational Administration has been defined by R. Mort as, “ the influencing of one group of human beings, the pupils, to grow towards defined objectives, utilising a second group of human beings, the teachers, as qgens; and operating in a setting of a third group of public, variously concerned both with objectives and with means used to achieve them.”
Russell T. Gregg, in an article on Administration in Encyclopedia of Educational Research writes, “Educational Administration is the process of utilising expropriate materials in such a way as to promote effectively the development of human qualities. It is concerned not only with the development of children and youth, but also with the growth of adults and particularly with the growth of school personnel.”
According to Samuel Mathai, “Educational Administration presumably means the combined operation of a large number of persons whereby the whole fabric of education in the country is maintained in good working condition. An administration is a person who has a part to play in running an institution. He is responsible servant whose duties may includes both giving orders and carrying out orders.” The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education (1988) edited by Asa S. Knowles and other reads “Educational Administration, in general, is concerned with the management of state and local school systems and with local school attendance units. Indentified with the executive branch of government, educational administration is treated usually as a field of study in itself and not as a part of public administration. A more sophisticated definition of educational administration is, “A social process concerned with creating, maintaining, stimulating, controlling and unifying, formally and informally organized human and material energy within a unified system designed to accomplish predetermined (educational ) objectives ( Knezevich, 1969).
The Encyclopedia of Education (1971) by IEEC. Deighton States, “Educational Administration is concerned with the overall direction and support of the schools. It includes the immediate leadership of the school principal and the specialised skills of the business manager, curriculum co-coordinator, and other staff specialists, all under the general supervision of the superintendent.
The concept of administration as a profession evolved with the expansion of educational enterprise during the late nineteenth century.”
“Administration is justified only to the extent that it contributes to the capacity of organisation to fulfill its primary mission. In the field of education, administration is justified only as it contributes to the capacity of the school to help children and youth to grow toward responsible boyhood Clsvence A., Nowell (1978).
According to the Concies Dictionary of Education ( 1982 ), “Administration includes Management, Organisation, Operation and Supervision of an educational institution. Usually includes all institutional functions other than teaching ” Stephen I Knezevich describes educational administration “as process concerned with creating, maintaining, stimulating and unifying the energies within an educational institution towards realization of the predetermined objectives ” Will French, Hull and Dodds compare administration to a lens that brings everything about die school into focus for community, faculty and students. If it is a poor lens, the image is fuzzy and obscure, and no one in the school or community gets a clear picture of what the school is trying to go. If it is a good lens, the school becomes a clear cut and vivid projection of the ideals and ideas that all hoped to bring into being.
Educational Administration is a process that includes the combined operation of a large number of persons whereby the whole fabric of education in the country is maintained in good working condition. It is the process of utilising appropriate materials in such a
way as to promote effectively the development of human qualities. It includes all those techniques and procedures employed in operating the educational organisation in accordance with established policies.
Educational Administration means the totality of the process through which appropriate human and material resources are made available and made effective for accomplishing the purpose of an enterprise.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In Nigeria there is a popular perception that the private schools do better than the government owned schools. This perception has been on the debate platforms and private schools have always been declared winner of many of these debates. This perception which we can term the truth literary when it comes to education is not an adopted mistake. The organizational secret to the effective and efficient administration portrayed by the private schools lies in the quality of their staff and the policies they uphold in these private establishment. Administrative staff quality has been perceived to have a positive relationship with the effectiveness of these private secondary schools. This is the premise for this study, as this study was undertaken to examine the kind of relationship that visibly exists between administrative staff quality and effectiveness in private secondary schools.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between administrative staff quality and effectiveness of private secondary schools. Specifically, the study will focus on:
The factors that influence administrative staff quality in Private secondary schools.
The relationship that exists between administrative staff quality and effectiveness of private secondary schools.
The impact of administrative staff quality on education.
1.4 Research questions
The study was guided by the following research questions:
What are the factors that influence administrative staff quality in Private secondary schools?
Is there any relationship between administrative staff quality and effectiveness in private secondary schools?
What is the impact of administrative staff quality on education?
1.5 Research hypothesis
The study formulated and developed for testing a research hypothesis:
H0: There is no relationship between administrative staff quality and effectiveness of private secondary schools in education district 1 of Lagos state.
H1: There is no relationship between administrative staff quality and effectiveness of private secondary schools in education district 1 of Lagos state.
1.6 Significance of the study
Administration is a one big challenge facing academic institutions both at the high school level and the tertiary institution level in Nigeria. It remains an aspect of institutions that can mar or make the institutions. This is quite significant and has necessitated this study. The findings will be of academic benefit as it will reveal clues to an effective school administration via staff quality.
1.7 Scope and limitation of the study
This study is centered on Administrative staff quality and effectiveness of Private secondary schools. Other aspects of organizations such as finance and output were less the focus as the study was deliberate on administration even though its compound in nature. More so, the findings of the study was limited to Private schools categorized under the education district 1 of Lagos state, Nigeria
1.8 Organization of the study
This study is organized into five distinct but related chapters. The chapter one states the research problem, highlights the objectives and raises pertinent questions which the study seeks to address. The second chapter dealt with the review of literatures. In handling the review of literatures, both international and local contents were reviewed. The third chapter describes the methodology adopted for this study. The study employed the descriptive survey method for this research. The fourth chapter presents and analyzes the data obtained from the field to address the study’s research questions. In the fifth chapter, we summarized the study and made some remarks in the conclusion part while making positive recommendation.