THE ROLES OF PRINCIPALS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL

ABSTRACT

Secondary education occupies a strategic position in the national education system. The secondary school is an institution established for refining human beings in terms of skills, behavior and all round excellence. A Principal is regarded as the leader and head of secondary school; he is responsible for all that happens in the school who administers the school with other teaching and non teaching staff, the principal is directly in every aspect of school operation and his primary aim is determining the school quality and character. His roles in the management of schools covers many areas which include leadership, teacher evaluation, student discipline, hiring of new teachers, staff delegation and parent community relations. This study was conducted to look into the roles of principals in the management of secondary schools in some selected secondary schools in kebbi metropolis. Twelve schools were randomly selected through educational boards, Two hundred questionnaires were administered. One hundred and forty questionnaires for the principals and forty for the teachers and the results obtained were applied in computing coefficient of correlation between two sets of data collected independently and further analyze, the findings showed that there was a sharp departure between the views of principals and those of their teachers on whether principals were instructional or administrative leaders of their schools. In the light of the findings, it was recommended that principals should try as much as possible to give much emphasis on both Instructional and Administrative duties to ensure smooth running of activities in the schools, it also recommends that principals should have firm grip of their curriculum in order to offer useful advice or assistance to the teacher’s e.t.c.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Secondary education occupies a strategic position in the national education system. It bridges the gap between the primary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. It absorbs the primary level and prepares them for the tertiary which is the manpower based on the nation. The secondary school is an institution established for refining human beings in terms of skills, behavior and all round of excellence.

A principal is regarded as the chief executive of a school; he is a leader and head of a secondary school. In this project we will analyze and review the roles of the principals in the management of secondary schools. It is a survey research on some selected schools in kebbi state, Nigeria.

Leadership is also of particular importance in the education administration because of its far reaching effects on the accomplishment of school programmes, objectives and attainment of educational goals. Peretomode,(1991), at the head of the leadership of secondary schools in Nigeria is the principal who administers the school with other teaching and non teaching staff.

Accordingly, the principal is regarded as the chief executive of the school, who is responsible for all that happens in the school Fasabi (2006). As the chief executive, the principal assigns duties to those who could perform the duties, through all responsibilities still reside in him as the accounting officer.