SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND TEACHERS’ WELFARE

ABSTRACT

This study examines the school Administrative problems and teachers’ welfare in Lagos State, Survey research design was adopted for the study and 120 questionnaires were used. Given a response rate of 60%. A five–point Likert scale question was developed to collect information from the respondents. The data were analysed and hypotheses were tested, using descriptive statistics and statistical graph respectively. The core findings of the study showed that school administrative problems has been studied from the view point that its frame work can be influenced by some environmental factors such as financing accessibility, government policy, family and community support. Among this factors government policy, has a negative significant on the dependent of school administrator and this affected all the other factors that would enhance growth and development of the organisation. The study revealed that there is positive relationship between school administrative traits, and the researcher has established that there are existing relationship between administrative activity and the teachers’ welfare from the reviewed literature. The study revealed that fact that administrative activity in this context are either ignored or given a secondary place, there by veiling the major problem that should be given attention. This study reveals the fact that administrative factors play both a triggering and supportive role to teachers welfare in Lagos state. This study therefore recommends that school administrators should endeavour to take advantage of teacher’s welfare in their organisation by seeking advice and counseling from experts from the Lagos State Ministry of Education. The government should make policy that will positively enhance the accessibility of administrators to the required funds and to help the sector improve their services towards teacher’s welfare especially in Lagos State District II.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

School administrative problems have become part and parcel of human organizations worldwide. This indeed is a paradox because of the amount of energy and resources expanded by organizations to prevent and resolve problems Flippo (1980) attempted on explanation when he remarked that, “ a total absence of problem are being suppressed”. The inevitability of problem was also established by “Herold Kerzner of change and therefore inevitable. It is there not an aberration that to expect problems in the administration of schools in Lagos state district II Shomolu. The nature and types of problems that occur in school administration vary from one school to another.

The Administrative school Max Weber, reasoning that any goal-oriented organization consisting of thousands of individual would require the carefully controlled regulation of its activities, the German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) developed a theory of bureaucratic Administrative that stressed the need for a strictly authority. He considered the ideal organization administrative organization to be a leader whose activities and objectives were rationally though out and whose divisions labour were explicitly spell out believed that technical competence should be emphasized and that performance evolutions should be made entirely on the basis of Max School Administrator is one who oversees a complex unit such as an organization, a subsidiary or an independent operating division.

In the school administrator is to achieve success in guiding the growth of student in the current Nigerian social and educational setting, he must be an individual who is not content to work in conventional, expedient, or naïve ways. He must, on the contrary, be a student of and pedient work consistently through basic education and administrative principles he must furthermore utilize his Administrative in inculcating in his staff the same professional ideal and practice.

One of the most variable and yet probably most essential requirement of an administrator who is to be successful is his personality or personal qualities. The wide scope of his functions indicates that he must deal with great number of persons in a variety of relationship: with those above his in authority whether the board of education or associate, assistant, or district superintendent and with those below in the persons of special supervisors, teacher clerks, and custodians. Even more important, he must develop diplomatic yet effective relations with parents and community leaders, he will be a considerable degree a middleman in a hierarchy of authority, carrying out policies and plans of his superiors and at the same time showing administrative with collaborating associates in initiating and developing plans and procedures for his own sphere of the educational program.

The school administrator must then, have the personal traits both of a good follower and of a successful leader. He usually serves in local community, but he must be able to envision his work as a part of the great service of educating all the children and youth of the state. He is continually dealing with personalities, and personal equation will be a recurring factor in his work.

An administrator must be an educational leader, a superior organizer, a skilled administrator, a wise supervisor, and a strong executive and general manager. The number and variety of roles he is obliged to assume make heavy demand on his personality. Accordingly, he should possess. The trait of a good leaders and be optimistic.

Several, reasons have been advanced for not increasing teacher’s pay. Recently a writer suggested that since teachers have longer holiday time than other professional they should utilize that period by engage in other forms of income generation to avoid stretching the national budget towards the ‘less important’ components within the sector. Teachers on their parts have failed to present their just cause and instead adopted coercive mechanism.

Some overboard statement were uttered that teachers are easily replaceable unlike the health workers.

Successful teaching combines professionalism and talent. Many teachers have left the profession.

They have prospered individually but diminished the growth and advancement of the education sector.

Private schools have smuggled skilled teachers by offering them better pay. Parents are force to sacrifice hardly to access their services.

The efflux of teachers has robbed prospective rural children of mentors and role models: Government should adopt methods of promoting science education which includes proper training, development and remuneration of teachers’ right from primary. If there are no funds then let this be one of the priorities at the outset of the oil boom.

Since teacher welfare can affect how students perceive the course materials, it has been found that teachers who showed enthusiasm towards the curse materials and students can affect a positive learning experience towards the course material. If teacher’s welfare are attractive it will leads to increasing a student’s interest by variety, novelty, and surprise of the enthusiastic teacher’s presentation of the materials. In the past, teachers welfare have been relatively low, including the payment of salaries. However, average teacher salaries (welfare) have improved rapidly in recent years.

Teachers with more experience and higher education earn more than those with standard greatly depend on state, relative cost of living, and grade taught.

In addition to monetary compensation, public school teacher’s may also enjoy greater benefit (like health insurance, accommodation).

Compared to other occupations.

Teachers provides instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community role’s or life skills.

The past three-years period has seen a further decrease in the amount of systematic research reported in the area of teacher welfare. The importance of this decline in research interest in general welfare of teachers is accentuated by the fact that during the period the number of person emerged in teaching and related educational tasks has risen to a new higher. Tip or range.

Among the factors contributed to the welfare of individual teacher that have been treated most expensively in the recent literature are: (a) economic security as guaranteed by adequate salaries, provisions for retirement illness, and tenure of position. The working conditions, including length of school day, pupil load, character of assignments and tasks, availability of teaching materials and general character of teacher’s physical surroundings. Much of the literature reflects a tendency to view the welfare of the teacher as important chiefly as it affects that of the pupils and teacher’s effectiveness in the teaching situation.

This is clearly indicated in most of the articles concerned with the improvement of economic welfare and with those that deal with mental health and adjustment. (Huggett 15), discussing the point of view adopted by the NEA representative assemble in 1949, stated the characteristic position of the professional as follows. “Teacher welfare is a valid cause only when it will result in better educational services to youngsters”.

Statement of the Problem

The economic growth (down turn) in Nigeria in the last two decades has led to poor salaries and welfare for workers and the introduction of minimum wages.

The attendant disparity incomes and inflation has produced great dissatisfaction and agitation among teacher’s worker in Lagos State which has often resulted to disputes and problems in schools in Lagos State.

This has become a major concern for school administrators in both public and privates schools setting that in federal schools because of the disparity in salaries and remunerations. That exist between the two specifically secondary school workers in Lagos State had cause to protest against poor pay, and unsatisfactory condition of services. Most often, the problem were suppressed with the neglect of other methods problem resolution. Consequently, this has dampened the moral of teachers and others workers in the educational sector in the Lagos State.

This is effect has affected their performance. To accumulate a series of problems without devising appropriate means of managing them, is like sitting on a key go gun power, which could explode at anytime. The United Nations international children’s Emergency fund (UNICEF, 1995) lent credence to this point: “Problems when not dealt with constructively often explode into violence”. The attitude of school administrators in Lagos state have not helped much as some of the problems centered on their personality, administrative and leadership style. Just as the principal were involved so also were the other members of staff and the students.

In good situation Administrator can be generous but in bad situation wage increase constitutes an addition to cost of production, therefore, Administrator is unwilling to increase the wage. In schools that have periodic rare revision, the amount of increase in subject to the condition facing the management. Administrator looks at its budget to estimate the percentage of total payroll that can be accepted as wage increase (Gardener and Moore, 1955).

The read to correct the problem of inefficiency of resources. The Administrator faces shortages of school resources such as instructional materials, or physical resources which includes buildings, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, hostels, administrative staff offices, technical equipment and other physical plant like machines, vehicles computer sets, typewriters, duplicating and photocopy machines.

Purpose of the Study

1. To find out the relationship between the school Administrator and teachers

2. The type or the nature of the school control by the administrator.

3. To examine the role of the administrator in teacher’s welfare

4. To examine the philosophy of the government in educational sector.

5. To find out the strategies that school administrators can use to promote the school

6. To examine the curriculum that will be suitable to inculcate the student.

Research Questions

1. What is the relationship between teachers and administrator in a school set up?

2. What is the relationship between the public and private administrator?

3. In which ways can school administrators solve the problems of teacher welfare’s in Lagos State?

4. What is the role of the government in stemming down the rate of problems in the educational sector in secondary schools?

5. What is the role of the administrator who runs a school system with his/her staff?

6. What is the relationship between the teachers student and the administrator in educational curriculum.

Research Hypotheses

1. There is no significant relationship between school administrative problem that can affect teacher’s welfare

2. There is no relationship between school administrator and Lagos State Government

3. There is no significant relationship between public and private administrative system

Significance of the Study

Thesignificance of this study is predicated on the need for a peaceful atmosphere conducive for learning and academic exercise. The significant also lies in the hope that finding may be of benefits to the Lagos State Ministry of Education, who will study and understand the factors affecting the school administrators problems and teachers welfare in Education District II in Lagos State, and The National Manpower Board (NMB).

The study serves as a guide to the administrators, Head teachers, Board of Governors, Parents Teachers Association. Again, it will enable public secondary schools proprietors to be able to plan systematic for a peaceful and conducive environment. It will enhance the government to build more schools or provide subsidy to private school. Proprietors in order to reduce the price of education. In this way government would have interfered with allocation of resources to the benefit of the people.

Through Decree No. 18 of May 1991, the NMB became an autonomous Federal Government Parastatal mandated to research and advise to co-ordinate and promote the optimal development (training) and utilization (employment) of Nigeria’s human resources. With the new status in other to formulate manpower development and utilization of policies and programmes of federal state and local governments. It will also enable the National Manpower Board to collect, data, collate, analyze and publish manpower and employment information data.

Scope of the Study

The work will examine the school administrative problems and teacher’s welfare in Lagos state with a view to explore three selected schools in district II Shomolu Lagos. The study is limited to three selected secondary schools due to limited time and financial resources.

Definition of Terms

Administrators: Are people who attempt to achieve stated objectives of an organization by directing human activities (men, materials, machines and money) in the production of services. An administrator is a person who achieve and accomplishes the goals of the management by supervising one or more people in he formal organization.

Teachers: A teacher is one whose occupation is to impact or share knowledge to the learners. He is the one who has a good understanding of what the student needs to learn from him/her.

Therefore, anybody who possesses the know-what know-how and ability to judge can be said to be a teacher. The teacher acts as a resource person and provides his students with needed information at all times. He stimulates and arouses the interest of the student. He participates in the production and packaging of curriculum materials through self improvisation.

Welfare: Welfare is an issue, which has exercised the minds of economists for quit a long time welfare implies three things, namely, increase in come, how these increase are distributed in the economy and benefit-cost resulting from investment.

Education: Is an instrument for effecting national development. It can be defined as the production and reproduction of knowledge of people way of life (i.e. their culture) with the aim of preserving and maintaining the social order and charges in the society.

School: A school is an institution designed for learning and teaching of student under the direction of a teacher or an expert. A school is a place where learning takes place. Where the acquisition of knowledge is required form “cradle to the grave” with a standard and a conducive environment for learning activities.