Emotional INTELLIGENCE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract</strong

The study determined emotional intelligence and locus of control as predictors of
teachers’ instructional leadership models in secondary schools in Enugu State,
Nigeria. Seven research questions were answered while four null hypotheses were
tested at p ≤ 0.05 level of probability. The design was a correlation design. The
population of the study is 4,516 teachers consisting of 1,407 males and 3,109 females
in the public junior secondary schools in Enugu State. The sample for the study was
903. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used for the study.
Three instruments: Teachers’ Instructional Leadership Rating Scale (TILRS),
Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Rating Scale (TEIRS) and Teachers’ Locus of
Control Rating Scale (TLCRS) were developed and used for the study. The TILRS,
TEIRS and TLCRS were face validated by three specialists in the field of study.
Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency reliability of
the items which yielded a reliability estimate of 0.81, 0.83 and 0.79 respectively. The
researcher administered the instruments with the help of six research assistants. Mean
and standard deviation were used to answer research questions one to three, whereas
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r) was used to answer the
research questions four to seven. Linear and multiple regressions analysis and t-test
statistic were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of probability. Results indicated
that majority of the teachers perceived themselves as having high emotional
intelligence whereas few teachers had low emotional intelligence; majority of the
teachers rated themselves as having internal locus of control while few teachers had
external locus of control; most of the teachers were authoritative, some of the teachers
were authoritarian while few teachers were permissive in their instructional leadership
models. Emotional intelligence significantly predicted teachers’ instructional
leadership models. Locus of control significantly predicted teachers’ instructional
leadership models. Gender of teachers predicted significantly teachers’ instructional
leadership models and emotional intelligence, locus of control and gender of teachers
significantly predicted teachers’ instructional leadership models. The educational
implication of the study is that if the findings of the study are made available to
teachers, it would help them in teaching irrespective of their emotional intelligence
and locus of control. It was recommended that school administrators organize
workshops or seminars for teachers on the relationship among emotional intelligence,
locus of control and teachers’ instructional leadership models, teacher preparation
institutions should incorporate instructional leadership models in the relevant areas of
their curriculum units to expose both the pre-service and in-service teachers to the
prediction effect of emotional intelligence and locus of control on teachers’
instructional leadership models, male and female teachers should be exposed to
training on the extent emotional intelligence and locus of control can predict
instructional leadership models without discrimination among others.
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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Recently, the reports of poor academic achievement of students especially in
secondary schools has raised more attention and greater concerns among stakeholders
in Nigerian education. Academic achievement or academic performance is the
outcome of education, that is the, extent to which a student, teacher or institution has
achieved their educational goals (Ward, Stoker, & Murray-Ward, 2000). Academic
achievement is commonly measured by continuous assessment or examination but
there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects is most
important, whether procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge
such as facts (Stumm, Hell, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). Irrespective of the method
of academic measurement, Isangedighi (1999) observed that indiscipline, drug
addiction, poor socio-economic background of the parents, inadequate motivation on
the part of students, lack of information couple with teachers’ nonchalant attitude to
work and students’ negative self-concept have often resulted into students’
inconsistent and poor academic performances. Yoloye (1999) submitted that theories
of educational disadvantages and social cultural pathology have been most prominent
in the explanation of poor academic achievement of students in schools. On the
contrary, a growing number of scholars, have rejected this latter view and have
suggested that many of the problems of learning are the artifacts of discontinuities
which are brought about by the separation of learning from real life functions and
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situations (Fagbemi, 2001) and by the exclusion of the child’s language, values and
mode of cognition from the school environment (Ugodulunwa, 2007). It seems that
the causes of low academic achievement are diverse and cannot be associated with a
single factor alone. For in-stance, Adamu (1998) observed that self-concept and its
variables may be a paramount factor in academic failure. Tukur & Musa (2001)
attributed the causes of fluctuating performances among students to teacher-student
inter-actions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, classroom behavior and other
extraneous variables. The above may be responsible for the academic achievement of
students in the area of the study.

In Enugu State, the academic achievement of secondary school students has
been observed to be generally poor. A look at the West African Senior Secondary
School Certificate Examination results in the past eight years (2005-2012) shows
clearly the declining state of secondary school students’ achievements in external
examinations in the state. The West African Certificate Examinations Councils’
(WAEC) result analysis has it that in 2005, only 27.53% of candidates who sat for the
senior secondary school certificate exanimation had five credit passes and above
including English Language and Mathematics (WAEC, 2010).The same trend
continued in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011and 2012 where only 15.56%,
25.54%, 13.76%, 25.99%, 24.94%, 30.99% and 25.76% of candidates respectively
obtained five credit passes including English Language and Mathematics.