CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Public primary schools are those either built and directly owned by government regulations or owned through grant-in-aid to such schools in which case government has share in the administration of such schools. Private schools on the other hand are those which government have no direct share and do not give grant to them. The owners of these schools have 99% control, with government’s supervision having just 10% maintain standard (Adzemba, 2009). The increasing emphasis on the leadership at the school cannot be over-emphasized. A good leadership is always vital to the development of high performance learning. Leadership cannot be thought of as a manifest only in the acts of single person. “H-mastership” is defined as a series of necessary functions that need to be carried out rather than as the acts of a single person. However, it is a single person who arranges the organizational conditions within which these functions are carried out to productive ends and it is a single person who encourages and develops leadership among staff in the school. That person is referred to as the headteacher (Ubben and Hughes, 2002). Ede (2000) stated that when a person with the requisite and management skills fills the roles in a school setting, great things happen. When the right person is not there, the best will not be gotten and the learners’ need will go unattended to. In this wise, there are bad schools and good schools. There may also be some bad schools with good head teachers and good staff that are living lives of quiet desperation, but there are no good schools that have bad head teachers. This fact therefore stresses both the leadership and management aspect of the head teachers. According to Ubben and Hughes (2002), good head teachers have always operated in the manner designed to encourage the followers. They maintain facilities in their schools very well and manage their staff to the best of their abilities so as to ensure better performance. In most educational institutions today, there are four categories of schools, namely public and government, private individual, mission and community schools. These schools have their heads also known as administrators that are saddled with the responsibility of planning, organizing, programming, staffing, budgeting, coordinating, reporting and evaluating of the school programme so as to ensure that the set objectives are achieved. According to Asemah (2010), an educational administrator is a headmaster or principal who implements education plans, programmes or policies in an educational enterprise like the school. Every school head or administrator in the aforementioned categories of schools tries in his or her own way to achieve set objectives. They coordinate both human and material resources of the school so as to function well. In spite of their efforts, some are effective in their performance while others are ineffective. This is because most of the school heads lack good managerial skills and knowledge to perform their functions and responsibilities creditably (Ekere, 2000). Ekere further observed that, government plays a supervisory role on all schools irrespective of their public or private status. The head teachers are expected to perform maximally well in the management of these schools irrespective of differences in ownership and control, which by implication requires adequate funding. Little differences also exist between public and private primary schools in terms of funding, admission policy and method of examination. On the other hand, Akera (2006) in his research found that, in most public or private primary schools today, school heads perform far below expectation as a result of lack of good strategies used in the management of their schools. They also lack the basic skills to manage their staff well enough to get better performance from them. The raising of revenue for the school is a serious problem for them as well as the maintenance of school facilities. Ogbu (2006) noted that there have been recent frequent discussions by parents, other educational stakeholders and members of the public focused, on educational standards between public primary schools and private individual schools in terms of pupils’ performance in common entrance and students’ general academic achievement which has to do with the management ability of the school heads. Most head teachers of primary schools either public or private in urban or rural areas are said to lack the basic keen understanding of the principles of management. However, efficient and effective head teachers seem to use the established guidelines and procedures to help solve the day to day problems of the school. This makes most of the head teachers perform well while others who are inefficient and ineffective perform below expectation in school management. According to Idoko (2001), most primary school head teachers allow their school facilities to wear and tear very fast because of lack of proper maintenance. He stated further that, in terms of staff management, head teachers of private schools tend to have low motivation for their staff in terms of provision of welfare packages such as accommodation, transport means, canteen for them and medical facilities to boost their moral towards putting in their best in the performance of their duties. Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organizational members and using all other organizational resources to achieve set goals (Yalokwu, 2002). Whereas managerial effectiveness of principals entails how well or bad managers or administrators of school perform. It is the measurement of success or failure of school managers who are bestowed with certain responsibilities which has an intended accomplishment (Ubben and Hughes, 1997). Ede (2000) maintained that, primary education is supposed to give a qualitative teaching to pupils so as to prepare them for future academic challenges. This can only be made possible by the quality of the performances of the headteachers and teachers in primary schools. However, there is need to know the level of performances of head teachers in both public and private primary schools as regards the need for a quality education of our children. It is against this background that the researcher deemed it necessary to compare the managerial effectiveness of principals of public and private primary school head teachers in Ijero L.G.A of Ekiti statewith particular focus to maintenance of school facilitates, staff management and maintenance of discipline.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2004) states that public schools are schools established and managed by the government while private schools are those established and managed by voluntary agencies, communities and private individuals. There are peculiar differences and similarities between private and public primary schools but they are expected to use the same curriculum, the same calendar and the teaching and learning carried out under the same acceptable standards of facilities and quality of head teachers and teachers. There are speculations in the study area that some head teachers of either public or private primary schools seems not to have been performing as expected of them in the adoption of the managerial effectiveness of principals in the schools. They are sometimes accused of breaking school rules and regulations rather than being the architect of instilling discipline in their schools. On the other hand, the researcher observed that most parents and the entire public in the study area have also been complaining and are worried about the low performance of their children and wards in primary schools. They seem to wonder if the cause of low performance of their children and low education standard are attributed to the head teachers low management performance in either public or private schools today. This is in terms of maintenance of school facilities, poor staff management, low revenue generation for the school, inadequate maintenance of discipline, poor planning and implementation of budget and poor allocation of funds to priority areas of the school

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to compare the managerial effectiveness of principals in private and public secondary schools in Nigeria. Other specific objectives of the study are:

1. to determine the difference in the managerial effectiveness of principals in private and public secondary schools in Ijero L.G.A
2. to determine the types of managerial practice of principals in private and public secondary schools
3. to investigate on the factors affecting the managerial effectiveness of principals in both private and public secondary schools
4. to determine the extent to which the managerial effectiveness of principals of schools could enhance teachers and student’s performance
5. to proffer solution to the above problem

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study came up with research questions so as to ascertain the above stated objectives of the study. The research questions for the study are:

1. What is the difference in the managerial effectiveness of principals in both private and public secondary schools in Ijero L.G.A?
2. What are the types of managerial effectiveness of principals in private and public secondary schools?
3. What are the factors affecting the managerial effectiveness of principals in both private and public secondary schools?
4. To what extent has the managerial effectiveness of principals of schools enhanced teachers and student’s performance?

1.5 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no difference in the managerial effectiveness of principals in both private and public secondary schools in Ijero L.G.A

H1: there is difference in the managerial effectiveness of principals in both private and public secondary schools in Ijero L.G.A

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study is a very interesting one in the sense that it will educate both the public and private schools on the types various types of managerial effectiveness of principals that will enhance effective learning processes. The study will compare the types of managerial effectiveness of principals found in private schools and that of secondary schools. The study will serve as a repository of information to other researchers that desire to carry out similar research on the above topic. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge in this field of study and provide a basis for further research

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

The study on a comparative study of managerial effectiveness of principals in private and public secondary schools in Nigeria will be limited to secondary schools in Ijero L.G.A, Ekiti state; Nigeria

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work