CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Changes in the educational sector in Nigeria demand that the school principals play a bigger and more important role in educational supervision. Mohd Salleh Lebar (2000) stated that educational supervision was not a new thing in Nigeria but has been in practice way back since the British colonial era. Those days’ schools were supervised by Visiting Teacher and School Inspectorate. Hence, the interactions between the inspectorate and teachers were already in existence. The relationship as of that period was democratic.

However, in the educational administrative system of Nigeria, the supervision concept varies. The teachers colleges and university lecturers conducted supervision in order to evaluate their trainee teachers for their practical teaching. The school inspectorate however conducted supervision for assessing teaching activities, organizing functions, allocation of resources and overall management of the school (Yunus, 2012). Consequently, the inspectorate offered advice and recommendations to the principal for improvement. At the school level, supervision was normally done by the principal, the headmaster or the senior teacher empowered by the authority. During supervision, the principal may detect some malfunction in the school system.

Generally, the supervisors’ duties are to guide, to upgrade teaching performance, as facilitators and to boost teachers’ morale. Principal’s supervisory role is a critical issue in educational leadership. It involves lots of leadership aspects, identifying, supervision, teacher’s skills, students’ performance, the effectiveness of the school types and technical skills. Therefore, the role of a school administrator or a principal is to supervise, plan and develop competitive strategies for the school. Thus, a principal’s duty is very challenging and should be able to differentiate between administrative duty and management task.

The National Policy on Education (2004) reveals how the principal prime role of educational leadership, must be effective. Principals should be efficient and spend most of their time in organizing learning activities in schools. Maintaining effective school supervision, acting as consultants, advisor and coordinator for teaching and learning activities in schools is one of their important jobs. They should spend more time in teachers and students’ professional activities, not only working in their rooms issuing memos and directive or circulars. Yunus, (2012) found that educational supervision is a dynamic process in education aiming at improving the quality of teaching and learning. One of the roles that principals need to play is to be able to carry out the best educational leadership possible.

A circular letter issued by the Ministry of Education in 2004, stated that it is obligatory for principals to conduct teaching supervision in their respective schools. Other than principals, the task may be delegated to senior assistants, supervisors and heads of department. According to Yunus, (2004) school administrators as educational supervisors’ duty encompasses three important aspects i.e. curriculum implementation, preparation of teaching materials and improving teachers professionalism in respective schools. In an effort to improve quality of education, school principals must devote special attention to teachers teaching task.

A supervisor should be someone who gets a job done successfully by working with and through other people (i.e. peers and subordinates) Ejiogu (2010). Hence, supervisors are delegated with a heavy responsibility of identifying rules and policies, staffing, training and development and employee performance. They should be well aware not only of the group’s goals vis a vis the goals of the organization but also on the tasks and activities of the team. Pierce and Rowell (2006) identified ten key tasks of supervisors that are linked to productivity; these are: support for the growth of the team, inspiring unity, praise and commendation, setting a high bar for excellence, requiring accountability, verifying potential, instilling independence, continuous sharing and communication, optimizing ownership and reinforcing relationships. These tasks are applicable in all settings and types of organizations from the business industries, to non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Similarly, Grauwe and Carron, (2004) identified three factors that determine effectiveness of supervision on the efficiency of the work personnel. These are roles and function, organizational structure and the employees’ workload.

The school like any other organization has problems. The variety of problems which the school present can be identified through the process by which its functions are performed. Instructional supervision is one of the processes by which school administrators attempts to achieve acceptable standards of performance and results. It is the tool for quality control in the school, system. Nwankwo (2004) opined that supervision can be divided into categories. These are instructional and personnel supervision, Instructional supervision has been defined as a set of activities, which are carried out with the purpose of making the teaching and learning purpose better for the learner. Personnel supervision on the other hand, deals with the set of activities, which are carried out by the supervisor with the basic aim of sensitizing mobilizing and monitoring staff in the school towards performing their duties ultimately in terms of achievement of the stated aims and objectives of the educational system.

Secondary school level is the bridge between the primary and tertiary levels. The importance of secondary education made the Federal Government to state the broad aims of secondary education as preparation for useful living within the society and for higher education. The underline principle here is that the secondary schools should be able to provide quality secondary education to all those who can benefit from it. However, it appears that the secondary school teachers are not living up to expectation in discharging their duties due to poor supervisory control by the Ministry of Education, problems which ranges from lack of commitment and dedication on the part of teaching staff, high attrition rate, low staff moral, inadequate facilities and infrastructures, many teaching staffs are not committed to their professional tasks, late payment of salaries and incentives to staff.

Government parastatals i.e., Ministry of Education on the other hand contributes to the problems of school supervision which include inadequate funding to train and retrain inspectorate and school supervisors personnel, low morale of staff, poor supervision of schools and frequent changes in policies. poor remuneration of teachers, insufficient staffing/shortage of inspectors/school supervisors, lack of instructional materials and resources, lack of facilities for the school supervisors/inspectors of education to work with, lack of evaluation system, poor funding, political instability, constant change in educational policies, lack of adequate training for inspectors, nepotism of school supervisors among others. Teachers also contribute to the problem of supervision through the following ways: Unprofessional attitudes to work, lack of interest, lack of basic knowledge or formal training, numerous unqualified teachers.

Community and society contribute to the problem of supervision through the following ways: poor perception of the general public on teaching as profession; poor status given to the teachers and lack of proper interest of teaching staffs. Allthese observed problems above had been linked with the numerous problems bedeviling the school supervision system in Nigeria.

It must be stressed that education cannot be an instrument par excellence for achieving national development where the secondary education is not effectively managed to accomplish its aims and objectives. In the administration of secondary schools, the principal is central. He is the man at the helms of the affairs who receives all praises (in terms of success) and blames (in terms of failure). According to Ibukun (1999), the jobs of the school principal in Nigeria has progressively become more complex and highly hazardous. In order to cope with the ever-rising challenges of the system, the school principal must be ready to see himself as a change agent.

The sudden explosion of student’s population coupled with the attendant increased complexity of the school organization and the introduction of the new school basic system of 6-3-3-4 or 9-3-4 system of education in the country has indeed necessitated a greater attention of supervision more than ever before. This is so because school supervision occupies a unique place in the entire education system. Through inspection and supervision, the inspectors and supervisors assist in improving classroom instructions because teachers are made more competent and efficient, parent are satisfied with the performance of their children, children are motivated to work harder in order to achieve the required standard, hence the goals of education is achieved.

It has become axiomatic that no nation can rise above the level of its teachers. It is a fact too that poorly trained teachers will likely produce poor doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers as well as fellow teachers in the nation today and in future. From this stance, it may be noted that the future of the country’s educational system is bleak considering the extent of commitment from the supervisors, lackadaisical attitude of teachers and inadequate number of supervisors. Besides the shortage of supervising personnel, most supervisors in Nigeria are plagued with such problems as staff welfare, non implementation of disciplinary action to any erring staff, non-payment of allowances or touring advance, inadequate transportation especially within the riverine areas within and outside Lagos metropolis and job insecurity for inspectorates/school supervisors.

Supervision is a function which can be performed in various degrees and in various forms in any school organization or citadel of learning. With the new trends in the Nigerian educational system, it becomes obvious that effective supervision will be necessary in order to enhance the quality of instruction in schools. Modern instructional materials are being introduced and used as teaching aids in the school instructional process. In order to cope with these demands, it seems that supervision has an important role to play in deciding the nature and content of the curriculum, in selecting the school organizational patterns and learning materials that will enhance educational growth and development of both the students and the teachers. There are various reasons for carrying out supervision in schools; one of the most vital reasons is to ensure that each individual teacher within the school system has been performing the duties for which he was scheduled. Another cogent reason is to improve the effectiveness of teachers so that they can contribute maximally to the attainment of the system’s goals (Adesina, 2001).

Statement of the Problem

It is a well known fact that principals’ supervisory behavior affects the job satisfaction of teachers negatively more than it does positively. Principals view teachers as individuals beneath them and speak to them in manners that are inappropriate. For instance, when approached by teachers for one or two issues, they (the principals) ask them to wait for their turns; such responses adversely affect the teachers their effectiveness and efficiency which in turn affects the performance of the students

Opinions from the teachers are rarely sought and, if asked by chance, are not really considered or put into action for implementation. Most teachers are compelled to tender their resignation letters at their places of work, more often than not, due to such unpleasant behaviors portrayed by the principals as their zeal to be fully dedicated to work are dampened.

Hence this study aims at investigating the relationship between principals’ supervisory behaviors and teachers’ job satisfaction

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study therefore is to examine the principals’ supervisory behaviour and teachers’ job satisfaction in secondary schools in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Specifically the study sets out to:

i.             examine the extent to which principals supervisory behaviours will influence teachers’ job satisfaction in schools;

ii.           find out whether teachers’ job satisfaction will significantly influence teachers’ productivity; iii.          determine if principal’s supervisory behaviors will enhance the teaching and learning in secondary schools, and iv.          ascertain whether principals supervisory behaviors will influence teachers’ commitment to work in secondary schools.

 Research Questions

The following research questions will be answered during the course of this study:

i.         will principal’s supervisory behaviors influence teachers’ job satisfaction in schools?

ii.       Will teachers’ job satisfaction significantly influence teachers’ productivity? iii.      Will principal’s supervisory behaviors enhance the teaching and learning in secondary schools? iv.      Will principal’s supervisory behaviors influence teachers commitment to work in secondary schools?

Research Hypotheses

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between principal’s supervisory behaviours and teachers’ job satisfaction in schools;

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between teachers’ job satisfaction and teachers’ productivity. Ho3: There is no significant relationship between principal’s supervisory behaviours and teaching in secondary schools. Ho4: There is no significant relationship between principals supervisory behaviors and teachers’ commitment to work in secondary schools.

Significance of the Study

This study will be of benefit to various school administrators, ministries of education and other affiliated government agencies. It will help various school administrators to understand the benefit of effective school supervision as a quality control measure at various levels of education. It will enable school administrators to know the best school supervision techniques to adopt in order to maintain standard academic performance and school effectiveness. It will also enable school administrators to understand their position on their job towards effective routine supervision of teachers, non-teaching staff, and students’ academic performances.

The Ministry of Education will also benefit from this study through proper planning and implementation of supervision policies to various school management. The ministries will help in school supervision as a quality control measures through proper inspection and good interrelationship between school administrators and their teachers.

The government agencies will benefit from this study through provision of school facilities, conducive academic environment and improve standard of education. The need to strengthen efficient supervisory control measures at all levels of education is indispensable. Other beneficiaries include scholars of supervision who will gain more knowledge about areas of interest in supervision and which areas of study to follow for further investigation.

Scope of Study

The scope of this study is on principal’s supervisory roles and teachers’ job satisfaction in secondary schools in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.  The study shall be limited to some selected public secondary schools within Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Definition of Terms

The following terms have been defined as they will be used during the course of this study:

i.         Quality control this is the practice of maintaining the standard required in order to be efficient.

ii.       School supervision it is a process of evidence gathering in order to provide assessment on how well a school is performing.

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