IMPACT OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ASABA METROPOLIS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the impact of staff development programmes on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis in Delta State, Nigeria. Six objectives were formulated among which are to: examine the impact of in-service training on the performance of teachers in secondary schools and ascertain the impact of conference on the performance of teachers in secondary schools. Six research questions and six hypotheses were also formulated in line with the objectives of the study. The research design used for this study is descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprises 31 supervisors, 64 principals and 1814 teachers, making the total of 1909. Stratified sampling technique was used to determine the sample size in case of principals, teachers and zonal educational supervisors, the sample used for the study are 6 principals, 10 supervisors and 203 teachers making the total of 219 respondents. A self-developed questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. The instrument was validated by the researcher‟s supervisors and other experts in the department of Educational Foundations and Curriculum. The instrument was pilot tested and a reliability index of 0.945 was obtained. The six (6) hypotheses formulated for the study were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Five null hypotheses were accepted (retained) and one was rejected. The results showed that in-service training, conferences, seminars, symposium and mentoring have improved the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis in Delta State. However, from the findings, it revealed that workshops were not properly carried out by the teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis that led to the rejection of the hypothesis. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations were made among which were that government and school administrators should encourage teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis to go for in-service training in order to enhance high performance in the classroom. Also, Policy on the conduct of conference should be strengthened to enable teachers benefit further from such training because of its effectiveness on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

Organizing and structuring of a solid academic staff development program influences the realization of the school goals. Employee development refers to the human resource development programs designed to enhance the value of employee after they have joined the organization. This according to Bingilar and Etale (2014) includes employee training, orientation promotion, mentoring, seminar and workshop among others. Training is the organized way in which organizations provide development and enhanced quality of new and existing employees. Training is viewed as a systematic approach of learning and development that improve individual, group and organization Fanny (2001), thus it is the series of activities embarked upon by organization that leads to knowledge or skills acquisition for growing purposes.

Staff development has been accepted as an effective method of increasing the knowledge and skills of teacher‟s in order to enable teachers to teach more effectively. According to Lawal (2004), staff development programmes for teachers are important aspects of education process that deal with the art of acquiring skills in the teaching profession. They are essential practices that enhance subject mastery, teaching methodology and classroom management. The objective of staff development programmes is that it ensures the promotion of professional growth. Help to improve pedagogical skills. Keep teachers abreast with new knowledge. Meet particular needs, such as curriculum development and orientation. Help in leadership responsibility. Help new teachers to adjust to teaching field. Helps to promote mutual respect among teachers and recognizes the need for modern teaching methods (Madumere-Obike, 2007).

The need for teachers in secondary schools to improve their knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviours while on the job is more critical now in the developing nation like Nigeria than ever before for a number of reasons for example, academic programmes in our schools rarely adequately prepared students as finish products for their future position as teachers and their accompanying responsibilities (Peretomode, 2001; Peretomode & Chukwuma, 2014).

Moreover, the issue of quality assurance to ensure credibility of certification is essential in teacher production. Uche and Enukoha (2004), points out that teaching is a profession, therefore all who desire to work as teachers should be well groomed in the art of teaching. Brennen (2001), asserts that new teachers are faced with several challenges upon beginning their teaching career; such as: class assignment, classroom discipline and management, demanding teaching workloads with assignment of extra duties, motivating students, dealing with individual differences among students, assessing students among others. Hence there is need to provide effective staff development programmes which will assist novice teachers as they begin their teaching career. Staff development can be regarded as series of activities an organization put in place in order to assist members of its staff acquire the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary for efficient and effective performance of jobs and responsibilities in the organization (Banta, 2008).

It is worth understanding that to undertake new strategies for delivering instruction; teachers need to be provided with the necessary training to utilize the new opportunities to ensure student success. Staff development is the key to increasing student achievement through the improvement of teachers‟ skills and abilities. A successful staff development program is cyclic in nature. This ongoing process must be collaborative in nature involving teachers, administrators and stakeholders. Schools and school administrators must balance their student learning goals and curriculum with state requirements and then analyze the student achievement data to determine deficiencies in student learning. Once the problem areas are identified, research should be used to determine which effective and efficient instructional strategies would produce the desired results.

Therefore, staff development is the provisions of skills to enable staff members effectively perform their duties. The types of staff development programmes include: simple orientation programmes, organized visit, seminars and conferences, participatory management, and internal training programmes (Ifidon & Ifidon, 2007). Mohammed (2010), posited that all these training programme can help both professional and non-professional staff to be current with new knowledge and development in the field. Also, given the deteriorating academic performance of secondary school student in external examinations Ekpoh (2007), a lot of people, notable among them; parents, students and government have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of teaching and learning that take place in schools.

Esu (1997), observed that teachers who were trained some few years ago are not adequately equipped for effective teaching except complemented by in-service training. She further stated that the 2-3 years teacher preparation programmes in higher institutions of learning do not adequately prepare teachers for the teaching job, as there are too many grounds to be covered in the teacher preparation programmes. To take care of the inadequacies of pre-service teacher preparation, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the National Policy on Education (2004), made provision for development of teachers by stating that teacher education shall continue to take cognizance of the changes in methodology and in the curriculum, and that in- service training for teachers and head teachers shall be regulated. This therefore emphasizes the importance and the need for every staff to be constantly upgraded to keep abreast with the rapid changing society. This situation requires investigation into the staff development programmes in secondary schools.

1.2         Statement of the Problem

Teachers’ ability and teaching performance are often in the center of attention in educational institution, the challenges experienced by secondary schools currently such as large students enrolments, globalization of education with inherent competition for staff and students has called for more current expertise in delivery of quality education, need for recognition and prestige. The importance of staff professional development cannot be over emphasized. In spite of its apparent advantages there are still many employers particularly in secondary schools, management do not commit sufficient funds to the development of their staff (Peretomode & Chukwuma, 2014). The significance of staff development and job performance has necessitated the introduction of policies to encourage staff development; the policy thrust enable staff to add to their qualification in an area of study directly relevant to their primary assignment. The National Policy on Education (NPE, 2004) States that continuous training of teachers in all educational institution shall be encouraged.

Having the new educational challenges, there is a growing concern that the preparation of teachers need to be enhanced for them to be fully effective in the discharge of their duties. Newly employed teachers needs to be effectively integrated into the system through orientation programmes which many secondary schools have now abandoned, though the school management believed that effective mentoring programmes are vital to improve new teacher retention and development for beginning teachers. Our experienced teachers are held in very high esteem and are valued for the professional support they give to new teachers, but unfortunately there are no officially organize mentoring programmes in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis Delta State, Nigeria. Many schools are now running external examinations such as West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) among others with some examination boards but do not adequately prepare their teachers for the task. The society, student and stakeholders are complaining that teachers are not performing to the expected standards and neither do they seem to address the needs of students and other stakeholders. Their performance is still less satisfactory than the expected standards and consequences have been predictable as there are rising concerns over poor coverage of students‟ assessment and general performance, delayed examination results and missing marks, poor assessment of examinations, poor teacher-student interaction, deteriorating academic performance are worrisome.

The use of modern teaching techniques to handle large class size and the information technology system in teaching seems to be a challenge to some teachers in this modern age, these situations motivated the researcher to investigate into the staff development programmes in secondary schools. This research tries to examine if teachers‟ participation in staff development programmes can help impact on their performance, teachers performance will be considered in terms of their commitment to attending training programmes such as in-service training, conference and workshop among others, student assessments supervise to completion, examination invigilation, and number of hours spent for teachers relationship with students among others in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State Nigeria.

1.3         Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this research was to investigate the Impact of staff development programmes on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:

1. Examine the impact of in-service training on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
2. Ascertain the impact of conference on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
3. Assess the impact of workshop on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
4. Determine the impact of seminars on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
5. Examine the impact of symposium on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
6. Examine the impact of mentoring on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.

1.4           Research Questions

The following research questions guided the conduct of the study.

1. Is there impact of in-service training on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?
2. To what extent do conferences have impact on teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?
3. To what extent does workshop have impact on teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?
4. What is the impact of seminar on teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?

5. What is the impact of symposium on teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?
6. What is the impact of mentoring on teachers‟ performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State?

1.5           Research Hypotheses

For the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses are formulated:

1. There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and zonal inspectors on the impact of in-service training on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
2. There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and zonal inspectors on the impact of conference on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis Dealta State.
3. There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and zonal inspectors on the impact of workshop on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
4. There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and zonal inspectors on the impact of seminar on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
5. There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and

zonal inspectors on the impact of symposium programmes on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.

.6.          There is no significant difference in the opinions of principals, teachers and zonal inspectors on the impact of mentoring programmes on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State

1.6           Basic Assumptions

The research is being undertaken based on the following assumptions that:

1. In-service training is assumed to improve productivity of teachers‟ job performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
2. Conference training is assumed to improve job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
3. Workshop training is assumed to stimulate teachers‟ job performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
4. Seminar training is assumed to improve job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
5. Symposium programmes is assumed to improve teachers‟ job performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.
6. Proper mentoring is assumed to enhance teachers‟ job performance in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis, Delta State.

1.7         Significance of the Study

Staff development has become a central function for teachers‟ management in that it improves the overall level of productivity after pre-service training. The significance of this study is based on the research finding that will avail to the academic community on how staff development programmes impact on teachers‟ effectiveness. The study is relevant to students and other researchers who are furthering their studies on different aspects of staff development, school management and the larger academic communities as well will rely on the work. The study will benefit the federal government being the major financer of education across the country has spent a lot on staff development programmes.

However, the teachers‟ service commission will also benefit from the research work because of being the co-coordinating organ and policy making body for secondary schools. The study is reliable in encouraging government on the importance of in-service training, workshop, seminars, conferences, symposium and mentoring programmes for teachers to improve their skills and academic performance in secondary schools. Furthermore, the study is relevant to administrators, stakeholder and non-governmental organization on the need for every staff to be constantly upgraded to keep abreast with the rapid changing society.

1.8         Scope of the Study

This study investigated the impact of staff development programmes on the performance of teachers in secondary schools in Asaba Metropolis Delta State, Nigeria. This study was delimited to principals, zonal inspectors and teachers in secondary schools in Asaba metropolis, Delta State. The independent variables of the study include staff development programmes, in-service training, conference, workshop, seminar, symposium, mentoring and the dependent variable, teachers‟ performance.

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