IMPROVING PRINCIPAL-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to investigate ways of improving principal-teacher relationship for effective communication in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone. The study was guided by five purposes, five  research  questions  and  three  null  hypotheses.  The  literature  was reviewed on conceptual framework, theoretical framework, review of related empirical  studies  and  summary  of  literature  review.  Descriptive  survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 2056 respondents comprising of 58 principals and 1998 teachers. The sample was

458 respondents, made up of 58 principals, and 400 teachers. The instrument for data collection was a 51-item questionnaire developed by the researcher. The  instrument  was validated  by  three experts and  the  reliability of  the instrument was ascertain using Cronbach’s Alpha and reliability index was

0.95. Mean scores and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistic at 0.05

level of significance. The result of the study among others showed that; the communication   patterns   employed   in   secondary   schools   in   Nsukka Education zone to a great extent include phone calls, memos, notice boards, text messages, and through heads of departments. Result also showed that downward communication is more often used by principals and teachers. It was recommended  among  other things  that  Principal-teacher  relationship will greatly improve if information is given at intervals, if roles are clearly defined, if principals see teachers as partners in progress and if principals adopt democratic style of leadership.

Background of the Study

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Communication is so vivid in our everyday work and lives, that we easily forget how much it affect what and how we do things. A traditional way to describe communication is it being a process including a sender, a message,  channels,  a receiver and  feedback  (Dimbleby &  Burton, 1998; Fiske, 1990). Okorie (2000) describe communication as a means by which ideas, thought, information, opinions, emotions, values and insight are transmitted from one individual to another through a common medium (language or set of  behaviours). Communication  is the  means by  which people are linked together in an organization. Just the way fuel is to a vehicle so is communication to an organization, it is a force that drives an organization. Communication links individuals, creates and maintains individual and organizational perceptions, motivates and persuades others. Thus no institution can function without adequate functional pattern of communication among its components and structure.

Communication can have several purposes; to satisfy individual and social needs, to cooperate and understand the world, as well as a way to distribute information and messages (Dimbleby & Burton, 1998). Communication therefore is more than  distributing messages; it involves

interplay    between    actors    (Johansson,    2003).    Depending    on    how

1

communication is conducted, in what circumstances and with what actors, it can render different outcomes.

Secondary schools being an institution for learning has set goals it tend to pursue with its daily activities. Two major actors in the secondary school set up  are  the  school principals and  the  classroom  teachers.  The principal   as   an   administrative   staff   among   other   functions   plays   a supervisory role on the teachers as to how the school aims and objectives are being achieved while the teacher on the other hand is assigned majorly with the responsibility of implementing every policy and programs designed to achieve the institutional aims, goals and objectives. Thus there is need for adequate communication between these major actors.

According to Ogunsaju (1990) effective communication is a vital element in  interpersonal  relations  and  is  crucial  for school success.  The quality of this communication is dependent on both actors and the actual situation and its prerequisites. The situation and prerequisites in this context is a  function of  the school goals,  aims and  objective and organizational structure. Therefore the levels of success a school can record depend on the level  of  relationship  between  its  principal  and  teachers  and  the  modus operandi of the school.

On this note this review has been designed into the following sub- headings; different communication patterns used in schools; downward communication  pattern  and  Principal-teacher  relationship  in  secondary

schools; upward communication pattern and principal-teacher relationship in secondary school; communication barriers to principal-teacher relationship in secondary schools; strategies for improving principal-teacher relationship in schools.

Communication is an inevitable management tool. It is the glue that holds an organization together. Through communication, the school principal makes the teachers, students and other members of the school community know what is being planned, the objectives being pursed and the methods of operation  in  the  execution  of  tasks.  This  shows  that  communication  is valuable for improved relationship in schools. Teachers can be committed to the establishment of a conducive administration in their schools as a result of communication and interaction with the principals. Therefore, any communication gap in the school system can lead to disputes, confusion, resentment, rumours, dissatisfaction and feeling of insecurity between staff and management.

The concept of communication has been defined in various ways by scholars,  all  pointing  to  the  same  general  process  of  transmission  of  a message from source to the receiver through a medium. Oboegbulem and Onwurah (2011:24) see communication as “the transmission or exchange of ideas, feelings, views, messages and issues”. Oboegbulem (2011) defined communication as the interaction through which persons or groups relate to each other and share information, experience and culture. Eze and Okafor

(2011) defined communication as the transfer of information from sender to the receiver with the information being understood by the receiver. Nwana (2008) opined that communication is the information exchange between two or more persons, while Obi (2003) defined communication as the purposeful interchange of ideas, opinions and information presented personally or impersonally  by  symbol  or  signal  to  pass  message.  From  the  above definitions one can deduce that communication means sending messages, thought, ideas or information from one person (the sender) to another (the receiver) and from one place to another.

Consequently, in the absence of effective communication, organizational goals will succumb to individualistic and personal goals, and in educational institution, this means that teaching and learning and other activities will be inactive. Effective communication is that communication that is able to bring about the intended result. It occurs when a desired effect is the  result of  intentional or unintentional information  sharing which  is interpreted between multiple entities and acted on a desired way (Lawrence, Jeannes and Roberts 2013) Lawrence et al went further to state that communication is said to be effective when such communication serves the purpose for which it was planned or designed and that effective communication is at the foundation of every successful action. This implies that for any organization to be successful, there must be effective communication.  On  the  other  hand,  ineffective  communication  is  that

communication which did not bring about the intended result. According to Joey (2013), ineffective communication can lead the receiver to confusion, frustration  and  low  morale.  Joey  stated  further  that  ineffective communication has the power to hurt, confuse and misinform the listener/receiver.

Consequently, ineffective communication brings a lot of barriers to teaching and learning process. Mgbodile (2004) opined that ineffective communication results in chaos and instability which brings about indiscipline.  Obi  (2003:70)  observed  that  “communication  that  is  not effective has been shown to be a source of administrator’s failure”. When there is communication gap and lapses or where communication is not effective, principals cannot receive information from teachers or give them instruction. In a situation like this, all administrative policies and practices in the school system cannot be clearly spelt out. Furthermore, the relationship between principals and their staff will not be cordial.

In school system, the success and failure of educational programmes are  determined,  to  a  large  extent,  by  the  way  and  manner people  work together as members of the education enterprise. In the Nigerian secondary school system, especially in Nsukka Education Zone, there have been complaints about poor relationship between principals and  teachers.  This poor relationship brings about certain factors that are detrimental to teaching and  learning.  The  factors include:  the  principal taking  decisions  without

involving the teachers, non involvement of teachers in policy making and not informing  the  teachers  about  the  school  affairs.  Evidence  available  in literature has it that principals are often accused of being nice to those they like and unduly harsh to those they dislike (Okunamiri and Ndom-Uchendu

2011). Okunamiri and Ndom-Uchendu stated further that teachers on their own side, exhibit non-commitment to effective teaching and learning, lack sense of belonging, feel nonchalant towards what happens in the school, lack interest in extracurricular activities, lack co-operation which at times results in some teachers flouting the principal’s order and or inciting the students against the principal.

Another scholar that captured the attitude of teachers towards teaching and learning is Eboungwu (2002). In his words, misunderstanding usually erupts between principal and the staff who hold widely divergent views on issues bothering on learning process. Eboungwu noted that teachers put little or no effort in executing their duties such as not preparing their lesson notes, not giving or marking assignments, lateness to school, absentism, truancy and unwillingness to co-operate with the principal which in certain cases result in factions within the school, namely: the principal and his faction and the faction of the disagreeing staff members. This ugly situation is unhealthy for any educational system  as it  results  in low commitment to  effective teaching and learning. Eze (2003) observed that there are often poor connection and interaction gaps between most principals and their teachers,

leading to misinterpretation of information. Equally, a lot of fear and distrust exist among teachers in most schools due to poor communication or misinformation. In the words of Eze, some principals appear not to communicate necessary information to their teachers and even when they do, the information is distorted. Eze went further to observe that teachers in Nsukka Education zone complain that communication between principals and their teachers lack openness and in most cases leads to conflict. In a situation like this, effective administration is jeopardized.

Every  human organization exists  to  achieve  an  objective.  For this purpose to be achieved, roles to be played must be assigned to the individual members of the organization. In the process of playing such roles, one form of interaction or the other must exist among members. How healthy the interaction will be depends on the patterns of communication in the organization. Hence communication lies at the center of the organizational structure. Communication patterns have a number of possible distinct directions of communication flow within a school. The pattern of communication that could be adopted, according to Peretomode (2008), include:  downward,  upward,  horizontal,  diagonal  and  grapevine.  This implies that in any form of communication process in the school, meanings and messages are conveyed through a pattern. One of the patterns considered in school administration is downward communication. It is a type of communication that moves from the head to the subordinates in the form of

instruction,  order,  warnings and  directions.  In  this  study,  it is a  process whereby directives flow from principal to vice principal and through the channel to teachers, students and parents. In school system, in order to have a good  communication pattern between  the  principal and  his teachers,  the principal is expected to integrate properly the downward pattern of communication with other patterns, it can ensure proper coordination and organization of school activities and equally improve the relationship that exists between the principal and his teachers.

Upward  communication  is  another  important  pattern  of communication to be adopted in schools. It is a form of communication that move from the staff to the principal in the form of information, views and opinions. In the words of Hicks (1992), upward communication increases school effectiveness because of its significant relationship that exist between the leader and the led. In line with this assertion, entrenchment of this pattern can serve as an instrument of administration control. Through this, pattern, teachers and other staff can convey to the principal, their grievances, views, opinions and information on issues that concern them. In this study, upward communication  refers  to  the  process  whereby  information  flows  from teachers, students, non-tutorial staff and parents to the principal within the school.

Horizontal  (lateral)  communication  is  another  pattern  of communication  to  be  considered  in  school  administration.  Ajayi  (1995)

commented  that  horizontal  communication  has  a  very  strong  positive influence and most easily understood in school administration. Based on this comment, to ensure team-teaching, co-operative problem solving, share of expertise and information, building of rapport with colleagues and conflict resolution, horizontal pattern of communication is of great importance. In this work, horizontal communication refers to the process of communication among peers within the same group, that is information flow from principal to principal, teacher to teacher, student to student and between colleagues in the same category in an office or classroom.

Diagonal pattern of communication is another pattern that should be considered. This is because the flow of information could be diagonal rather than vertical. The principal could use this pattern as a veritable tool to break protocols in order to secure the prerequisite information for smooth coordination of  the school programmes.  In  this study,  diagonal communication implies the process whereby communication flows from the principal to security man, teachers to school bursar, school librarian to store officer rather than going through upward and downward pattern.

The grapevine is the unofficial communication system made up of a network of gossip, and rumour. The grapevine is faster, it is about 75 percent accurate and people tend to rely on it when there is paucity of information or in times of rapid changes (Nwofia 2010). Therefore, its influence could be healthy  to  the  school administration  since it  is  fast  in transmitting  vital

information in the school and could serve as last resort in the time of emergency. The above pattern of communication flows between the principal and his staff.

The principal, according to Mgbodile (2004), is the executive head of secondary school in Nigeria. He is the person that develops and implements educational programmes of the school. He procures staff and provides facilities and equipment. He keeps school records, including fund records and ensures that the environment is conducive for teaching and learning in the school, among others. On the other hand, a teacher, according to Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) (2004), is the individual that has been professionally trained in any teacher education programmes. According to Adebile (2009), teachers are in the school to: get the individual students to learn, teachers remove obstacles to learning and identify to resolve cases of friction and frustration in learning in order to achieve successful learning. Incidentally,  the  above  duties  of  principals  and  teachers  have  not  been realized  due  to  poor  communication  that  exist  between  principals  and teachers. For example, Eze (2003) observed that there are often poor connection and interaction gaps between principals and their teachers leading to misinterpretation of information. He also observed that some principals appear not to communicate necessary information to their teachers and that even when they do, the information is distorted. Eze stated further that teachers in Nsukka Education zone complain that communication between

principals and their teachers lack openness and in most cases leads to conflict and  rumour  mongering  in  the  school  thereby  making  the  relationship between principals and teachers to be in the negative state. In a situation like this, effective administration is jeopardized. These abnormalities therefore aroused  the  interest  of  the  researcher  to  investigate  how  to  improve principal-teacher relationship for effective communication in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State.

Statement of the Problem

In secondary school system, especially in Nsukka Education zone, there have been complaints about poor relationship between principals and their teachers. Evidences available in literature have it that principals are often accused of being nice to those they like and unduly harsh to those they dislike and most often they are accused of not informing the teachers about school affairs.

Consequently, teachers lack commitment to effective teaching and learning, lack co-operation which at times result in some teachers flouting the principals’ order, inciting the students against the principal, putting little or no effort in executing their duties such as not preparing their lesson notes, not giving or marking assignments, lateness to school, absentism, truancy and unwillingness to co-operate with the principals. All these contribute to poor relationship between principals and their teachers in schools. Therefore, there is need for a study on how to improve principal-teacher relationship for

effective communication in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State. Put in question form the problem of this study is: how could principal-teacher relationship be improved for effective communication in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone?

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate ways of improving principal-teacher relationship for effective communication in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone. Specifically, the study intends to:

1. Find out the different communication patterns used in schools

2. Find out the extent to which downward communication pattern improves principal-teacher   relationship   in   secondary   school   in   Nsukka Education zone

3. Find out the extent to which upward communication pattern improves principal-teacher   relationship   in   secondary   schools   in   Nsukka Edcuation zone of Enugu state

4. Find out the barriers to principal-teacher relationship in Nsukka Edcuation zone of Enugu State

5.  Find  out the  strategies  for improving principal-teacher relationship  in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State

Significance of the Study

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the study will be anchored on the systems theory. The systems

theory emphasizes that task achievement in a social system, irrespective of the nature of the task, requires combined efforts of a number of people with varying functions and responsibilities, whose position establish the relationship between the superior and the subordinates. The theory will be of benefit to principals, teachers and educational planners on the role of inter- dependency in organization’s goal achievement.

Practically, the findings of this study will be of immense benefit to the following  groups:   students,   teachers,   principals  and   stake   holders  in education. The findings will be of immense benefit to the students in the since that if there is effective communication in their schools, it will enhance effective teaching and learning which in turn leads to high academic performance.

The results of this study will enable teachers to appreciate fully the role of effective communication in their inter-personal relationship at school. They will also through the study understand the need to be involved in any communication process by way of feedback since this will enhance their role perception and morale as well as reduce conflicts.

The study is also considered necessary since the findings will enable the principals in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State to re-assess their methods of communicating with their teachers. This will create a more conducive administrative climate that facilitates the realization of set objectives.

Furthermore, the findings of this study will enable Enugu State Post Primary Schools’ Management Board to realize the dangers inherent in an ineffective communication system and this will in turn influence the Board to evolve an effective communication network in schools in Enugu State. The study is also deemed necessary because the findings will enable all those involved in the schools system to recognize and appreciate fully the importance of effective communication as a product of the various communication compounds in the over all school administration.

Finally,  this  study  is  deemed  necessary  because  it  will  stimulate further research into other areas of administrative communication. All the information made available by this study will be useful to the present and future  generation  of  school  administrators  who  may  be  faced  with  the problem of communication.

Scope of the Study

This study was delimited to all the fifty eight public secondary schools in  Nsukka  Education  zone  of  Enugu  State.  Nsukka   Education  zone comprises Igbo-Etiti, Nsukka and Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas. The content scope of this study focused on different communication channels that improve principal-teachers relationship in secondary schools in Nsukka Education   zone   of   Enugu   State,   the   extent   to   which   downward communication pattern improve principal-teacher relationship in secondary schools  in  Nsukka  Education  zone  of  Enugu  state,  the  extent  to  which

upward communication pattern improve principal-teacher relationship in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State, the barriers to principal-teacher relationship and the strategies for improving principal- teacher  relationship  in  secondary  schools  in  Nsukka  Education  zone  of Enugu state.

Research questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study.

1. What are the different communication patterns used in schools?

2. To what extent does downward communication pattern improve principal- teacher relationship in secondary schools in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State ?

3. To what extent does upward communication pattern improve principal- teacher relationship in secondary school in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu State?

4.  What  are  the  barriers  to  principal-teacher  relationship  in  secondary schools in Nsukka Edcuation zone of Enugu State?

5. What are the strategies for improving principal-teacher relationship in schools?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have been formulated to guide the study and was tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1.There was no significant difference between the mean ratings of school principals and teachers with regards to the extent to which downward communication pattern improve principal-teacher relationship in schools

2. There was no significant difference between the mean ratings of school principals and teachers with regards to the extent to which upward communication pattern improve principal-teacher relationship in schools.

3. There was no significant difference between the mean ratings of school principals and teachers with regards to the barriers to principal-teacher relationship in schools.

₦5,000.00 – DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT Added to cart

---

---

---

---

---

Related Project Topics :