CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The role of principals in the management of secondary schools is vital for the realization of educational goals since principal are involved in the implementation of educational policies and programs. One of the primary functions of secondary school principals, according to Idoko (2005), is management and maintenance of school plant. Management of secondary school had been criticized as an ineective in managing teachers to prepare competent individuals, who can demonstrate competencies in work and life (Benson, 2005). Heads of schools have been accused of devoting less attention in empowering teachers to dis empowering them with their condescending attitude, which demoralize and lower their work performance (Wedgwood, 2007). Because of lack of management skills, many teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria teach and supervise students’ learning poorly, with the results in poor performance (MOEVT, 2010). The truth is that, the mass failure of our students in secondary schools is the direct reflection of incompetent school leaders; teacher low morale and performance is an index of a combined failure of head of school, who has failed to manage teaching (Ndimbo, 2013). School Management has a very wide scope than that of Education itself (Kabunga & Iramba, 2011). This is because school management is working towards the achievement of Educational goals of which mainly is Academic Performance of students.

The release of examination results have been sending shock waves to the community and educational stakeholders to the extent of becoming fatal, Ndimbo (2013). School management has been urged to take up ownership of the agenda by finding ways to transforming their schools to assume their initial valued role, Olomi et al (2013). Uko Esther S., (2015) reflected on the role of school heads and came up with the following idea: it is related to how proficient and creative a school head is which contributes to the overall academic performance. According to Uko, effective school management is very important in up keeping making use and sustenance of facilities as they enhance effective productivity by the teachers and overall performance by the students. Influence of time management on students’ academic performance was a study carried out by F. Aduke (2015) who suggested that, there is a considerable association between time management and academic performance. Even Principals need to have proper usage of time so as to be effective on the job. Aduke also found out that there is a relationship between delaying activities and academic performance, with lack of preparation of daily goals, which affect academic performance. The secondary education is regarded as an important stage in the development of a person socially, economically, politically, emotionally and physically.

For this reason proper management of community secondary schools is very crucial in developing human capital so as to boost economic growth and eliminate poverty. It is true that students need to be self-disciplined in managing their time so as to improve their academic performance. That Management and students should prioritize their time by not spending much time on social activities. Activities that need to be attended at a particular time should be done immediately instead of dillydallying with time thinking that there is enough time in the future. Honigh and Hooye, (2014) researched on the management strategy of teacher collaboration. Teaching in secondary school had been criticized as an ineective in preparing competent individuals. They failed to demonstrate competencies in work and life (Benson, 2005). Teachers had been accused of devoting less attention in conceptual teaching to procedural knowledge, which further lead to memorization of facts rather than concept formation (Wedgwood, 2007). This led to poor achievement in examinations where by majority of the students couldn’t manage to join high level education (MOEVT, 2010).

The truth is that, candidate’s performance is the 6 reflection of many parameters of the learning process; low performance is an index of a combined failure of school system, which is management Ndimbo, (2013). The Dutch heads of schools and teachers were interviewed on the research question, which was titled. “To what extent do teachers collaborate?” The findings were that teachers in Primary schools collaborate more than those in Secondary schools, but they both agree on receiving support from their heads of schools. All these studies show that school management is striving very hard into making sure that academic performance is raised as number one activity in their job descriptions. However, there has been a stable deterioration of academic performance in secondary schools worldwide. The deterioration of academic performance means poor performing of students in academic activities including national examinations.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Secondary education standard in Nigeria has been deterioration for some time due to different factor. Among them include failure or inability of the teachers to teach appropriately, poor teaching poor learning environment (Lumpkin, 2013) unqualified teachers and bad or inefficient management. Deterioration on the number of qualified teachers was found to be among the causes of academic deterioration. It is suggested that teacher training must be strengthened or changed on how they value education and invest in it. That included developing the standards to ensure high quality candidates enter teacher education courses to remove negative attitude towards teaching on the part of teachers, managerial competencies should be the first thing that qualifies teachers to head a school or promotes them to be a principal in secondary school but today politics has taken over everything. This however prompted the principal to investigate school management most especially in community secondary schools in Oyo state.