Relationship between Principals Leadership Skills and Teachers Job Performance in Secondary Schools in Gusau Metropolis, Nigeria (Published)
The paper examined relationship between principal’s leadership skills and teachers job performance in secondary schools in Gusau Educational zone, Zamfara state, Nigeria. The paper was guided by three research questions, three objectives and three null hypotheses. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 5168 which comprised of 158 principals and 5010 teachers in public secondary in Gusau educational zone, Zamfara state, Nigeria. Two instruments were used for data collection titled: Principals Leadership Skills Questionnaire (PLSQ) and Teachers Job Performance Scale (TJPS). Content and face validity of the instruments was ensured by research experts of in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. A test-retest reliability was conducted and coefficients 0.79 for (PLSQ) and 0.83 for (TJPS) was obtained respectively. The data collected from the field work was analyzed using the same Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The findings revealed that communication skills of principals have a significant relationship with teacher’s job performance in secondary schools, in Gusau Educational Zone. A relationship was also found to exists between principals’ coordinating skills and teacher job performance was high in secondary schools, in Gusau Educational Zone. Also, relationship between principals’ controlling skills and teacher job performance was high in secondary schools, Gusau Educational Zone. Based on the findings, it is recommended that principals as an individual should work hard to improve their communication skills. This would surely provide effective communication with teachers in a way their job performance can improve. Also, principals should ensure that operations diligently carried out by staff of the school through proper coordination. This will help ensure that teachers’ performance is maintained and improved for effective leadership.
Keywords: Communication Skills, controlling, coordinating skills, principals’ leadership skills, teachers job performance
Readiness of Undergraduate Students for Distributed Learning in Selected Higher Educational Institutions in Southern Nigeria (Published)
The study investigated the level of readiness of undergraduate students for Distributed Learning. Descriptive survey method of the cross-sectional research design was used for the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample of 600 from the population of 39,316 undergraduate students of the University of Port Harcourt and the Port Harcourt study center of the National Open University of Nigeria. A self-assessment instrument, Distributed learning Readiness Instrument (DLRI), developed by the researcher was used to collect data from the sample. The reliability of the instrument was determined through the test-retest method and a reliability coefficient of 0.77 was obtained. Three experts in the field of Educational Technology and two in Measurement and Evaluation confirmed the face and content validity of the instrument. Six research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while six hypotheses were tested with t-test and one-way ANOVA at 0.05significance level. The results showed that Distance and Part-time students had higher level of readiness than Full-time and Sandwich students. Also, there were significant differences found on modes of study, gender, age and course of study. The conclusion is that there is inequity in the readiness of students for e-Learning. The use of readiness assessment, orientation programmes, effective learner support were recommended.
Keywords: Communication Skills, Computer Skills, Internet skills, Motivation, Self-Efficacy, Self-directed Learning, Study Skills, distributed learning, readiness