Abstract
The study was carried out to ascertain delegatory functions of secondary school principals in all the public secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Simple random sampling was adopted to select 441 staff and the whole 59 principals were used for the study. Three research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire developed by the researcher titled “Delegatory Functions of Secondary School Principals (DFPQ). The instrument consisted of 22 item questions developed on four point rating scale. The statistical tools used for answering the research questions were mean and standard deviation while student t-test statistics was used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result for the two null hypotheses showed that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and staff with regard to the extent principals delegate functions to their staff, and there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and staff with regard to how principals control delegated functions in the school. The findings of the study revealed that principals appoint staff to form committee that plan school programme, repair damaged school items, mark teachers lesson notes, form examination committee, enforce school rules and regulation. Recommendations were also made to improve in communication between principals and staff and also to develop skills enough to be competent in carrying out delegated functions.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Secondary schools are formal public organizations charged with the responsibility of preparing the younger ones after their primary school career for useful living within any society. They also equip them for higher education. Attainment of these goals require a commitment from highly qualified and motivated teachers. For some years now there has been a spate of criticisms on the quality of secondary school products.
The problem of principal staff relationship has been an issue of great concern, Fegbemi (2006) stated that performance of secondary school students in external examination has been worrisome to parents, administrators and the general public. He further asserted that the yardstick for measuring standard of education and administrative responsibility is students performance in school and public examinations. There has been a public outcry against the falling standard of education in Nigerian public secondary schools. The conduct of the school and the quality of their products are seen by some as a reflection of the level of administrative performance of their principals. This is in reflection to how they involve staff in supervision and control of delegated function, instructional activities in the school, planning of school programmes and routine administration in the school.
A principal is seen as the executive head of secondary school who develop and implement the educational programmes of the school. The principal keep school records including records of school funds as well as create a conducive teaching and learning atmosphere in school. Mgbodile (2003) asserted that the success of any school, whether public or private depends largely on the extent to which individual talents and efforts are harnessed towards co-operative endeavours. The success he stressed lies on motivation and commitment of the members to group goals and objectives.
No one group of persons or individual in school organization can carry out all the task necessary for accomplishment of the goals and objectives of the school, nor can one person exercise all the authority for making decision. Task in the organization are distributed according to capability of all members to perform an assigned function. Adams (2001:358) defines delegates as the process of giving power or work to somebody else so that the person is responsible for part of what you normally do. Adam also defines function as the job that someone does.
Delegation of function has been defined by different authors in many ways. According to Nwachukwu (1988) delegation of function is seen as organizational process that permits the transfer of authority from a superior officer to a subordinate officer in order to achieve organizational set objectives. Federal Ministry of Education and Youths Development (1993) defines delegation as a process by which a manager, such as school head transfers part of his authority to his subordinates for the performance of certain tasks and functions. Okonkwo (1998) defines delegation as the art of decentralizing function by a higher officer to lesser officers with the overall aim of achieving the goals of the organization. It can hardly be separated from decision-making. He further stressed that lack of delegation of functions by principal may strain relations between him and the other staff members. It may also lead to lack of confidence in the staff resulting in staff not putting their best in their various assignments, thereby impeding the achievement of school objectives.
In this context, delegation of function is the act of sharing available functions in the school by the principal to the members of the staff according to their abilities and capabilities towards achieving the goals and objectives of the school. In school system, there are various categories of function and the staff these functions are been delegated to. According to Mgbodile (2003) the principal delegate some major functions to the vice principal with full authority to prepare the school timetable, he is also bestowed with the authority to discipline the staff and students, keep school records and supervision of classes, among others.
He further stated that departmental heads are been delegated to develop curriculum, supervisory and advisory functions within the department and also been delegated to be responsible for the maintenance and storage of departmental equipments. Bursar/school finance clerk are also been delegated to collect the revenue accruing from the school. They are also responsible for the school imprest account, preparation of school budget, accounting and payment, among others. The form masters are delegated to ensure discipline and the general welfare of the class. They are also delegated to ensure that form stationeries, equipments, hygiene in the class and surroundings are been checked. They are also delegated to check class attendance and register. House masters are delegated to maintain good hygiene, discipline, appointment of house prefect and the general welfare of the house.
In many public secondary schools in Nigeria today, there exist relationship crisis between the principals and staff. Most often such conflict manifest as a result of communication gap, favouritism, discrimination, lack of motivation, mistrust, poor time management, laxity among staff resulting to poor implementation of school programmes Ezeocha (1985). In view of the above, it become necessary to investigate to what extent secondary school principals delegate functions to their staff in Nsukka education zone.
Statement of the problem
Delegation of functions or responsibilities is an important aspect of achieving organizational goals. In the school system, delegation of function is a tool in the hands of the principals as the executive head in staff personnel administration. No matter the size of the school, whether big or small, the principal cannot execute all the functions alone, he needs to delegate functions to his staff for effective school administration.
Currently, there is a general apathy between staff and the principals in many public secondary schools in Nsukka education zone, leading to poor relationship, laxity among staff and ineffective implementation of school programmes. There is also the issue of poor time management, poor motivation, mistrust, discrimination, lack of proper organization among principals and staff in the implementation of school programmes.
Therefore, the problem of this study put in a question form is: How do principals delegate functions to their staff in public secondary schools in Nsukka education zone?
