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.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
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 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?
