CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The national policy on education (2004:39) stated that “no education system can rise above the quality of its teachers”. The policy document has always attempted to positively influence the qualities and characters of pre-service teachers, at all levels of the Nigerian education system. In this way, there is the optimism to produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers, who will be encouraged to further the spirit of enquiry and creativity. The policy document also seeks to provide intellectual and professional backgrounds that are adequate to enhance total commitment to the teaching profession. However, the physical, social and psychological conditions of teachers are replete with the general decay, infesting the entire educational system in the country, due to obvious years of neglect of staff personnel management in public schools with regard to staff: recruitment, welfare, appraisal, development/in-service training and discipline practices. The activities of teaching are ultimately tied to effecting desired changes in the behaviour of the learners. For real teaching to take place there must be improvement on the condition of service of staff personnel in our schools (Okeke, 2004:56).
Secondary education occupies a strategic position in the educative process because of the important role it plays in preparing individuals for useful living in the society and for higher education (National policy on education, 2004:18). Federal government colleges otherwise known as unity schools are owned and managed by federal government through the federal ministry of education and their agencies. This implies that the government provides funds, personnel and management for the operation of the unity schools in the country (Ejionueme, 2007:90). Education in Nigeria is influenced by political, social and religious climate of the time and place. For instance, one of the national educational objectives is the inculcation of national consciousness and national unity. In order to ensure national unity, the federal government established unity schools in the country. The unity schools came into existence after the Nigeria Civil War of 1967 to 1970 and were actually, by products of the war. Fresh from the war, the federal government of Nigeria decided to establish those schools in each state of the federation as a model to forge the much needed understanding, patriotism and national unity among the feuding tribes through education (Ijaiya and Jekayinfa, 2009:35). Schools were rightly thought to be the fast means of promoting understanding, appreciation, tolerance and respect for each other’s culture, and children in their formative years, given the opportunity to live together are better placed to forge that national unity. They were therefore boarding schools, mostly mixed at first, while a few were single sex only (female), but eventually each state got additional female type. Together with their predecessor, (king’s college and Queen’s school both in Lagos) and the specialized ones like the Suleija Academy, the unity schools are now one hundred and four (104) in number (Ijaiya et al, 2009:38).
At inception, administration of these colleges was designed to be truly national with admission quota guidelines enforced to ensure that no state is left out due to lower scores, though merit was not totally sacrificed. The best from each state were considered for admission. Up to the early 1980s the schools were centre of excellence and the toast of parents and serious students from both the urban and rural areas. They encouraged parents, teachers, primary schools and the pupils to work hard to secure admission into those schools (Ogbonnaya, 2009:170). According to Ogbonnaya (2009:171) these schools propelled the educational system. They were the ultimate then, not the private school. Competition was high but once a child secured admission through tough examination and interviews, the parents were rest assured of his or her passing West Africa Certificate examination (WAEC) with good result, all things being equal. Ijaiya et al (2009:170) noted that this cheering development however, began to decline in the last decade as the unity schools became disoriented. The usually strict admission policy was no longer respected, and there were allegation of corruption. There were a few reported court cases by aggrieved candidates and their parents who felt they had be denied of their admission after their children have passed the competitive examination and the interview. He also stated that some principals were sanctioned over breach of admission policy. The general decay in public schools also affected these schools. The rot is such that today the unity schools are mere shadows of their past in terms of infrastructural facilities and academic performance. Unity schools play major roles in national development especially in the development of individuals for useful living within the society and for higher education. However, in most cases the societal expectations of these unity schools are hardly met in terms of the achievement of the objectives of these unity schools. The major problem militating against the achievement of the schools’ objectives according to Nnadozie, (2007:64) is poor condition of service which has negatively affected the management of staff personnel practices in unity schools in South East Nigeria. For real improvement on condition of service to take place in public schools such as unity schools, Okorie (2008:78) noted that the school management should examine the state of affairs of the management of staff personnel practices in relation to staff: recruitment, welfare, appraisal, development/in-service training and discipline practice with a view to improving on them.
Staff personnel management, according to Lawal (1993:53) is that aspect of management which is concerned with people rather than finished goods. To him, it is the effective and efficient utilization of human resources to accomplish the predetermined objectives of an organization. Obi (2004;196) noted that staff personnel management in the school encompasses those activities which must take into consideration the recruitment, development, security, compensation, motivation and the general satisfaction of all employees in the school system. It is planning, organizing, directing and controlling of all the activities the school performs. Ozor (2009:60) stated that the overall objective of staff personnel management is to recruits adequate and qualified staff develop and maintain them in such a way that the staff will be able and wiling to render effective and efficient educational services to the students. Aguba (2009:244) defined staff personnel management as the part of management that concerns with people at work, and with the relationship within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring together and develop into an effective organization, the men and women who make up an enterprise and having regard for the well being of the individual and working groups, to enable them make their best contribution to its success. According to Mgbodile (1997:53) staff personnel management involves the responsibilities of an administrator in recruitment, selection, orientation, supervision and evaluation of staff performance. Ineffective staff personnel services adversely affect teacher’s motivation and satisfaction therefore resulting to lack of commitment to their job and low productivity in general output (Obi, 2004:220). In this study, staff personnel management means the management of staff personnel services which are designed to enhance the effectiveness of teacher’s job satisfaction and improvement on their condition of service in unity schools.
Nwafor (2007:207) defined staff recruitment as the process of forming a pool of qualified applicants. It simply means, announcing job opportunities to the public in such a way that a good number of suitable people will apply for them. According to Ujo (2004:4) staff recruitment is the process of attracting applicants with certain skills and abilities and other qualities to job vacancies in the organization. Harold in Ujo (2004:30) defined staff recruitment as the process of identifying the vacancy, scanning for sources of supply and contacting candidates. Staff recruitment, selection, postings, transfer, promotion and demotion in unity schools are the responsibilities of the federal ministry of education (Ogbonnaya, 2009:167). The method of staff recruitment into public schools in Nigeria and their retention, and maintenance still lacks seriousness, fairness and vision (Maduewesi and Azubuike, 2007:222). They maintained that the successful implementation of any nation’s educational policy depends to a large extent on the quality and quantity of its teaching force. Hence, dunces should no longer be allowed into the noble profession. The perennial problems facing staff recruitment practices into public secondary schools such as unity schools in Nigeria, according to Okeke (2004:86) include lack of wider coverage of advertisement of teacher vacancies, undue influence of politics, quota system, ethnic and religious sentiments among others. In this study, staff recruitment is a set of activities designed to attract qualified job applicants to unity schools in South East Nigeria.
Staff welfare according to Uyanga (2008:100) is the responsibility of the principal to motivate his staff so that they could put in their best at work. This he can do by securing a means of recruiting and retaining them; seeing to it that they are adequately catered for in terms of facilities, workload, promotions, participation in decision making, delegation of authority and caring for their general welfare. Ogbonnaya (2004:29) opined that staff welfare function is the responsibility of the school principal. He is also responsible for the collection of his school’s financial allocation and the level of remuneration paid to various categories of staff. He is also responsible for the provision of staff accommodation, transportation, health services and other essential amenities. Okeke (2004:66) lamented that the plight of teachers in public secondary schools in Nigeria has not been improved over the years, especially after the civil war. Their welfare is usually neglected and the society looks down on them because of their poor condition of service. Supporting this view, Usman (2007:237) added that in terms of social esteem, academic excellence and professional rating, the current status’ of teacher education, and consequently teachers in Nigeria is very low. This is however, attributable to a number of factors including apparent confusion in the implementation of some recent innovations in teacher education, poor condition of service, irregular payment of salaries and allowances, government and school management’s insensitivity to staff demands among others. Staff welfare in this study is concerned with the overall well being of staff personnel in the service of unity schools in South East Nigeria.
Principals, vice principals and departmental heads as school administrators are charged with the responsibility of ensuring effective job performance of teachers in secondary schools. To do this, they usually, perform several functions among them are job assignment and staff appraisal (Egboka, 2007:173). Cole (2000:132) noted that these functions are vital for effective management, which invariably leads to the attainment of the educational objectives. To facilitates teacher job management, there is a laid down criteria and mode of operations which states the functions of principals regarding job design and specification for teachers, and their appraisal. This criterion is to ensure teacher competence and effective job management in secondary schools such as unity schools. Eresimadu (1994:81) made reference to the point that after recruiting and posting teachers to schools, there is need to assign these teachers to their teaching subjects, delegate them to perform other assignments, appraise how they perform their tasks, continually develop them through in-service programmes for better performance and then ensure that these teachers are disciplined. Where the principals, the vice principals and the departmental heads efficiently do these, teacher competency, motivation and commitment will definitely lead to increased productivity (Egboka, 2007:174). Usman (2007:85) lamented that the state of staff appraisal in unity schools is worrisome because some school administrators such as principals, vice principals and departmental heads pay less attention to staff appraisal function. Their inaction constitutes a serious setback to staff appraisal exercise in these schools. In this study, staff appraisal is concerned with the process of evaluating teachers’ job performance by their superior officers for the purpose of enhancing their professional growth and service delivery in unity schools.
In any profession where a practitioner ceases to study, that professional ceases to be effective (Ukeje, Akabogu and Ndu, 1992: 244). Uyanga (2008:97) defined staff development as the process that focuses on the professional growth of teachers. To Becta (2004:1) staff development is the process by which teachers acquire and develop the skills and technical know-how to become effective in the classroom. Garuba (2004:195) defined staff development/in-service training as a process through which the teacher is equipped to be more effective in teaching. Day (1999:7) explained staff development/in-service as consisting of all natural learning experiences and those conscious and planned activities which are intend to be direct or indirect benefit to individual, group or school and which contribute to the quality of education in the classroom. Uyanga (2008:98) stated that the role of the school principal is to identify areas of needs and to facilitate the maximum teacher participation in self development. Based on his training and experience, a professional principal is in a better position to identify current educational problems, information and the demands of the society. It is his duty to counsel his teachers on training needs, while motivating them to participate in training programmes, workshops, seminars, in-service training or on the job trainings. According to Garuba (2004:196) they appear to be paucity of information on staff development/in-service training needs of public secondary schools teachers in Nigeria. Teaching strategies require special attention and this information appears not to be within their reach hence it is very necessary that their development/in-service training needs be identified. In the face of these realities unity schools’ teachers may continue to rely on obsolete and ineffective practices and techniques of teaching and shy away from innovation techniques that simplify teaching and learning process. In this study, staff development/in-service training is concerned with a continues professional development and training process through which teachers’ knowledge, competence and understanding are improved to allow a more effective performance in the school system.
Staff discipline is very important in school personnel management. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) English Dictionary (1992:319) defined discipline as a practice of making people obey rules and orders, and punishing them when they do not. Peretomode in Nwangwu (2007:11) noted that staff discipline involves, such traits as self sacrifice, diligence, cooperation, integrity, truthfulness, patriotism, consideration for others and empathy in an organization such as school. According Nwangwu (2007:113) staff discipline refers to a situation when teachers learn how to respect constituted authorities, how to obey schools laws and regulations, how to maintain an established manner/ way of behaviour. Oboegbulem (2004:162) opined that, it is the responsibility of the school head to maintain disciplinary standards in the institution. She further noted that while the administrator must try to maintain good relationship with his staff, he should not be afraid to take disciplinary action against any staff who is failing in his duty or who is guilty of professional misconduct or of some act of immorality. Ezeocha in Obidike (2007:57) stated the importance of discipline to a school when he said that the school’s morale could be high or low depending on the tone of discipline of the school. No academic work grows where indiscipline exists. Behaviour classified as acts of staff indiscipline in school setting according to Oboegbulem (2004:163) includes laziness, failure to teach with commitment, keep school records and complete on schedule all tests, do examination duties, running down colleagues in the presence of student(s), absenteeism, truancy, rudeness, disrespect and disloyalty to the head teacher, frequent absence from school, unpunctuality, refusal to participate in extra-curricular activities, quarreling or fighting in the staffroom or in the class, misuse of school property indecent relationship with students, misappropriation of school funds among others.
