INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL-BASED SUPERVISION COMMITTEES ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH-WEST ZONE, NIGERIA  

ABSTRACT

 

This study examined the Influence of School-Based Management Committees on the Administration of Secondary Schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria. To achieve this, ten (10) objectives were set to; evaluate the influence of School-Based Management Committees on decision making process, ascertain the influence of School-Based Management Committees on school-community relationship, evaluate the influence of School-Based Management

Committees on students‘ enrolment and retention in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria among others. The study had ten (10) research questions and ten (10) null hypotheses. Relevant related literatures were reviewed for the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and the population of the study was 55,306, which comprised 1440 Ministry of Education officials, 3078 principals and 50,788 teachers in North-west Zone, Nigeria. The sample size of 389 was purposively drawn from the population which comprised 79 principals, 60 MOE officials and 250 teachers. Adopted questionnaire which contained 100 item statements with 5 likertrating scales was used as instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in the field of Educational Administration and Planning and Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.87. Three hundred and sixty nine (369) copies of questionnaire were returned. The data collected from the field were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages and mean scores to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents and answer all research questions. Inferential statistics of One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test all the ten (10) null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The four rejected hypotheses were further tested using HSD Tukey post hoc test. Findings of the study revealed among others that School-Based Management Committees hadinfluence on decision making process in the administration of secondary schools as perceived by the stakeholders and the test of null hypothesis confirmed that the influence is statistically significant (P=.187).There is influence of School-Based Management Committees on school-community relationship in the administration of secondary schools and the test of null hypothesis affirmed that the influence is statistically significant (P=.537). The study concluded among others that School-Based Management Committees played significant role on decision making process in the administration of secondary schools. The implication is that as long as School-Based Management Committees will continue to exist in our Secondary schools, sound decision regarding teaching and learning activities will be made. Schoolcommunity relationship shall be maintained as this will bring active community participation. It was recommended among others that democratic participatory decision making should be encouraged in schools as this will bring sound decisions and educated people of high integrity with interest of educational development should be elected as SMBC members in schools as this will enhance cordial and harmonious school-community relationship.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION 

          1.1       Background to the Study

School effectiveness and improvement are major concerns to all education authorities, policy makers, administrators and teachers seeking to reform the present education systems. A major plank in the global reform process in education is the concept of decentralization where education authorities devolve some responsibilities to authorities closer to schools. School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) system reflects this decentralization process whereby community members are given responsibilities in school governance.

The National Council on Education (NCE) in 2006 approved the establishment of School-Based Management Committees in primary and junior secondary schools in the country, as part of government‘s effort to ensure inclusive participation in the school system. The SBMCs are expected to provide platforms for committees and schools to work together to enrich school governance and promote improved management by education authorities, towards the achievement of better learning outcomes for children (SBMC Guide Book, 2011).

SBMCs are been implemented in countries like United States of America, United

Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, El-Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Kenya, Krygyz Republic, Nepal and Paraguay (Caldwell & Hayward, 1998). The educational systems of these countries were re-structured so as to establish ―self-managing‖ ―self-governing‖

or self-determining schools.

In 1988, the United Kingdom passed the legislation for the local management schools (Fildler and Early, 1994) and at roughly the same time school-based management or school site management was introduced in many American school systems (Cooper, 1990). Meanwhile, in

Hongkong, in the 1970s and 1980s, student‘s performance was rugged to be far from adequate.

Wong (1995) argued that this was partly due to the tightening of administrative and financial controls over the schools caused by the proliferation of Education Department‘s Policies over the years.The Education Department published school management initiatives in 1991 and suggested that all schools should implement school-based management by 2000: Thus, schools would change from the external control needed to that of decentralized authority.

The need to inspire quality consciousness in school operators and managers for the attainment of total quality assurances in schools, and a turn-around in education effectiveness gave birth to close concept of community participation in school management. Policy makers believe that to improve education quality, it is, vital to advance from classroom teaching level to school organization level and reform the structural system and management style of school (Abu-Duhou, 1999). This is the basis for School-Based Management Committee.

In Nigeria, the School-Based Management Committee was set up to increase citizen participation in School Management. This is part of the efforts of school reform in Nigeria. According to Dakar Framework of Action (2000), the experience of the past decade has underscored the need for better governance of education system in terms of efficiency, accountability, transparency and flexibility, so that they can respond more effectively to the diverse and consciously changing needs of learners. Reform of educational management is urgently needed to move from highly centralized, standardized and common-driven forms of management to more decentralized and participatory decision-making, implementation and monitoring at lower levels of accountability.

Although, observation has shown albeit erroneously, that some school managers particularly head teachers see the role of SBMC as a relegation of schools autonomy, whereas

SMBC is to promote the autonomy of schools. SBMC has been, defined in different ways by different writers and authors, for example Cheng (1996) sees School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) as tasks that are set according to the characteristics and needs of the school itself and therefore school members have a much greater autonomy and responsibility for the use of resources to solve problem and carry out effective education activities, for the long- term development of the school. Caldwell and Spinks (1988) see school-based management as a school system of education to which there has been decentralized significant amount of authority and responsibility to make decision related to the allocation of resources within centrally determined framework of goals, policies, standard and accountabilities.

The definitions show that in schools that practice SBMC policy, transfer of authority takes place and gives schools some degree of decision making. The goals of School-Based

Management Committee programmes vary according to each country but they typically include:

• Increasing the participation of parents and committees in schools.
• Empowering principals and teachers.
• Building local level capacity and perhaps the most importantly.
• Improving quality and efficiency of schooling, thus raising students‘ achievement

levels.

The school belongs to the community, which forms the grassroots stakeholders in management. Decentralization will make it possible for the community to participate in the decision making of the school. Murphy and Beck (1995) noted that a central feature of SBM is the SBM committee. While, the committees vary in composition and responsibilities as most writers agreed that it is within the committee that school stakeholders such as head teachers, parents, community members and students do participate in decision making.

The members of the SBMC are at the same time members of the community. All of them interact on daily basis; therefore, indicating that both the community and the school cannot live in isolation.From this one can also deduce that they influence one another.  It therefore becomes easy for the SBMC to be like the ―man in the middle‖ between the school and the community. A School-Based Management Committee in Nigeria is a form of community involvement in school governance, based on regulation with elected but voluntary memberships. Certainly, the intention behind school committee is to implement democratic participation in decision making.

It is argued that people know better and are able to be more responsive to their own needs. Locating authority locally seems more efficient, compared with decisions from central government which often miss their targets and take a longer time to implement, people who are within local school or live locally. The argument goes, will efficiently gather information relevant for their own purposes; ranging from pedagogical to school infrastructural issues. This kind of information is more reliable and will lead to effective decision making by school stakeholders in terms of public service delivery. Undoubtedly, the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) is relevant at this time of Nigerian educational development. The functions go beyond resource management and its utilization as some observers view it. This is a narrow concept of School-Based Management Committee (SBMC). The communities are to ensure quality both in educational inputs and outcomes and also quality in learning environment for schools. This can only be effective if we have learners who are of good quality. In some parts of the world where the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) is effectively used, it is used to promote self-budgeting reforms, school-based curriculum development, school-based staff development and school-based students‘ counseling.

 

          1.2       Statement of the Problem

Nigeria has set in motion key reform measures and strategies to turn around the education system to meet the set goals and targets in line with the national needs and her commitment to global frameworks such as Education For All (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has evolved the Community Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATI) to address the need for due process and selfless commitment to service and national development with inclusive education. Nigeria faces some challenges of managing access as a fundamental right of all to at least basic education, as well as ensuring the delivery of quality education to a wide range of diverse group with specific or special needs.

Nigeria has placed the right emphasis on creating learner friendly needs based flexible and functional curricula, enhancing guidance and counseling in schools, continuous assessment and monitoring of learning achievements, a reformed and empowered inspectorate system and public private partnerships for the sustainability of the gains of the current initiative and innovative prolonged regime of poor quality public education that has been consistently linked to the strings of failure by Nigeria to attain its full development potentials directly linked to this is the evident of failure of schools to provide basic opportunities for learning due to the poor state of infrastructure in schools, especially the public ones. Buildings and facilities are inadequate, teaching standards are low, teachers receive inadequate training and have little motivation to improve on their jobs, increase in enrolment of students and low retention rates in our schools.

In addition, bad decisions in our schools, minimal participation of community members, increase in enrolment and low retention rates, lack of training and retraining of teachers, inadequate school facilities, recruitment of unqualified teachers, inadequate health and welfare facilities, insufficient games and recreational facilities, lack of maintenance of discipline and absence of extra-curricular activities in secondary schools.

Policy making in secondary schools involves the participation and involvement of teachers, students and members of the community in decision making process especially on issues that concern each of the level, (Edem, 2004). This means that effective administration requires rational decision making which leads to the selection of the best way to reach anticipated goals. The ability to make rational decision has been limited by law or inadequate knowledge of school negative role played by emotions, power, bias, politics, personal attitude and job requirements and often results in bad decisions in the school, (Nwachukwu, 2006). Noncompliance to the decisions agreed by law especially with regards to the interest of the members of the school leads to conflict and misunderstanding among members of staff as well as students in the school, negligence and non-participation of members of School. Based Management Committees and Parent-Teachers Association with regards to the planning decisions for management of schools also affect some decisions that are made in schools.

There are wide gaps in School Community Relation that need to be bridged in Nigerian educational system as a whole.The community sees schools properties as public properties, therefore, have little or no interest on them. Sharma (1992) asserted that School Community Relation is appropriate only when there is a two-way school community relationship in which the latter participates to a large degree in schools.

On the issue of increase in enrolment of students and low retention rates in our secondary schools, in 1996, 21 Million children were of school age, out of which 14.1 million were enrolled while 6.9 million were not enrolled (Animalu, 2000). In 1997, although there was an increase in the enrolment figure, the problem of having school age children out of school was still experienced in that year, 15.5 million children were enrolled in schools as against their total population of 19.5 million.This clearly indicates that 4 million school age children were not in school (Azare, 2000)

Staff development in education globally remains very low inspite of successive effects of Federal Governments to address the issue of fall in standard. Rosser (2011) stated that most people in their working places do not understand the environment in which they work, the job they do and had to do it better. The balance between the process of production and welfare of the society is not achieved. There are no frequent meetings between superiors and sub-ordinates, no respect and consideration for their fellow human beings, inadequate mastery of the management of human materials, financial resources of the institution and inability to harmonize all the compliment towards attainment of the set goals and objectives (Adesina, 1981;Ayanniyi, 1999 and Zubaida, 2009).

Instructional facilities provided to schools are inadequate and the insufficient instructional facilities provided are not well maintained. Appearance and general condition of school facilities are the striking basis upon which many parents and friends of any educational institution make the initial judgment about the quality of what goes on in the boarding schools. Africa in general and Nigeria in particular are characterized by low maintenance culture, especially in respect of government owned properties.

Health and welfare facilities provided to schools are inadequate, even the ones provided are from School Based Management Committees or Parents-Teachers Association members or by Non-Governmental Organizations or philanthropists. Nigeria‘s vision 2020 is an articulation of the long term intent to launch Nigeria into a path of sustained social, integration and economic development for the progress and accelerate the emergence of a truly prosperous and united Nigeria.The vision aims at improving the standard of living of the citizens and placing Nigeria among the ―top 20‖ economies and highest level of healthy living in the world. It is well known fact that the federal government has adopted a new development paradigm over the years (Abdullahi, 2009).

Games and recreational facilities are inadequate in our schools. Games and recreational facilities apart from developing skills also develop a good learning, socio-psychological as well as mental environment through relation. The importance of level of resources committed to the development and provision of recreational facilities must not exceed their values in facilitating the overall goal of the educational institution.

There are notable instances of indiscipline in our schools like drug abuse, examination malpractice, lawlessness, violence, bullying and cultism (Kwasau, 2006). Indiscipline in schools is attributed on large school size. It is very difficult to control a school that is over populated, this can lead to students‘ misbehavior (Haller, 1992). Failure of the school curriculum to meet the moral aspiration of the society in which it is found, lack of good moral training by parents, lack of good leadership in the society. Injustice/corruption in the society and unrealistic rules are some of the many causes of indiscipline in many African secondary schools (Yaroson, 2004).

Extra-curricular activities, apart from normal school activities there are extra-curricular activities that need to be performed at school from time to time. But unfortunately most of our schools do not consider these activities as advantageous and important to students. These activities include quiz club, jet club, drama club, press club, cultural club. These extra-curricular activities increase unity among students, create flat form for competition among students, create sense of team work and sharing of ideas among students and also increase interaction among teachers and students, among teachers and students through clubs and societies programmes.

All SBMCs are useful therefore, would have influence in secondary schools administration, it is the direction of the influence that warrant this study.

          1.3       Objectives of the Study

This study was set to achieve the following objectives:

1. evaluate the influence of School-Based Management Committees on decision making process in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
2. ascertain the influence of School-Based Management Committees on school-community relationship in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
3. evaluate the influence of School-Based Management Committees on students‘ enrolment

and retention in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;

4. determine the influence of School-Based Management Committees on staff development programmes in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
5. determine the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision and management of instructional facilities in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
6. find out the influence of School-Based Management Committees on staffing situation in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
7. ascertain the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision of health and welfare facilities in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
8. ascertain the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision of games and recreational facilities in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;
9. evaluate the influence of school-based management committees on maintenance of discipline in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria; and
10. evaluate the influence of School-Based Management Committees on extra-curricular activities in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria;

          1.4       Research Questions

The study asked the following research questions:

1. What is the influence of School-Based Management Committees on decision making process in secondary schools in North-west zone, Nigeria?
2. In what ways does School-Based Management Committees influence school community relationship in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
3. What is the influence of School-Based Management Committees on students‘ enrolment

and retention in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?

4. To what extent does School-Based Management Committees influence staff development programmes in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
5. What is the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision and management of instructional facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
6. To what extent does School-Based Management Committees influence staffing situation in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
7. What is the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision of health and welfare facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
8. In what ways does School-Based Management Committees influence provision of games and recreational facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
9. What is the influence of school-based management committees on maintenance of discipline in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?
10. To what extent does School-Based Management Committees influence extra-curricular activities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria?

          1.5       Research Hypotheses

The study formulated the following hypotheses:

H01:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of Ministry of Education officials, principals and teachers on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on decision making process in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H02:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on school-community relationship in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H03:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on students‘ enrolment and retention in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H04:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on staff development programmes in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H05:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision and management of instructional facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H06:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence

of School-Based Management Committees on staffing situation in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;

H07:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision of health and welfare facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H08:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of School-Based Management Committees on provision of games and recreational facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
H09:	There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the influence of school-based management committees on maintenance of discipline in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria; and
H010: There is no significant difference in the opinions of respondents on theinfluence

of School-Based Management Committees on extra-curricular activities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria.

          1.6       Basic Assumptions

The study was on the assumptions that School Based Management Committees would:

1. enhance the decision making process in management of secondary schools in North West;
2. bring cordial school-community relationship in secondary schools in North-west Zone,

Nigeria;

3. help to increase enrolment and retention of students in secondary schools in North-west

Zone, Nigeria;

4. contribute in training and re-training of teachers in Secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
5. contribute on provision and management of instructional facilities in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
6. contribute to recruitment of teachers and improve learning outcomes in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
7. provide health and welfare facilities to promote students health in secondary schools in North-west Geographical Zone, Nigeria;
8. provide games and recreational facilities todevelop students‘ potentials in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria;
9. maintain discipline to help in minimizing indiscipline and promote discipline in secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria; and
10. promoteteam work and bring cooperation among students in secondary schools in Northwest Zone, Nigeria.

          1.7        Significance of the Study

School-Based Management Committeesare very important as they help to make schools improve their performance. Those to benefit from this study are; government, non-governmental organizations, principals, educational administrators and planners, curriculum specialist, teachers, parents and students.Thus., it is considered worthwhile to study the influence of SchoolBased Management Committees in the administration of secondary schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria.

The significance of this study lies on the fact that School-Based Management Committees build and strengthen partnership between various organizations, that increase voice and demand for better education service delivery and enhances active community participation in schools. School-Based Management Committeesare significant in the sense that they provide legal framework involving stakeholders in planning, monitoring and evaluation of education at the school level.

The findings of this thesis will help government in formulating new educational policies and also it may provide new developmental strategies which will enhances attainment of school vision andeducational goals for learning effectiveness. The non-governmental organization will also benefit from this thesis in the sense that it will help them to plan the grants allocation to secondary schools in North-West Zone, Nigeria.

This study will be of immense benefit to principals in establishing proper communication channels, strengthening the sense of belonging among and teachers and building up a collaborative school culture developing a set of rational, a fair and impartial policies to handle complaints from staff as well as people from the community, it will also help principals to formulate a teacher professional development policies that looks at teacher needs, the direction of school development and the learning interest of the students.

Also, school administratorsor managers are responsible for monitoring the development and effectiveness of the school curriculum. This study will help curriculum specialist and give them a good understanding of the present position and the future development of the school curriculum. Also, school managers will have a good understanding of the school itself as well as the trend of educationdevelopment.

This study will also be of great significant to teachers as it promotes quality education, school should adopt a model of teaching and learning and a management framework that suit the needs of the students and the community with the inclusion of teachers into school based management committees, the school develops its own characteristics, establishes its culture and identity, seeks self-improvement and pursues excellence. Also, it will enhance the creative participation       in         the       day      to         day      activity            of         the       school.             It          holds   individual

schoolmanagementaccountable for students‘ enrolment, retention and successful completion.

In addition, parents will also benefitfrom the work, involvement of parents in the school based management committees bringsalot of development and educational effectiveness to school parents abilities to perform differentfunctions, save problems and achieveobjectives through the developed skills, findings from the study will make community members know that they can serve as managers in the schoolmanagement committees and participate in decision making of the school. Equally, future researchers in the related field of study will find this study relevant as the findings from the study will serve as a reference materials for them.

          1.8       Scope of the Study

This study titled ―Influence of School-Based Management Committees on the Administration of Secondary Schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria‖ covers all the Secondary

Schools in North-west Zone, Nigeria, which comprises of seven (7) States; Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa. The respondents of this study were M.O.E

officials, principals and teachers.

The population of this study was fifty five thousand three hundred and six (55,306) which comprised one thousand four hundred and fourty (1440) MOE officials, three thousand and seventy eight (3078) principals and fifty thousand seven hundred and eighty eight (50788) teachers. The sampleof this study was three hundred and eighty nine. Sixty (60) MOE officials, seventy nine (79) principals and two hundred and fifty (250) teachers in secondary schools in North West Zone, Nigeria.

This study was also delimited to the extent to which school based management committee influence decision making process, school community relationship, enrolment and retention of students, staff development programmes, provision and management of instructional facilities, provision of games and recreational facilities, maintenance of discipline and extracurricular activities in secondary schools in North West Zone, Nigeria.

            1.9      Operational Definitions of Terms

School Based Management Committee: Is a committee which comprises 17 members who

work towards school improvement.

Administration:		running the affairs of a school towards goal attainment
Extra-Curricular Activities:		These are other programmes in schools apart from
		teaching and learning
Decision Making Process:		Takingchoice that leads to improvement and goal attainment in schools.
Discipline		good behaviour among students and staff
Games and Recreational Facilities		Materials needed for sport and leisure
Health and Welfare Facilities		facilities in school that improve the students and staff wellbeing
Instructional Facilities		Materials for teaching and learning
Secondary School:		Level of school after primary Education
School-Community Relationship:		Collaboration between school and community for better teaching and learning in schools
Students’ Enrolment and Retention:		Number of students admitted and stays in schools
Staff Development Programme:		Capacity building of staff via seminars, workshops and in-service training.
Staffing Situation:		Recruitment, selection and placement of staff

INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL-BASED SUPERVISION COMMITTEES ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH-WEST ZONE, NIGERIA  

Sharing is caring!