Principals´Personnel Characteristic Skills: a Predictor of Teachers´ Classroom Management in Ekiti State Secondary Schools

Abstract

This study examined principals’ personnel characteristic skills and teachers’ classroom management skills in Ekiti State secondary schools. The research design was the descriptive survey. The sample was made up of 756 respondents which comprised 36 principals and 720 teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the school principals and teachers across the three senatorial districts of the State. The instruments used in this study were: Personnel Characteristic Skills Questionnaires (PCSQ) and Teachers’ Classroom Management Questionnaire (TCMQ). Data for the study were analysed using percentage scores for research questions and multiple regression for hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that supervision skill, communication skill, inter-personal relationship skill, decision-making skill, and training and development skill were the personnel characteristic skills adopted by the principals. Furthermore, the result indicated that supervision skill (β= 0.519, p<0.05), training and development skill (β= 0.345, p<0.05), inter-personal relationship skill (β= 0.315, p<0.05), communication skill (β= 0.277, p<0.05) and decision-making skill (β= 0.228, p<0.05) were significant predictors of teachers’ classroom management. The study concluded that those principals’ personnel characteristic skills positively influenced teachers’ classroom management. Keywords: Principals, characteristic, personnel, skills, classroom- management, secondary schools