ABSTRACT

This study to examined management techniques of principals' for effective administration of secondary schools in Umuahia Education Zone, Abia State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The sample for the study consisted 276 respondents, initially census sampling technique was used to draw all principals in the education zone which is 62 principals while proportionate sampling technique was used to draw 20% of the total number of teachers in the education zone which is 214. The instrument for data collection was a 40-items structured questionnaire titled "Management Techniques of Principals for Effective Administration Questionnaire (MTPEAQ).The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach's Alpha method which yielded a reliability estimate of 0.76 The data collected were analyzed using Mean scores and Standard Deviations in order to provide answers to the five research questions, while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at P <0.05 level of significance which revealed the following findings: There was no significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and teachers on the management techniques of principals for effective administration of secondary schools, both principals and teachers indicated there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and teachers on strategies of management techniques of principals in school administration for effective learning; there was no significant difference between the mean response of the principals and teachers on the extent of utilization of effective management techniques by school principals as both principals and teachers indicated that principals to a low extent utilize effective management techniques in school. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of the principals and teachers on constraints to principals' management techniques for administrative purposes in Umuahia Education Zone, Abia State. The study concludes by identifying management techniques of principals of secondary schools for effective administration of schools to ensure enhancement of teaching and learning. From the fmdings and implications of the study, it was recommended among others that State Ministry of Education should often organize in-service training for principals on the utilization of the identified management techniques for effective school administration in Abia State.