ABSTRACT

This study investigated principals’ stress management strategies as correlate of teachers' attitude towards instructional effectiveness in public secondary schools in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted correlational research design. Seven research questions and seven null hypotheses guided the study at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 24,823 principals and teachers. This comprises of 1,033 principals and 23,790 teachers from 1,033 public secondary schools in south east, Nigeria. The sample size was 1241 comprising 1,189 teachers and 52 principals. The sample size was determined using multi-stage sampling technique. Two instruments were used for data collection, namely: Principals’ Stress Management Strategies Questionnaire (PSMSQ) and Teachers’ Attitude towards Instructional Effectiveness Rating Scale (TATIERS). The instruments were validated by three (3) experts. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, test retest reliability method was conducted using 20 principals and teachers from rural and urban secondary schools in Ebonyi State which was outside the study area, but with similar characteristics with the study area. Estimate of stability of the instrument was determined using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient which gave a reliability index of 0.78 for PSMSQ and 0.80 for TATIERS. The research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r2) while the null hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that there was a high positive correlation between principals' role analysis strategy and teachers’ attitude towards instructional effectiveness, that there was a significant correlation between principals' role analysis strategy and teachers' attitude towards instructional effectiveness, that there was a moderate positive correlation between principals' team building strategy and teachers’ attitude towards instructional effectiveness, that there was a high positive correlation between principals’ stress management strategies and teachers’ attitude towards instructional effectiveness based on gender and that there was a significant correlation between principals' stress management strategies and teachers' attitude towards instructional effectiveness based on gender. The study concluded thatprincipals’ stress management strategies were important factors in determining teachers’ attitude towards instructional effectiveness. It was therefore, recommended among others that school principals should adopt effective stress management strategies which were targeted at ensuring teachers’ right attitude towards instructional effectiveness.