ABSTRACT

This study examined school management and quality assurance in primary schools in Abia State, Nigeria. The study adopted a correlation  research design. A sample of 339 respondents which comprised of 269 head teachers and 70 supervisors drawn from a population of 969 respondents (886 Head teachers and 83 Supervisors) in the public primary schools in the Abia State, Nigeria. The sample size was determined using Krejice and Morgan sampling table while proportionate sampling technique was used to select the sample from the population.  The instruments for data collection were School Management Questionnaire (SMQ) and Quality Assurance Questionnaire (QAQ) which were all developed by the researcher. The instruments were validated by three(3) experts, two(2) in Educational Management and Planning and one in measurement and evaluation, all in College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria. The internal consistency of the items of the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha statistic which yielded coefficients of 0.74 and 0.73 for SMQ and QAQ respectively. Out of the 339 copies of the two instruments administered, 325 copies of each of the instruments representing 96% rate of return were well filled by the respondents and used for data analysis. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the seven research questions raised for the study while linear regression analysis was used to test the seven null hypotheses that guided the study at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that school management significantly relate to quality assurance of primary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that head teachers and other school administrators should ensure adequate and quality management of staff personnel in their respective schools, head teachers should ensure peaceful and cordial relationship between their schools and their host community, maybe by involving them in some school committees, and government should ensure adequate provision of infrastructural facilities in primary schools irrespective of location and monitor their usage.