ABSTRACT

This study investigated the relationship between Workforce Diversity and Teachers’ Job Performance in Public Secondary Schools in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. A sample of 705 respondents which comprised 311 principals and 394 teachers was drawn from a population of 28,164 respondents (1,398 principals and 26,766 teachers) inthe Public Secondary Schools in the South East using multi-stage sampling procedure. The sample size was determined using Taro Yamane statistical formulae. The instruments for data collection were Workforce Diversity Questionnaire (WDQ) and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ) which were all developed by the researcher. Three experts, two from the Department of Educational Management and one from Measurement and Evaluation Unit, Department of Science Education, College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State validated the instruments. The internal consistency ofthe items in the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha statistics which yielded coefficients of 0.78 and 0.81 for WDQ and TJPQ respectively. Five research assistants helped in data collection. Out of the 705 copies of the two instruments administered, 599 copies of the instruments representing 85% rate of return were well filled by the respondents and used for data analysis. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to answer the nine research questions raised for the study while linear regression analysis was used to test the nine null hypotheses that guided the study at 0.05 level ofsignificance. The findings showed among others that gender, age, educational qualification, work experience significantly to a very high extent relate to teachers’ job performance while marital status diversity and ethnic diversity significantly to a low extent relate to teachers’ job performance. The study concluded that workforce diversity significantly relates to teachers’ job performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that government and school administrators should take into cognizance the different components of workforce diversity which are gender, age, educational qualification, work experience, marital status, ethnicity, organizational culture and team processes in the recruitment ofteachers and management ofsecondary schools.