IMPACT OF SCHOOL LOCATION ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

<em>The study determined the impact of school location on the effectiveness of secondary school principals in Enugu State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. In this study, the researcher adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study was 8,813 respondents. It comprised 293 principals and 8,522 teachers in Enugu State owned secondary schools. The sample for this study was 285. The researcher used a proportionate sampling technique to obtain the sample size. Hence, the sample size comprised 29 principals, which was 10% of the principals’ population as well as 256 teachers, which was 3% of the teachers’ population. The instrument for data collection was a researcher developed questionnaire titled “Impact of School Location on Principals’ Effectiveness Questionnaire (ISLPEQ)”. The instrument was validated by three research experts in the Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha in which 0.78 was gotten for section A and 0.81 for section B with an overall reliability index of 0.80, which made the instrument reliable. The researcher administered the 285 copies of the questionnaire with the help of two research assistants. Data analysis was done using mean and standard deviation and hypotheses tested using a t-test. A 4 point response scale of Very Great Extent (VGE), Great Extent (GE), Low Extent (LE) and Very Low Extent (VLE) was used. The findings of the study revealed that physical facilities have an impact on the effectiveness of secondary school principals in Enugu State to a great extent. Also, there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and teachers on the extent to which physical facilities have an impact on the effectiveness of secondary school principals in Enugu State. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that </em><em>the educational administrators and planners who prepare the budget for the procurement of physical facilities should increase the budget to ensure that secondary schools are stocked with physical facilities that are adequate in quantity and in quality.</em>