OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL
(Basic Consideration in Senior Secondary School Management)
A general notion is that nobody is a finished product no matter the level of education. To be a life- long learner is a virtue humans must cultivate, so a teacher or teacher of teachers. To be accountable is to accept responsibility for one’s job or role. The training of teachers for the society is important enough for teacher educators to personally feel or be held accountable. That does not seems to be happening otherwise the educational challenges would not be as serious as they are now. Research findings have hardly influenced the method of teaching, the curriculum or supervision of their students (Nwaboku, 2016).
There must be both intrinsic and extrinsic accountability. The former implies self- commitment which should propel an individual to do his best at all times while the latter involves external motivation in form of adequate support from the Government. The failure to do that is partly the reason why Government cannot demand accountability from teachers and the institutions (Ijaiya, 2016).The number of students a teacher has to handle is one of the factors that determines his/her success (Nwaboku, 2016). A British study found out that workload is one of the reasons a teacher leave the profession(Smithers& Robinson,2015).Teaching demands might be one of the reasons why the profession is not attractive to many secondary school students(Ijaiya,2015).
No organisation, the secondary school for instance can succeed in accomplishing its goals without efficiency. The term efficiency connotes making maximum profits with the least possible expenditure or providing maximum satisfaction of performance.
According to Mbiti (2014) organisational efficiency depends on the proper combination of two factors, namely the personnel skill factors and the equipment and supply factor. The personnel skill factors implies that the employers of an organization ( the school system for example) must possess the right attitude and appropriate competent skills necessary for the performance of the work assigned to them. Proper qualification alone cannot yield the desired results unless the employers possess the right attitudes to the jobs they are employed to do.
There are for example, highly qualified teachers in the schools who are wasting children’s time instead of teaching them. Such teachers are not interested in their professional skills. Efficiency of work is a combination of both skills and proper attitudes where the employees are concerned.
The equipment and supplies of factors efficiency comprises the tools and the materials needed in the process of performing the work. Nigeria secondary schools are generally ill- equipped. There are short supply of laboratory equipment for the technical aspects of secondary education, secondary schools libraries exist in name and not actuality. Many secondary schools have no teachers. Librarian with the result that the schools which have libraries shut them up foremost of the school day for fear of pilfering. School equipment and supplies should be delivered to the school not only inadequate quantity but must also be modern and up to date if good work is to be done. It is equally important that the supply of equipment and other materials necessary for school work must be made available promptly.
The state school management boards or education service commission are generally guilty of delaying supplies to the schools. The delay causes not only inconvenience to the teachers who are charged with the responsibilities of getting things done on time and in an orderly manner but lead to poor teaching and poor teaching leads to poor performance by the students in public examinations and even lead to cheating. In conclusion, poor administration procedures in supplying equipment will result in poor quality work.
Essien(2016) further stressed that the weakest link in our educational setup is the poor quality of the type of preparation to which the teachers are exposed. If Nigeria is anxious to get on as a virile and dynamic nation, there is no alternative than to make teaching profession attractive and sufficiently competitive to attract the best and thereby raised the image of the teachers. The supply of teachers in adequate numbers, when need and of adequate quality will continue to be the dominating topic in the debate for the efficient running of senior secondary schools.
Responsibilities of principal as a leader
Ogunsaju (2006) saw a secondary school principal as one who has a vital and unique role to play and these he enumerated as; formulation of scientific philosophy for the school, declaration of commitment to comprehensive planning, provision of adequate fund to carry out planned projects and final evaluation. Ogunsaju (2006) however explained further that the principal or headmaster as the case may be is the educational leader as the case may be is the educational leader in the school responsible for daily coordination of various activities going on in the school. He is the manager of the school and through the Head of Department of various disciplines, he coordinates all the educational programmes existing in the school. In addition, the principal or Headmaster had responsibilities for teacher and property owned by the school and those supplied to the school.
Various responsibilities are therefore necessary for a principal in discharging or carrying out his or her professional duties. A good principal must be aware that his professional responsibilities are as follows:
1. Responsibilities to oneself
2. Responsibilities to students
3. Responsibilities to the communities
