Management Of Instructional Facilities And Teachers Job Effectiveness In Public Senior Secondary School, Lagos State Education District V

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Instructional facilities  management  is  an  essential  tool  in  the  achievement  of  secondary  school objectives. The effective and efficient management of instructional facilities contributes immensely to high  quality development  in education.  Oluremi, (2018)  stated that  “the attainment  of  good instructional facilities management requires committed and qualified principals”. Instructional facilities are made up of the school land and all the physical structures on it. It also includes the site, buildings, physical equipment, recreational spaces and books used for the achievement of educational objectives (Onwurah, 2018). From these views, instructional facilities simply means the location, fixed structures and movable materials in school. High  educational  standards  are  achieved  when  Instructional facilities  are  effectively  managed  in schools. This is when  students live  in clean, attractive and pleasant  learning environment, classrooms and hostels in good working conditions, the laboratories, libraries, and workshops well equipped. Adeyinka, Asabi, & Adedotun, (2019) in their recognition of the need for instructional facilities and  effective  performance  of  educational programs  noted  that  “For  effective  teaching  and learning situations, instructional facilities and  educational  goals should  be viewed as being closely interwoven and interdependent apart from protecting student from the sun, rain, heat and cold”. In this context, instructional facilities and educational goals are interdependent. Therefore, instructional facilities management is  an essential tool in the achievement of quality instructional delivery in the school. Adeyinka, Asabi, & Adedotun, (2019)  clearly highlighted that  “the availability of  necessary equipment will enable the students to make use of their senses for learning”.

High level of students’ academic performance may not be guaranteed where instructional space such as classrooms, libraries, technical workshops and laboratories are lacking (Ajayi 2019). Unfortunately, through personal observation by the researcher, it has been observed that some public secondary schools in Lagos State education district V  metropolis have leaking roofs, broken windows, poor  equipped  laboratories  and  libraries, dilapidated  buildings,  blown  off  roofs,  cracked decaying walls, sagging roofs and some teaching equipment in short supply. Situations such as these cannot be seen as appropriate for effective instructional delivery in secondary school environment. Corroborating these, Mgbodile, (2019) lamented that “most secondary schools have poor school buildings structure, classes extremely hot in hot weather and very damp during the raining season, teaching equipment of all sorts  in  short  supply”. Proving this,  recently some public secondary schools  in Lagos State education district V  metropolis were  flooded during the resumption period of September 2017/2018 academic session. Effective instructional delivery in school under such conditions cannot be guaranteed.  The researcher views the situation as a serious threat to the attainment of goals and objectives of secondary education in Rivers State.  Obasi, & Asodike, (2019)  referred  the  principal  as  “the  Chief  Executive  of  secondary  schools  in Nigeria”. This simply means that the principal has  the  responsibility of ensuring that school buildings, facilities and total  school environment  are properly managed in  order to ensure effective instructional delivery in the school. The management of instructional facilities rests squarely on the principal who is an administrator and instructional leader of the school. His duties among others cover the procurement, maintenance, utilization and safety of the instructional facilities so as to achieve the goals and objectives of secondary education system.

The teacher is no doubt the pivot on which qualitative education and development hang. Any attempt made towards educational development and qualitative education must involve a dynamic and well articulated teacher education programme that will prepare teachers for the indispensable leadership role that they are expected to play. Teachers constitute  the second  most  important  input  in  any educational  system after  the  learners.  Without  efficient  and effective  teachers  in  the  education  industry  qualitative  learning  outcomes  cannot  be  achieved.  Teachers?  job effectiveness  involves  all  the activities  carried out  by the  teacher to  achieve the  desired effect  on  students.  It involves the extent to which the teachers participate in the overall running of the school  in  order to achieve the expected objectives.  However, Ayodele, (2019) has observed professional laxity on the part of teachers. To him, many teachers are merely staying on the  job to look  for better jobs outside. He complained that  the constant  cases of absenteeism, persistent lateness to school, irregular and unauthorized movement from duty post and indiscipline constitute a big problem to the attainment of educational goals. Mgbodile, (2019) has called attention to the state of affairs in our secondary schools  where  in his  words  “a totally  unwholesome and  non  professional behavior of teachers such as absenteeism, trading and general low level of commitment to duty which appears to be indices of ineffectiveness”.  The effectiveness of teaching can be measured through the changes which have occurred in the students knowledge (declarative and procedural), their level of motivation, ability to cope with constant changes in life, and effective management of stress after they have been given  instruction. Due to this uniqueness of effective teaching, many post-secondary  institutions  adopted  students  rating  of  instruction as  one  measure  of  instructional  effectiveness (Florence, 2018). 

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Observation has shown that the dwindling poor performance of students in internal and external examination has been a serious concern to parents and members of the public as the society is fast changing due to technological development; many teachers are not sensitized, informed or educated about the recent changes (Florence, 2018). Many teachers are not grounded in the art of teaching as they lack the skills of imparting knowledge of their subject specialization to the students.  Some  teachers are  unable  to  assess  and  evaluate  the students  continuously,  as  such, they  cannot  measure  the progress being made  by the  students  in the  learning task  that they are guiding: some are  still found  wanting  in planning/preparation  of  their  lessons  ahead  of  class  time  and  some  cannot  state  instructional  objectives  in measurable terms. Keeping of various school records is a problem to some teachers and some of them are still using either teacher-centered approach or curriculum centered approach in the teaching/learning process (Ayodele, 2019).

Instructional facilities management is very potential for the realization of secondary school objectives. However, where Instructional facilities are inadequate, poorly maintained, and not safe guarded the teaching and learning process becomes difficult. The goals and objectives of secondary school may not be achieved under this condition. Interactions with principals and teachers as well as personal observations revealed that most public senior secondary schools in Lagos State have poorly equipped laboratories and libraries, dilapidated  buildings,  blown  off  roofs,  sagging  roofs,  cracked  and  decaying  walls,  etc. Effective teaching and learning under this situation cannot be guaranteed (Odor, 2018).

Parents, students, educational administrators, stakeholders and members of the public have been complaining about poor work performance as a result of ineffectiveness in secondary schools in Lagos State education district V metropolis. To give attention to these complains and solve the problem of teachers ineffectiveness, the state government adopted several strategies such  as  increased  and  regular  salary,  monetary  and  non-monetary  incentives, frequent  school supervision,  and regular promotion with in-built responsibility in order to motivate teachers to put up positive work performance, yet, the situation has not changed.