School Principals’ Use of Management Principles: A Veritable Tool for Effective Delivery of Quality Assurance in Osun State Secondary Schools

Abstract

The use of management principles by secondary school principals should set good standards and guideline by which all teachers must strive to achieve in the delivery of quality teaching which involves continuous assessment of learners, classroom management, record keeping, promoting discipline and effective development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learners. This paper examined the management principles adopted by principals in Osun State secondary schools; investigated the level of principals’ use of management principles; and examined the relationship between principals’ use of management principles and quality assurance. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the 6,982 teachers. The sample for the study comprised 810 teachers, representing 10% of all the teachers in Osun State secondary schools. The results showed that authority and delegation (93.1%), discipline (92.5%), order (85.1%), division of work (80.9%), espirit de corps (75.5%), unity of direction (65.3%) and equity (61%) respectively were the management principles adopted by principals in public secondary schools in Osun State. The study equally showed that the principals of Osun Sate secondary demonstrated high level in using management the principles. The result further showed that there was a significant positive relationship between principals’ use of management principles and quality assurance (r <0 .386, p< .05). The study concluded that principals’ use of management principle had positive impact and sustained quality assurance in Osun State secondary schools.