COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EKITI STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of community participation in conflict resolution in the administration of public secondary schools in Ekiti State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 4,536 while the sample was 368 respondents. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to determine the sample size of 368 respondents. The instrument for data collection was self-structured questionnaire titled “Community Participation in Conflict Resolution Questionnaire (CPCRAQ)”. Three experts validated the instrument used for the study from the Department of Educational Management, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. The instrument was trial tested on 30 respondents in Ijero L.G.A of Ekiti State which was not part of the area used for the study. The data collected were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha to establish the reliability estimate and the overall reliability coefficient of 0.77 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions that guided the study, while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses formulated for the study at 0.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study were that communities to a great extent participate in conflict resolution in the administration of public secondary schools in Ekiti State. Findings also revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the mean ratings of the respondents on the influence of community participation in conflict resolution in the administration of public secondary schools in Ekiti State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the principals as the managers of secondary school should as a matter of importance be able to identify nature or causes of conflicts in their schools before it affect school as a whole and that the school authority should identify resources persons within the community and reach out to them when the need arises.