SUPERVISORY ROLE OF PRINCIPALS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Abstract

In this study, the author assessed teachers’ perception of principals’ supervisory role in quality assurance in secondary school science education programme. The study was based on the assumption that if school principals properly supervise teaching and learning activities in science classes then teachers will teach very well and students’ learning outcomes will improve. One hundred and seventy-nine science teachers who were randomly selected from 58 secondary schools in Ibadan City, Oyo State, Nigeria participated in the study. One valid and reliable questionnaire titled “Teachers Perception of Principals Supervisory Role (TPoPSR)” was used to gather data. Three research questions were answered. Data were analysed by using mean, standard deviation, frequency counts and percentages. For the interpretation of the results, a bench mark of 2.5 was set for the mean values of the participants’ responses to each of the 19 items contained in Part A and Part B of TPoPSR. On the basis of bench mark set, the teachers were of the opinion that principals were performing their role in the area of classroom inspection. Results also show that the teachers expected their principals to do more in the area of checking teacher’s note of lesson, teacher’s mark book and students’ notebook. More importantly, results show that teachers do not expect their principals to make informal visits to their classroom and evaluate teachers’ content knowledge. The results of the study have brought to focus the level at which secondary school principals perform their supervisory role. The results of this study show that teachers expected their principals to play more supervisory role than they do at present, especially in the area of monitoring teachers’ and students’ written work.