Principals’ Soft Skills and Management Efficiency in Secondary Schools in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between principals’ soft skills and management efficiency in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study and five null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. From a population of 6, 899 a sample of 268 teachers was drawn using proportionate stratified- random sampling technique. Two questionnaires titled “Principals’ Soft Skill Questionnaire (PSSQ) and School Management Efficiency Questionnaire (SMEQ)” were used to collect data for the study. The instruments were validated by two experts from the Department of Educational Management and Policy and one expert from the Department of Educational Foundation (Measurement and Evaluation) all in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Internal consistency of the instruments was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha method and coefficients of 0.84 and 0.85 were obtained for the two instruments PSSQ and SMEQ respectively. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation analysis. P-value was used to determine the significance of correlation at 0.05 significant level. The findings revealed that principals interpersonal, leadership, adaptability, decision-making and resilience skills all had significant positive relationships with management efficiency in secondary schools in Anambra State. The study concluded that principals’ soft skills are critical determinants of effective and efficient school management. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that school principals should be regularly trained and retrained through workshops, seminars and leadership development programmes to enhance their soft skills for improved school management efficiency.