CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Primary education is critical to the development of the nation being the bridge

between nursery and secondary education. Apart from serving as the link between

nursery and secondary education, it provides opportunity for a child to acquire

additional knowledge, skills and traits beyond the nursery level. Primary school

education is the education children within the ages of six and eleven receive after

nursery education and before secondary education. It is the type of education that

provides opportunities for pupils to acquire advanced knowledge, skills and

competencies. Primary schools in Nigeria are important institutions in the

achievement of the educational policy of the nation. The success of any primary

school can hardly be complete without the administrative effectiveness of a head

teacher.

Head teacher as a leader of an entire community within a school, has been

entrusted with the business of controlling staff, finances and organisation of the

curriculum. The head teacher is an administrator who runs a school organization for

the purpose of attaining the objectives of secondary education. The head teacher as a

professional leader and foremost supervisor, combines the roles of administration

supervisor, instructional supervisor and subject supervisor. Thus, the growth and

1
development of primary schools depend largely on the administrative effectiveness

and efficiency of the principal. In the same vein, the Federal Republic of Nigeria

(FRN, 2014) highlighted that head teacher is a person who is responsible for running

a school and determining the direction and objectives of the school. This definition

means that the head teacher’s position determines everything that happens in the

school. The head teacher is responsible for implementing the educational policy of

the country in primary schools and usually report to the school board.

The functions of the head teacher among others include scheduling,

budgeting, instructional supervision, maintenance of physical plants and custodial

services to both students and staff as well as playing the role of a liaison officer

between the school, ministry and the community. Other duties to be performed are;

pupils’ admission, proper documentation of school finance and creating a conducive

learning atmosphere. In this study, the term head teacher was perceived as a leader

in the primary school who is charged with the execution and implementation of

school goals, policies and programmes for the attainment of the goals of primary

education. To the researcher, a head teacher is one charged with the oversight

function of management/administration of a primary school, who must have attained

a good height in the educational system, gained a formidable knowledge and

experience in school administration and human resource management for

actualization of the set educational goals

2
 Human resource management (HRM) is key to the competitive success as

well as survival of any organization. HRM is critical to any organizational success.

Without it, vision, mission and opportunities of the educational organization will be

compromised. Without it, there can be wastage of organizational resources and the

workforce full potential will not be utilized. The success of any education program

largely depends on the availability and the utilization of skilled work force of all

types in a school system. This is because human resource in the school is the

initiator and the determinant of all activities that are in the school. As such, school

head teachers can be said to be effective in their human resource management duties

if they carry out the HRM practices in a way that produces the effectiveness among

the teaching and non-teaching staff in school organization.

Human resource management practice captured the recruit, selection,

placement and career development of employees within an organization. Human

resource management practice in education refers to the systematic process of

recruitment, selection, induction, training, development, and motivation of teachers

toward achieving educational goals and objective (Abdulhakeem, 2022). It is

concerned with staff at work and their relationship within the system. Human

resource management is aimed at achieving absolute dispensation of justice and

efficiency in the organization. HRM comprises onboarding new staff, creating

opportunities to learn new skills, disseminating resources that are relevant to the

3
staff's job, and any other developing initiatives (Panasonic, 2022). It enables every

employee to offer the best contribution towards the success of the organization.

There is need for human resource management in the school system as it is

integral and offers a wide range of channels through which the head teachers carry

out statutory duties and other responsibilities. There are many ways in which human

resources within the formal school system can be effectively managed. These

include promotion, discipline, remuneration, motivation, supervision, the

involvement of staff in decision making, inter- personal relationship, effective

communication, the delegation of responsibilities and retraining (Owan, 2018).

However, the emphasis of the current study was based on three aspects of human

resource management which include head teachers' provision of incentives, head

teachers’ inter-personal relationship and teachers’ participation in decision-making.

Incentives to teachers as a technique of motivation should be able to attract

and retain the teachers. Hence, head teachers who employ this technique of

motivation should be prepared to offer compensation schemes such as monetary

bonus, appreciation for outstanding performance by teachers among others in order

to be able to motivate teachers to perform their task to produce target output. Quadri

(2019) pointed out that incentives are given in form of compensation packages as a

strategy to retain, motivate, and enhance the well-being and job performance of

teachers. Incentives have a positive effect on education. Incentives make teachers to

pay more attention to student’s abilities thereby encouraging students to bring good
4
learning returns. Osuji and Nweneka (2022) noted that incentives are used to trigger

the excitement of teachers on the job.

Head teachers’ inter-personal relationship refers to the cohesion that exists

between a head teacher and his teachers, students and other personnel within and

outside the school environment. According to Azzari (2018), the school

administrator must understand his/her own behavior and the behaviour of pupils,

teachers, other staff members, parents, and all citizens of the community who

influence educational policy in any way. He/she must understand the group

dynamics not only of school boards, school-related organizations such as the parent-

teacher association and groups of school personnel, but also of many other groups in

the community which can affect the operation, strength, and qualities of schools.

Vasiliki (2015) observed that the relations between teachers and between head

teacher and teachers in most schools are official and friendly. Important factors that

create good relations are good behavior, the qualifications and the personality of the

teachers and head teacher.

Teachers’ participation in decision making entails head-teachers’

accommodation of teachers in the planning and implementation processes of the

school that are geared towards the realization of the institutional goals. Teachers’

participation in decision making refers to the degree of employee’s involvement in a

firm’s strategic planning activities (Osuji & Nweneka, 2022). Every school head

teacher must ensure that every staff is adequately involved in making decisions that
5
concern the school. This will raise their morale to take an active part in an activity in

which they were involved in the planning. Thus, when human resources are properly

managed by head teachers, the pupils would be better for it.

With the researcher prescriptions underlying the foundation for this research,

it is posited that for there to be administrative effectiveness, head teachers are

expected to manage human resources properly. However, a cursory look at primary

schools in Awka South LGA revealed that the performance of teachers have been

unsatisfactory as teachers are seen evading their statutory duties to the detriment of

the pupils. This unsatisfactorily state of affairs is a huge source of worry to relevant

stakeholders in the primary educational system. It is in view of the foregoing that the

researcher sought to investigate head teachers’ human resource management

practices for administrative effectiveness in primary schools in Awka-South LGA.

Statement of the Problem

The current situation in primary schools regarding administrators’

effectiveness raises questions on human resource management. This is to the extent

that teachers, who are saddled with the daunting tasks of curriculum implementation

are found absenting themselves from their duty post for other considerations based

on the researcher’s observation in primary schools in Anambra State. Worse still,

some others attend to their duties late. This is rather a source of worry to

stakeholders in the primary educational system.

6
 Some of the teachers seem to find it difficult to perform their statutory roles to

the pupils in a manner that satisfies the pupils and their parents. It must be stressed

that education cannot be an instrument for achieving national development where

the primary education is not effectively administered by the head teachers to

accomplish its aims and objectives. It is against this backdrop that the researcher

sought to investigate head teachers’ human resource management practices for

administrative effectiveness in primary schools in Awka-South LGA.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study was to investigate head teachers’ human

resource management practices for administrative effectiveness in primary schools

in Awka-South LGA. Specifically, the study sought to determine:

1. head teachers' provision of incentives for administrative effectiveness in

primary schools.

2. head teachers’ inter-personal relationship for administrative effectiveness in

primary schools.

3. teachers’ participation in decision-making for administrative effectiveness in

primary schools.

Significance of the Study

7
 It is believed that the findings of this study, on publication, would be of immense

benefit to stakeholders in primary education. These include: head teacher, teachers,

pupils, government and future researchers.

The findings of the study would be beneficial to head teachers. It would bring

them to the appreciation of the extent to which their human resource management

practices bring about administrative effectiveness in primary schools. Consequently,

they would, as a matter of necessity re-examine their human resource management

practices so as to engender administrative effectiveness in primary schools.

Teachers would benefit from institutional gain. This is to the extent that when the

head teachers’ human resource management practices brings about administrative

effectiveness, teachers’ job performance would be improved upon considerably.

Pupils would benefit from the findings of the study as the result would aid an

improvement in teachers’ job performance. An improvement in teachers’ job

performance as a result of head teachers’ human resource management practices

would improve task performance. That way, academic performance of pupils would

be considerably enhanced.

The findings of the study would make government to appreciate the extent to

which head teachers’ human resource management practices bring about

administrative effectiveness. Consequently, they would be guided in their placement

8
decisions of head teacher to achieve a “best fit” between the school and a head

teachers’ human resource management practices for administrative effectiveness.

Lastly, future researchers would benefit from the findings of the study as it

would provide initiation for them to conduct a detailed and comprehensive study on

such similar topics. This can be done by placing this work in the school library and

in the internet.

Scope of the Study

The study was delimited to head teachers’ human resource management practices

for administrative effectiveness in primary schools. The content scope of the study

was made up head teachers' provision of incentives, head teachers’ inter-personal

relationship and teachers’ participation in decision-making. The study was

conducted using public primary school teachers in Awka-South LGA.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. What is head teachers' provision of incentives for administrative effectiveness

in primary schools?

2. What is head teachers’ inter-personal relationship for administrative

effectiveness in primary schools?

3. What is teachers’ participation in decision-making for administrative

effectiveness in primary schools?

9
 REFERENCES

Abdulhakeem, S.U. (2022). Assessment of the effectiveness of school principals and

teachers on quality human resources management practice in senior secondary
schools in 21st century in Northeast Nigeria. International Journal of
Contemporary Education Research, 11(8), 1-14.
Azzari, N. (2018). Transformational, transactional or laissez-faire: What styles do
university librarians practice? Journal of Organizational Management
Studies, 1(20), 17-19.
Federal Republic of Nigerian (2014). National policy on education. Lagos: NERC
Press.
Osuji, C.U. and Nweneka, C.M. (2022). Influence of principals management of

human resources on teachers’ job performance in public senior secondary

schools in Rivers State. International Journal of Research Publication and

Reviews, 3(7), 3423-3450.

Owan, E.A. (2018). The practices of organizational leadership. Ibadan: Adeogun

printing press.
Panasonic, T. (2022). Human resources development and promotion of diversity.
Panasonic Corporation, 85–94. Retrieved from
https://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/sustainability/pdf/sdb2021e-
employee.pdf.
Quadri A. A. (2019). Employees’ perception on effective reward system and
motivating incentives to enhance performance in Irish-owned restaurants: A
case study of reward management system in comet. (Google Scholar).

10
Vasiliki, M. (2015). Administrative leadership: What is it? Why is it important? and
how does it connect to class? Retrieved June 25th, 2018 from
http://info.teachstone.com/blog/administrative-leadership-what-is-it-why-is-it-
important-and-how-does-it-connect-to-class.

11