APRINCIPALS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ADAMAWA STATE

Abstract

The need for principals to be able to manage conflict effectively in secondary schools necessitated this study. The study is to assess the extent the principals in secondary schools in Adamawa State utilize conflict management strategies in their school administration. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted and 385 principals were studied without sampling. A five point rating scale questionnaire containing 18items was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts. Test-retest method was
used to establish the reliability of the instrument. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used for the analysis and the clusters yielded coefficients of 0.76 and 0.82, with an overall coefficient of 0.84. Three hundred and sixty duly completed copies of the instrument were retrieved and used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and to determine the homogeneity of the respondents' ratings while the z- test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that secondary school
principals in Adamawa State utilized competitive strategy to a great extent while collaboration strategy was used to a moderate extent. Gender did not influence the respondents' choice of adopting competitive strategies in resolving conflicts while there was a significant difference in the mean ratings of principals in urban and rural secondary schools on the use of collaboration as a conflict management strategy. Based on the findings, it was concluded that secondary school principals in Adamawa State were using appropriate strategies in resolving conflicts. It was therefore recommended among others that institutions and government should train teachers in conflict resolution strategies
before appointing them as principals.

Key words: Strategies, Conflict management Strategies, Principals