Professor Vivian Nwogbo was former head, Department of Educational Management and Policy, and sub-dean, Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. She has served as deputy director, Sandwich Unit and currently the coordinator, NIM-NYSC programme, (Nigeria Institute of Management, Chartered), Anambra State. In this interview with Orient Daily, she sheds light on manager-teacher relationship at various school levels and the qualities an administrator ought to possess.
How can educational managers shape the falling standard of educational?
Educational managers through their unique functions have the ability to utilise the available resources in education efficiently and effectively for the achievement of educational goals. They help to manage both human and material resources of an institution for optimum accomplishment of overall goals of education. On the other hand, educational policy is formed to guide the actions of people working in an institution so as to continue working in tandem with the provisions of education. For instance, the admission policy, directs an administrator on how to allocate quotas for admission.
The problem with education policy
The problem with our education policy is not with the policy itself because Nigeria is always good at coming up with good policies and objectives. Our problem is implementation of these policies. The implementation doesn’t match the policy on paper. We need to balance the gap.
Failure of school managers
Sometimes, the problem may not be with educational managers, but from the top hierarchy. Some managers may not be discharging their duties at various levels. This is because there is problem in the entire education sector in the country and things that needed to be addressed, are not. If a school manager is considered a failure when he/she is unable to perform his primary duties, especially where it is within their jurisdiction to do so; for instance, checking truancy, supervision of staff and ensuring that rules and regulations are kept, he will be held accountable for these functions. If it is on the issue of funding, and he is not provided with adequate funding to purchase some needed materials, there is nothing an educational manager will do, meaning he is indirectly responsible for that.
Principal-teacher relationship
A school where there is no cordial relationship between the principal and teachers, cannot achieve much. A principal should know that a tree cannot make a forest and that no man is an island. So, the principal should make sure that he carries along the members of staff. He is expected to be a friend to all and but a special friend to none.Meaning, that he should relate well with everybody and still maintain a relative distance. There should be justice, fairness and equity to all persons. For example, if there is a training opportunity, he will ensure that all staff benefits or are chosen diplomatically. In this way, the teachers will have open mind because the principal has given them freedom to express themselves. Let school administrators also delegate duties.
Administrators and 21st century demands
The world being a global village, due to technological advancement, managers and teachers in educational management are encouraged to be abreast of the current trend, such as e-learning, e-training and e-teaching. They are encouraged to be ICT compliant, and be able to access and reach out to the world to know what the current trends are. That is why an educational manager can be in America and still coordinate and connect with people in Nigeria and still achieve great results. This is very good, but the challenges we are having is poor internet facility and electricity.
Again, man is resistance to change and the fear of losing the intrinsic motivation they are having in their current job position, there are some people that resist these changes and the implication is that they don’t want to advance and develop professionally as individuals. This also means that they are denying their school the opportunity for advancement and development and getting in touch with what is happening in the society. That is why these days, promotions are hinged on it, because sometimes people don’t move unless they see that something is attached to the other or are coerced. Attaching penalties or compulsory retirement for failure to upgrade oneself will make administrators hungry to professionally advance and develop. The truth is that man being a social being, will not do what is right until when they know that their reward is based on performance. It will be good to link promotion to being innovative. People will achieve more when they know that a particular performance will attract a particular reward.
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Final word to school administrators
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. This shows that it is not easy to be in charge of a school or a school manager. But that said, I want to encourage the school administrators that are heads to know that people look up to them. As school administrators, they deal with human beings, and must as much as possible, give their best and lead by example by ensuring that they carry everybody along so that the lives of staff and students would be positively influenced at primary, secondary or tertiary school level.
Why Nigeria is failing teachers and pupils
By Mannir Dan Ali
The governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, while receiving a visiting World Bank delegation recently, he revealed that a test given to primary school teachers had elicited startling results.
They had been given questions set for primary four pupils, who are aged 10. The teachers had been expected to score at least 75 per cent, the governor said. “But I am sad to announce that 66 per cent of the teachers did not get that”. He blamed the hiring of unqualified teachers for the problem and promised to put an end to it.
But the state’s teachers’ union secretary, Adamu Ango, has disputed the governor’s claim, calling it cheap media propaganda. He has challenged him to make the examination paper public and measure the results alongside internationally accepted teaching competency examinations.
Unsurprisingly, teachers in the state are not happy – especially with the frequent tests they are made to take, saying this is the third such test in within a year. All other test results should be made public, if the governor is to be fair to them, they argue. And could the governor not also release some of their outstanding allowances unpaid for two years now?
Both sides may be right up to a point. Teachers are not known to be motivated – and it is not a career path many Nigerians opt for by choice. Many see it as a stop-gap before getting their dream job. Class sizes are also a big issue.
A teacher friend of mine once invited me to her primary school where class sizes ranged from 90 to 120 plus pupils. Even the most enthusiastic teacher would have trouble getting the attention of such a class, most of whom are likely to be seated on the floor, winking, pinching and playing pranks – making learning almost impossible.
Politicians also prefer to commission contracts to build classrooms that can be seen from the outside, rather than equipping them or training and motivating the teachers to do their work inside them. There is also an over emphasis on gaining certificates, even those of doubtful quality.
‘Miracle centres’
So many schools are only keen to churn out students with the required grades on paper but who cannot defend them in practice. It has also led to the proliferation of what are called “miracle centres” – schools or examination centres where almost everybody is guaranteed a good grade at a price.
A relation who teaches at one publicly funded school told me that thanks to such “miracles”, he has encountered students who have spent 12 years in basic education but who are unable to even copy the answers to exam questions that teachers write up on blackboards for them to copy out.
This explains why in addition to the national exams needed to gain admission to universities, polytechnics and other colleges, these higher education institutes insist on conducting their own separate tests to make sure that all the wonderful marks a candidate professes to have are genuine.
Recruitment has also become a nightmare for employers who come across graduates unable to string together five correct sentences. With basic education in such a bad state, especially in publicly funded schools, well-off parents have been voting with their money to send their children to private schools. Indeed, the class division in Nigeria is especially glaring in terms of what school one’s child attends.
Student exodus
Meanwhile, there has been an explosion of universities from just two at independence to the current 155. But frequent strikes have meant that students are never sure how many years it will take them to graduate, even though on paper their course it is for a specified period.
This has prompted a big exodus of students who can afford to go to tertiary institutions in far flung corners of the world. Those unable to finance fees and other costs in the US, Europe or Asia go closer to home, opting for the Benin Republic, Ghana, Uganda and other African countries.
In fact, some of the private universities in Ghana, Benin and Niger were set up by Nigerians eager to cash in on such opportunities. Since only a fraction of Nigeria's population can afford to pay the fees for private schools and universities, fixing the public-school system remains the only sustainable way for the country to adequately educate its citizen, if only to a basic level. On the whole, most Nigerians agree that there is a crisis in the education sector – though there is no agreement on the reason why and how best to tackle it.
A shock-and-awe approach like that of the Kaduna governor may grab headlines, but it is unlikely to improve the morale of capable and committed teachers who are the cornerstone of any education system.
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