Principals’ Personnel and Financial Management Skills as Correlates of Teachers’ Job Performance in Post-Basic Schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined principals’ personnel and financial management skills as correlates of teachers’ job performance in post-basic schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The study adopted a correlation survey design. The population comprised 6,140 principals and teachers drawn from the five education zones in Adamawa State, while a sample of 614 respondents, consisting of 580 teachers and 34 principals, was selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Two researcher-developed instruments, namely the Principals’ Managerial Skills Questionnaire (PMSQ) and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ), were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by experts and yielded reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.85 respectively using Cronbach’s alpha. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that principals’ personnel management skills were at a moderate level (M = 3.33, SD = 1.49), while principals’ financial management skills were at a high level (M = 3.89, SD = 1.24). Teachers’ job performance was also found to be high (M = 3.82, SD = 1.36). The regression results showed that principals’ personnel management skills had a significant positive relationship with teachers’ job performance (R = .444, p = .008), while principals’ financial management skills also had a significant positive relationship with teachers’ job performance (R = .478, p = .004). The ANOVA results further confirmed that both regression models were statistically significant. The study concluded that effective personnel and financial management skills are important predictors of teachers’ job performance in post-basic schools. It was recommended that principals should be exposed to regular capacity-building program in staff welfare administration, budgeting, accountability, and financial record keeping to further improve teachers’ effectiveness.