RE – EQUIPPING

THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

FOR GREATER PRODUCTIVITY

IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

BY

PROF ANUNA MAGNUS CHIGOZIE

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
ABIA STATE UNIVERSITY, UTURU.

PROF HAUWA IMAM

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA, NIGERIA.

DR. OBIH SOLOMON ONYINYECHI

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF NDUFU ALIKE IKWO,
EBONYI STATE.

JANUARY, 2022

1
 ABSTRACT

The article stressed the importance of re-equipping the school

principal for greater productivity in secondary schools in Nigeria
because as instructional leader, positive school culture hinged on his
ability. The paper furthermore examine the fundamental strategies of
curbing the authority and power of the secondary education
management board, professional succession selection of principals
through identifying individual with talents, emphasizing coaching and
mentoring continuous training of principals have become inevitable in
order to enhance learning outcomes. Proper national certification to
assess competency and elaborate skills for prospective principals are
inevitable. The article emphasized the importance for Nigeria to join
global benchmarks for selection of principals.
Principals need to acquire knowledge how to build a team spirit,
create a learning organization and expose to life long education for
reequipping them to be more productive and proactive in
implementing policies. Finally to enhance the principal preparation
programme, succession plans and focus on the instructional needs of
principals were pre-requisites. Finally to re-equipping, there must be
self recognition and identifying talents. The Ministry of Education
need to restore the power and authority of the principals appropriate
by the board and expose them to financial aid management.
Principles.
The educational administrator need to make provision for emergence
of collaborative leadership and continuous professional development
of the teachers.

2
 RE – EQUIPPING THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL FOR GREATER
PRODUCTIVITY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA

INTRODUCTION

Principals are the instructional leaders, who have the

responsibility of managing our secondary schools. As professionals
responsible for the secondary schools which are a vital bridge
between higher education and primary schools, re-equipping them
have not become a necessity, but vital for enhancing school
improvement, leaning outcomes and students academic achievement.
Professional training and development of the principals which also
involve capacity building is necessary because of the complex nature
of our educational system and furthermore the success or failure of
schools hinged on the instructional leadership offer by principals. The
principals are in control of managing the leading Post Basic Education
and Career Development (PBECD) which is the education children
received after a successful completion of ten years of Basic Education
and passing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (JAISCE). It
includes (i) senior secondary education (ii) higher school; and (iii)
continuing education giving in Vocational Enterprise Institutions.
(Federal Government of Nigeria, 2013:12)
It is obvious in Nigeria that inadequate power and authority
were given to the principals compared to the enormous
responsibilities of the position and the stakeholders were not able to
comprehend the role and escalating demand placed on them as

3
instructional leaders. Re-equipping principals are necessary because
they are leading in a culture of change. Hence, Fullan (2001)
described the four critical roles of principals as:
“developing teachers’ knowledge, skills and
disposition; a culture characterized as professional
learning community; programme coherence and the
materials, equipments, space, time and access to
new ideas that make up a school technical
resources”.

The principal as analyzed by Peterson and Deal, (1999),

Lunerbury and Ornstein (2008) is a fundamental individual in
moulding school culture. They communicate vital core values,
behaviours and expectations in their work and interactions with the
staff. They also through words and their attitude shape the school
culture. The principal as effective leader must understand how other
people differs in temperament and expectations and how they can be
motivated for enhance productivity. Hence, the principal need to
have firm grip of knowledge of emotional intelligence that is linked to
productivity and school improvement.
For principals to be effective and productive, not efficient re-
equipping them have become a necessity. It is only through
professional development training that the general characteristics of
effective principals can be of integral aspect of the psyche of Nigerian
school heads. The characteristics as identified by Alivy and Robbins
(2005) are:
i) Keeps the interest of the students at heart.
ii) Is a leading learner.

4
iii) Act ethically.
iv) Put instructional leadership first.
v) Practice efficient management.
vi) Builds strong relationships.
vii) Knows what to expect.
viii) Orchestrates school-community partnership.
ix) Is a life long learner.
x) Builds a positive school climate.
Even in developed nations like United States of America,
recruitment of principals are uneven; spoty and poorly organized and
the programme offered by colleges and universities are separated
from the daily realities and needs of schools (Podmostkto, 2000). Re-
equipping the school principals will usher in qualitative education in
Nigeria, as in the next 20 years, robots will replace routine jobs and
simple less demanding duties.
With coming epidemic unemployment global, by the principals
in secondary school as the link between primary and university need
visionary new skills to churn out the manpower that will participate in
the global economy and changing world. The importance of re-
equipping the principals as instructional leaders was aptly illustrated
in then Education Commission report of International Institute of
Education Planning as the
world faces fundamental and urgent challenges
prosperity, security, migration, health and others. If
we fail to act, the commission projects that by
2030, over 800 million people will not be on track to
gain basic skills and 1.5 billion adults will have just

5
 a primary education. If we do not act by 2050, the
number of lives lost each year to lower levels of
education will equal those lost today to HIV/AIDS
and malaria”.

Already, some 40 percent of employers globally are finding it

difficult to recruit people with the skills they need. A bigger skills
gaps is likely to unfold and will stunt growth in the global economy.
The commission found that on average an estimated 2 percent of a
country’s GDP is spent each year on education costs that do not lead
to learning. In low-income countries, this amounts to half of the
entire education budget IEEP – UNESCO (2016).
This paper will examine the strategies that are necessary to re-
equip the principal for greater productivity through Decentralization
of power, governance, authority and school base management,
appointment and selection of school personnel (teachers) and
professional training of principals, through introduction of post-
graduate diploma in educational leadership.

De-Centralization of Power, Governance and School Base

Management

To re-equipped principals to be both proactive and productive,

it is imperative to whittle down the enormous powers and authority
of the secondary education management board, over schools could
be accomplished through professional responsibilities replaces
bureaucratic regulations. This goal could be achieve through:

6
1. Increasing autonomy through lifting bureaucratic obstacles,
rules and regulations and;
2. Sharing the authority to make decisions with the school major
stakeholders, groups, guardians, pupils, and the community.
Lunenburg and Ornstein (2008). Also increase the school base
management with principal participating effectively in decision
making process. The enlarged decision making body that is
democratic must involve the major stakeholders and their
representatives. In Nigeria, we are practicing a highly centralized and
bureaucratic management system, instead of the democratic and de-
centralized management system that was in vogue in the early sixties
and seventies.
In United States of America, an extremely useful alternative to
conventional in-service training programme can be state supported
teacher and principal network. State supported teacher and principal
networks can be extreme useful alternative to conventional in-service
training programme. The previously model based on oneshot
workshops experts agreed are not working, because educators are
disenchanted with the conventional training model for professional
development. Head teacher to teacher professional development
through state sponsored networks are already in existence in
California and Vermont.
In England, the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) ushered in
changes the way secondary schools were managed. Education
Reformed Act brought in Local Management of Schools (LMS) which

7
granted principals greater autonomy, control and authority over their
resources and vital decisions like appointment and selection of staff,
while in return they must adhere to a national curriculum and for
students academic achievement.
The schools results are now adjusted against a
myriad of socio-economic factors which enable
schools to be compared more equitably. The Office
for Standards in Education (OFSTED), an
independent agency accountable directly to
parliament, inspects schools every four years
against national standards framework that reports
on school leadership and management as well as
student academic performance (Jacobson and Day,
2007:8).

Appointment and Selection of School Personnel (Teachers)

The school principal is the individual given the final
administrative responsibility for a school operation and possesses
profound influence over the affairs of the teacher. The principal as
the person who hires and sometimes fire teachers and who play
fundamental role in establishing both the academic and the work
climate of the school, Kauchak and Eggen (2011).
He also supervises the day to day activities with enormous
responsibilities. The two most responsibilities of the principal are
teacher selection and evaluation (Sergiovanni, 2009a). The principal
interview the prospective teachers before appointment. Principal also
monitor and implement budget and ensure the school’s physical
facilities are maintained.

8
Professional Development of School Leaders, Teachers and
School Improvement

Training of teachers and school leaders have become inevitable. In

most countries, the retraining of school leaders is imperative in
order to become agents of change and turn their teachers into
leaders. School improvement and learning outcomes cannot take
place in a vacuum. Hence Hopkins, Enskill and West (1994); Dalin,
(1998), see school improvement as a strategy for educational
change that enhances student learning outcomes as well as
strengthening the school capacity for managing change. It entails
raising student academic achievement through stressing teaching,
learning process and the condition which prop it. It is the means of
improving the school capacity for making available quality
education in times of reforms and change .
School Principals are the hub of school improvement,
enhancing learning outcomes, and custodians of change. In these
contemporary times school leaders are ushering in systemic change
rather than managing schools, the students and. teachers in them.
In the past in contrast, they were the gate keepers of the status
quo, authoritarian managers of day to day business and school
wide disciplinarian. (The 21st Century Principal,2002).
The world-wide education reforms, innovation like self
management of schools, privatization of education, private sector
involvement in funding, free education, compulsory education and
the result oriented, qualitative education demand by stakeholders

9
have made the professionally trained prepared school leaders
inevitable.
Furthermore, is the emphasis on sustainable leadership, and
creating a positive favourable learning environment and fostering,
building relationships with guardians and community, (Hargreaves
and Fink 2003; Blakesley 2012). To cope with the enormous
reforms, innovations in the educational system, continuous
development of Principals have become inevitable and continuous
career circle development is the only option instead of ad-hoc staff
development, (Glatter 1987; Fullan and Hargreaves, 1991).
In countries like France, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Cyprus and South Africa, the professional training of school leaders
is highly centralized, and supply driven. Programmes are
standardized, compulsory and the quality assurance aspect
monitored and identifying the learning needs of the Principals in
training, Karagiargi and Nicolaidou, (2009). In the United States of
America the training, licensing and professionalization of school
leaders has been in existence for two hundred years (Brown,
2005), and in the nation strong, robust training stress is on
financial management (Goldstein, 2001). Other countries like
Britain, Australia and New Zealand also emphasize training on
financial management as important.
Britain and Australia established national colleges for school
leadership and national institutes for quality teaching respectively.
These institutions were responsible for training school leaders;

10
their induction and putting in place the professional qualification
for headship of schools, (OECD, 2006).
Sweden's professional development and recruitment of
school heads pass through a rigorous and complex process.
According to Johansson (2002), there is induction for new,
appointed school Principals, a national professional development
after two years on the job; continuous career development,
through university based academic courses and elaborate
unflinching support from professional association of school
Principals.
In South Africa, no teacher is eligible for appointment as a
school Principal without compulsory professional certification.
Implementation of South African National Professional qualification
for Principalship is the fundamental means of school improvement
and enhancing learning outcomes. Professional certification for
school heads will ensure professional competence, specialized
knowledge and skills. The professional qualification is validated by
national accreditation process under the control and management
of the Department of Education (DOE).
Solomon Islands in the Southern Pacific in the past
appointed school principals from those who are in deputy positions
although a classroom teacher may be promoted to the position of
a Principal. In the southern hemisphere, University of Southern
Pacific introduced the diploma in educational leadership and
academic programme for professional training of serving

11
 principals, teachers aspiring to be school leaders, Educational
administrators and planners in the South Pacific region, Mkpa &
Anuna (2012).
Within Africa also, Namibia's professional development of
school heads stress not only provision and improvement of
management, leadership skills and knowledge, but also attitude,
problem solving skills and putting into action what was learned
(Glatter, 1987; Salazar 2007) An effective professional development
programme should emanate from the needs assessment of the
principals, identify their professional needs and channel these needs
into professional training areas.
Turning schools into a learning organization and initiating
continuous changes need effective training for the school leaders.
Hence Glatter (1998) suggested the training and professional
development of school heads should hinge on adequate period of
training that is also reflective. Furthermore, the training ought to
relate to concrete situations and application of learning in
collaboration with other teachers.
To improve learning outcomes, in the schools, and check
wastage, attrition, Davis and Davis (2012), Rhodes and Brundrett
(2012), maintain that talented people need to be valued and have
strong ties in the school system when their own interest are aligned
with that of the school and community and this will assist in their
retention. In the Ancient Roman Empire, the teachers from Greece
were highly valued by the citizens and Roman citizenship was given

12
to them as reward. Hence, teacher qualification is a prerequisite for
improving learning outcomes. The findings of a study by Darling-
Hammond (2000) reveal that policy investments in the quality of
teachers may be related to improvement- in student performance.
Quantitative analysis showed that the measures of teacher
preparation and certification arc by far the strongest correlates of
achievement in reading and mathematics.
In Nigeria, there is no national education leadership institute for
grooming teachers for Principalship like in South Africa, Solomon
Islands and Namibia, What are in vogue and trend in Nigeria is ad
hoc seminars, workshops organized by the National Institute' of
Educational Administration and Planning. (NIEPA) for Principals and
educational Administrators. There is no formal school leadership
training for principal aspirants in Nigeria. Principals are selected from
Vice-Principals and teachers with many years experience as
classroom teachers.

RATIONALE FOR PROFESSIONAL

POST-GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Post-Graduate Diploma in Educational Leadership is necessary

for effective management of schools, for enhancing learning
outcomes and school improvement. The principal as a leader is not
only to manage, administer, but also acts as instructional leader. In
the era of accountability where schools are result oriented, the
professional training of prospective head teachers and principals
have become imperative.

13
 Head teachers' now have demanding roles of being managers
and leaders simultaneously for enhancing professional development
of teachers, improve students' academic performance, manage
changes, knowledge, innovations and build effective community
school relations. To manage change, knowledge and turning schools
into a professional learning community, specialized training of
teachers who will be potential school heads have become imperative
and a necessity.
In most developed nations like Britain, United States of
America, Canada, France, appointment to the position of a
principal is hinged on possession of a professional post-graduate
diploma in educational leadership. This practice has been in
existence in the above cited countries for almost two hundred
years. Countries in Africa that have made post-graduate diploma in
educational leadership for, appointment to the position of a
principal as a perquisite are South Africa and Namibia. Even Thiny
Solomon Islands in the South Pacific have cued in.
An integral aspect of the educational leadership diploma
programme is financial management because of the dwindling
resources and the need for the school head to be a changing agent.
This has been the trend in developed nations like Britain, United
States of America, Australia and New Zealand.
However, in Nigeria, appointment to headship position in the
primary and secondary schools is primarily based on number of years

14
(experience) a teacher has been a vice principal and a classroom
teacher. This trend-is also applicable to Cameroon. There is the need

for Nigeria to follow the global trend of appointing teachers with

post-graduate diploma in educational leadership as school heads.
There is no need for establishment of a special centre for the
educational leadership programme. The lecturers in the Department
of Educational Administration would act as resource personnel. It
should be made a pre-requisite for appointment as school heads,
educational planners, policy makers. Serving principals also need the
Post-Graduate Diploma in Educational Leadership because of the
continuous innovations in our educational policies. Promotion of
teachers and vice principals to the positions of principals and head
teachers based on number of years of experience is not only
obsolete, but irrelevant to the needs of the society.

Training
In a research on professional development for Nigerian head
teachers, identify the training needs of principals as
 Managing school finance
 Effective leadership in schools
 Managing disciplinary problems
 Securing community support for schools
 Motivating staff to increased productivity improving staff
morale
 Staff development

15
  The role of PTA in school management
 Education laws and regulations (Ndu, 2001, Jacob 2016)
Furthermore, in another study necessary to re-equipped
principals for greater productivity, the principals identified their most
important professional development needs are in the areas of
* Building a team commitment;
* Creating a learning organisation;
Sustaining and motivating for continuous improvement; setting
instructional directions – results oriented; communicating effectively
and facilitating the change process. The principals from all indication
are more interested in acquiring the skills of leadership more than the
skills of management. The principals have a firm grasp of the
importance of collaborative nature of school leadership and ranked
need for professional growth in those areas that could aid them in
developing a collaborative learning community.
Countries like Britain, United States of America, Australia have
evolved elaborate means of certifying and licensing prospective
school leaders. Kenya as a country utilizes a modified version of the
apprentice model of appointing principals, from serving deputy and
vice-principals. But also in contradiction, some graduating teachers
who are made head teachers, unlike in Australia where the average
tenure before a classroom teacher emerge as a principal is fifteen
years (Asuaga and Eacott 2012, McKenzie, Kos, Walker and Hong,
2008)

16
 It is only professional training of teachers after higher degrees
that will ensure the emergence of effective principals, later that will
usher in effective schools. According to Arends (2012), effective
schools are institutions that make difference in student learning and
school improvement; having high expectations for students, which
are clearly and elaborately communicated to them. The school has
evoked a safe environment with strong administrative leadership and
community support and logistics made available. Teachers are
empowered and a professional learning community established. The
teachers have an idea how to work together as a group in order to
fashion out a relevant and functional curriculum. It is significant to
note that the teachers work together in collegial ways and put in
place a learning community that learner friendly and where culture,
way of life and language of entire pupils are respected.

Conclusion
In Nigeria, for principals to be instructional leaders who devote
most of their professional development time and resources to
curriculum, instruction, enhancing learning outcomes and school
improvement must be exposed to innovative managerial skills and
Nigeria must allow them to control budgets and there must be de-
evolution of power and authority to them.
It is necessary to re-equip principals for greater productivity by
establishing principals preparation and such programme succession
that will focus on instruction, needs of the community and the nation,

17
stressing visionary leadership role vis-à-vis enhancing students’
learning outcomes.
To be more productive, the government ought to establish
post-graduate diploma in educational leadership as a criteria for
appointment to the position of a principal. Furthermore, revert back
to the autonomy granted to principals in terms of management of
funds. In the past, principal kept part of the school fees collected as
imprest, not the current trend of all funds collected goes into the
bank account of the Ministry and Secondary Education Management
Board. In addition to management of funds, empowered the
principals as regard to recruitment and induction of teachers. In the
50’s and 60’s in Nigeria, principals engage teachers in subjects like
mathematics, physics and chemistry and merely inform the Ministry
of Education and the Secondary Education Management Board to
regularize and confirm the appointment. It is only when principals
have become agent of change, engaging in continuous learning as
instructional leaders will Nigeria be able to cope with the problem of
students graduating without pre-requisite skills that make them not
to have access to jobs. As part of re-equipping principal to be
productive, there must self recognition from the society who these
keepers of knowledge principals should be the major recipients of
Nigerian national awards.

18
 REFERECNES

Arends, R. I. (2012) Learning to teach (Nine edition) New York

(Mcgraw Hill).
Asuga, G. N. and Eacolt, S. (2012) The learning needs of secondary
school principals. An investigation in Nakuru District Kenya
International journal of Educational; Administration and Policy
Studies, (5), 133-140. Retrieved from http/www.academic
journals.org. IJEAPS on 18/9/2016.
Blakesley, S. (2012) Juggling educational ends: Non-indigenous
Yukon principals and the policy challenges they fale.
International Journal of Educational Policy and Leadership.
7(3), 1-13 Retrieved from http:/www.journals.sfurcafijepc index
on 26/12/2018.
Dalin, P. (1998) School Development theories and Strategies. Cassell:
IMTEC.
Darling-Hammond L. (2000) Reforming teacher, preparation and
Licensing. Debating the evidence. Teachers college record,
102(1), 28 – 56.
Davis B and Davis, B. J. (2010) Talent Management in academics
International Journal of Educational Management, 24(5), 418-
426.
Federal Government of Nigeria (2013) National Policy on Education
Yaba, Lagos; NERDC Press.
Firestone, W. (2016) Teacher to Teacher professional Development
through state-sponsored networks. Retrieved from
awww/Hhttpacademia.edu, Digest on 2/10/2016.
Fullan, M. (2001) Leading in a Culture of Change. Corwin Press.
Fullan, M. G. and Hargreaves A. (1991) Working Together for your
School. Strategies for Developing Interactive Professionalism

19
 Your School. Victoria, Australia: Australia Council for
Educational Administration.
Glatter, R. (1987) Tasks and Capabilities in Stegoi, N. E. Hiele K.,
Glatter, R. & Hord, S. (Eds). The Role of School Leaders in
School Improvement. Leuven ACCO.
Hargreaves, A. and Fink, (2006) Sustainable Leadership. San
Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Hopkins, D. Ernskill M. and West, A.M. (1994) School Improvement in
an Era of Change, London; Cassell.
IIEP – UNESCO (2016) Education Commission report: How to Finance
the Learning Generation. Paris Retrieved from
th
www.http.education commission.org on 4 October, 2006.
Jacob, C. (2016) Impact of school principals leadership needs on the
effective management of schools in Rivers State. M.ED.
dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education, Abia State
University, Uturu.
Jacobson, S. L. & Day, C. (2007) The International Successful School
Principalship Project (ISSP): An Overview of the Project,
contexts. International Studies in Educational Administration,
35(3), 3-9.
Johansson, O. (2012) School, leadership in changing times.
Distributed leadership and the role of the assistant principal.
Paper presented in the Educational Administration and
Management Conference. Limea, Sweden.
Karagiorgi, Y & Nicolaidou, N. (2009) Primary School leaders’
approaches towards staff development in Cyprus schools.
International studies in educational administration, 32(3) 69 –
79.
Kauchak, D & Eggen P. (2011) Introduction to Teaching. Becoming a
professional Boston: Pearson.
Lunenburg, F.C. & Ornstein, A.C. (2008) Education Administration.
Concepts and Practices (Fifth Edition) Australia; Wadsworth,
Lengage Learning.

20
Mckenzie, P. Kos, Walker, M. Hong, J. (2008) Staff in Australia School
2007. Canberra: Australia Government Department of
Education, Science and Training.
Mkpa, M.A. and Anuna, M.C. (2012) Challenges that Future
Educational Leaders Need to Known for Enhancing School
Improvement and Learning Outcomes. A paper presented at
CCEAM Confrence at LIMA Limassoc-Cyprus, 3-7 November,
2012.
Murphy, J. (2000). Leadership for Student Learning. Reinventing the
Principalship. School Leadership for the 21 st Century Initiative.
A Report of the Task Force on the Principalship institate of
Educational leadership Washington.
Ndu, A. N. (1999) Professional Development for Nigerian head
Teachers. Journal of Educational Policy and Administration 1(i);
53-62.
OECD (2006) Report on Hungary. OECD Seminar on Managing
Education for Life-Long Learning 6 – 7 December. Budapest.
Peterson, K. D. and Deal, D.E. (1998) How Leaders Influence the
Culture of the Schools. Educational Leadership, 56, 28 – 30.
Rhodes, C. R. and Brundrett, M. (2012) Retaining Leadership Talent
in Schools. International Studies in Educational Administration,
40(1), 20-34.
Salazar, P. S. (2007) The professional and Development Needs of
Rural High School Principals. A seven state study. The rural
education, 20; 1-20.
Sergiovanni, T. (2009a) Educational Governance and Administration
(6th Ed.) Boston; Allyn and Bacon.
The 21st Century Principal Call to Action (2002). The Importance of
Developing Leadership Capacity for the Improvement of
Student Learning. A Position Paper. Connecticut Association of
Schools, Connecticut principals Center.

21
Westhuizem, P. V.D. & Vuurren, H.V. (007) Professionalizing
principalship in South Afria. South African Journal of Education,
27(3), 431 – 445.

22