APPRAISAL OF PRINCIPALS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

The prevalence of several indicators of poor-quality assurance practices in secondary schools in Anambra State of Nigeria, such as examination malpractice, inadequate funding, poorly motivated staff and students among others seem to suggest that principals are not operating optimally in terms of resource management practices as prescribed by the government. This prompted the study to assess principals? management practices for quality assurance in secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all the 257 public secondary school principals in Anambra State. No sampling was done due to the relatively small size of the population of the study. A 21-item questionnaire titled ??Assessment of Principals? Resource Management Practices for Quality Assurance Questionnaire (APRMPQAQ)?? was the instrument for data collection. The instrument was subjected to face validation by three experts from Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Cronbach-alpha method was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. The overall coefficient of 0.84 was obtained. Mean was used to answer the research questions, while Z-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study, among others revealed that principals? human and material resources management for quality assurance in secondary schools in Anambra State was low. It also revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of male and female principals on the extent of their human and material resources management practices for quality assurance in secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings it was recommended among others that principals should involve the teachers in decision making to improve their participation in achieving school goals. More so, seminars and workshops should be organized for teachers and principals to enhance their managerial practices.