The decision making process in secondary school administration and its impact on school performance: a study of some selected secondary schools in Limbe sub-division

Abstract

Data on the influence of the principal’s decisions on school performance are limited. This study seeks to investigate the impact the principal’s decision-making process has on school performance in secondary schools in Limbe Sub-Division, Fako Division. Seven hundred and eleven (711) questionnaires were used to collect data on the impact of decision making by consultation, delegation, communication and motivation from 08 public and 05 Mission secondary schools. These schools had a population of 665 and 224 teachers respectively. The sample for the study was five hundred and twelve (512) teachers for public schools and one hundred and ninety-nine (199) teachers for mission schools. Ten (10) interview guides were administered to principals. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. Taro Yamani sampling and simple random sampling techniques were employed. The instrument was subjected to form and content validation by the supervisor and some teachers of secondary schools in Limbe. Cronbach alpha was employed for the reliability coefficient test for the instrument used for public and mission schools and this yielded a coefficient of 0.797 and .907 respectively. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. Based on the findings, it was revealed that consulting teachers, delegating powers to teachers, effective communication and motivating teachers during decision making had a strong positive relationship with school performance. The coefficient was 0.753 and 0.903 for consultation, 0.620 and 0.798 for delegating powers, 0.772 and 0.951 for effective communication and for motivation it was 0.685 and 0.895 respectively. It was therefore recommended that principals should always consult, delegate powers, carry out effective communication and motivate their teachers for efficiency during their decision making in school. Thus, the decision making process in secondary school administration has an impact in school performance.