Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to evolve administrative strategies for improving school organisational climate of secondary schools in Kogi East, Kogi State. Three research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population for the study was 2,231 teaching staff. A random sample of 503 based on multistage sampling technique was drawn. Structured questionnaire was used to generate data for the study. This instrument was face-validated by three experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and was trial-tested on 25 respondents in Kogi Central. The Cronbach Alpha reliability technique yielded a total coefficient of 0.85. The instrument was administered on the sample and 476 copies of the questionnaire were returned and used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviations were used for the research questions, while t’test was employed to test the hypotheses. The major findings were (1) three school organisational climates existed in secondary schools in Kogi East, including open, autonomous and controlled school climates, (2) clean and aesthetic school environments were critical factors influencing school organisational climate and (3) staff development and the use of rewards and recognitions were strategies for improving school climate. It was recommended that principals in the secondary schools should adopt an appropriate blend of the various school climates to suite the peculiarities of the schools.
CHAPTER I
School organisational climate is an important and all-embracing characteristic of the school environment that includes the psychological, social and physical factors. The psychological factors relate to the feelings, attitudes and values exhibitions of the stakeholders of the school – administrators (principals), teachers, staff, students, parents, government agencies and the society. Social factors include the nature of the interactions, communications and group activities of the stakeholders and the physical factors are the tangible aspects of the environment such as the nature of the buildings, classroom conditions, laboratories and other educational materials. Thus, Tagiuri (1968) identified the following four components of the school climate: ecology, milieu, social system and culture. Ecology is the physical and material aspects of the school environment, milieu is the social dimension in the school, and the social system relate to the organisational structure of the school. The culture aspect deals with the values, belief system, norms and ways of thinking.
The concept of school organisational climate has been variously defined. Hodgetts and Altman (1979) defined organisational climate as a set of properties of the work environment perceived by individuals who work there and which serve as a major force in influencing their job behaviour. This means that organisational climate depicts the quality of the work environment capable of influencing the performance of the members negatively or positively depending on the status of the climate. Marshall (2002) viewed school organisational climate as a multi-dimensional environmental factors that influences many individuals, including students, parents, school personnel, and the community, stressing that it is a belief system or culture that underlies the day-to-day operation of a school. School climate according to him is influenced by factors such as the number and quality of interactions between adults and students, students’ and teachers’ perceptions of their school environment, or the school’s personality. Other factors include, the environmental factors such as the physical buildings and classrooms, and materials used for instructions, academic performance, feelings of safety, school size and feelings of trust and respect for students and teachers.
A positive school climate therefore exist when students and teachers feel comfortable, wanted, valued, accepted, and secured. In order to achieve the positive school organisational climate, the principal adopts the appropriate managerial skills and practices which are not only applicable to business organisations, but also amenable to effective management of organisational climate of schools. This is because with a well managed school climate the teaching and learning would be effective. Also, in such environment, the teachers are satisfied working to achieve the goals of the school which influence positively the overall performance of the students. The parents and the society would be happy that their expenditure on education has been justified and goals of national development would be achieved when the goals of the schools are achieved.
In this study, school organisational climate refers to a broad concept about the way principals, teachers, students and parents experience and perceive the quality of the school total environment emanating from their interactions which also influences their behaviour. The nature of the interactions consists of the academic and social dimensions. Whereas the academic dimension deals with the schools administrator’s effectiveness in leadership and administration, the social dimension deals with the nature of the facilities, the aesthetic appeals and comfort of the stakeholders.
The concept of organisation, according to Okumbe (1998) consists of groups of people whose efforts are deliberately coordinated for the achievement of specific goals. An educational organisation thus refers to a group of individuals, in a given place, whose efforts are deliberately coordinated for the purpose of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes to students or pupils in order to achieve predetermined educational objectives or goals. In Nigeria, school as an organisation consists of a group of people working to achieve the goal of preparing the individuals to be useful members of the society. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) (2004), education is an instrument for national development and particularly, the secondary education which is the education children received after primary education and before the tertiary stage which has the broad goal of preparing individual for: useful living within the society and higher education. To achieve these goals, the teaching and learning environment need to be conducive by improved management of the school organisational climate. Thus, every stakeholder in the administration of secondary school ought to brace up to the demands of improved organisational climate and the school administrators (principals) of secondary schools have particular responsibility in this direction.
Improved school organisational climate is a goal to pursue because teaching and learning need to be constantly moved toward greater performance. This can be achieved by adopting appropriate management strategies by the respective school administrators. Wikipedia (2008) stated that management comprises planning, organising, resourcing, leading or directing, controlling and organisation of effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Fayol in Wikipedia, identified the following five management functions – planning, organising, leading, coordinating and controlling. According to Mgbodile (2007), Planning is a blue print of well-reasoned and packaged ideas which guide all subsequent operations leading to the achievement of objectives from first stage to the final stages of implementation and evaluation. Therefore, planning is an important management function that leads to the achievement of any organisational goal. Organizing is making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans, while leading/motivating involves exhibiting skills in these areas for getting others to play an effective part in achieving plans. Coordinating involves interrelating the various parts of the work and ensuring efficient and effective job performance and controlling is monitoring and checking progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback. A well managed school organisational climate can greatly enhance the performance of the schools which in turn contribute to the achievement of the overall goals of education. This management team work together to create the needed climate that would ensure conducive teaching and learning environment.
The application of management principles and practices to the educational settings has spurred a lot of researches in this area. Organisational climate is an area that is receiving a great deal of research in educational administration with foundational research by Halpin and Croft (1963). School organisational climate is defined as the morale existing among the teachers in the school. Halpin and Croft identified six school climates, including, open, autonomous, controlled, familiar, paternal, and closed climates. Thus Halpin and Croft conceptualised school organisational climate on a continuum of open – closed organisational climate types.
