ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of financial management practices on Home Economics Teachers’ welfare in secondary schools in Umuahia north in Abia state. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The sample of the study includes all the 18 Home Economics teachers which comprised 5 male and 13 female Home Economics Teachers in public secondary schools in Umuahia north in Abia state. There was no sampling since the sample was small and manageable for the study. The instrument for data collection was a 38- item researcher developed questionnaire titled: Financial Management Practices and Home Economics Teachers Welfare Questionnaire (FMPHETWQ). The face validation of the instrument was carried out by three experts: one in Home Economics Education Department and two in Measurement and Evaluation Department all from the College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia state. The internal consistency and stability aspects ofthe reliability of the instrument were determined using Cronbach alpha statistic and Pearson product moment Correlation which yielded the overall indices of 0.85 and 0.84 respectively. The instrument has five clusters with 4-point response scale of Very Highly Extent, Highly Extent, Low Extent, and Very Low Extent. The data was collected by the researcher with the help ofone research assistant. Out ofthe 18 copies ofthe questionnaire administered, 16 representing approximately 89% return rate ofthe distributed copies of the instrument which were used for data analysis. Data collected were analysed with mean and standard deviations to answer the 5 research questions raised for the study while t- test statistic was used to test the 5 hypotheses that guided the study at 0.05 level ofsignificant. Precisely, real limit of numbers was employed to in decision making on the research questions. The findings of the study showed among others that financial management practices such as Investment financial management practices, budget financial management practices, joint income financial management practices and conservative financial management practices respectively, influence Home economics teachers’ welfare in secondary schools to a high extent while aggressive financial management practices influence Home Economics Teachers’ welfare in SSS secondary schools to a low extent. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Government should organize regular training for teachers on different investment opportunities where teachers can invest their money to ease offfinancial stress