ABSTRACT

This study provided an empirical evidence of Manpower Development strategy as determinants of effective performance of teachers in Secondary Schools in Abia State, Nigeria. Guided by Six research objectives from which six research questions were formulated and six null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significant levels. The Correlation Research Design was used for the study. A population of 2,902 respondents made of 192 duty principals and 2,710 serving teachers in the three educational zones in Abia State was used. The study adopted a multi stage sampling which resulted in a sample of 352 teachers and principals (comprising of 24 principals and 328 teachers) from a sample of 24 secondary schools across 6 Local Government Areas from the three Education zones selected for the study. Two instruments for data collection “Manpower development strategies of principal questionnaire (MDSPQ) and Teachers effective performance questionnaire (TEPQ)” were developed, subjected to validation by three experts with two  Experts  from the Department of Education Management and one  from Department of Science Education (Measurement and Evaluation). The internal consistencies of the instruments were 0.83 and 0.78 respectively for the “Manpower development strategies of principal questionnaire (MDSPQ) and Teachers effective performance questionnaire (TEPQ)” while the stability of the instrument  were 0.75 and 0.86 for the MDSPQ and TEPQ respectively. The data for the study was collected through the administration of 352 copies of each of the research instruments to 352 respondents. The research questions were answered using the Simple and Multiple Linear Regression analysis and the ANOVA obtained from the Simple and Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used to test the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Major findings revealed that Staff Orientation, Staff training or development programme, Staff performance appraisal, Staff motivation, Maintenance of staff discipline and Delegation of duties to staff strategies of principals significantly predicts effective performance of teachers in secondary schools. Based on the findings of the study, these recommendations among others were made: Government and school administrators should consolidate their efforts in organizing seminars and conferences where Manpower development strategies such as Orientation, Staff training and development programmes, Staff performance appraisal, Staff motivation, Staff discipline and Delegation of duties to staff should be exposed to principals qualitatively. More so, Principals should study these variables (orientation, training and development, staff performance appraisal, staff motivation, staff discipline, delegation of duties) harness them and imbibe them as the pattern of providing for effective teachers performance in secondary schools.