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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS TO EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

Teacher education programme is saddled with the responsibility of nation building for the Nigerian as development society. The quality of the products from teacher training institutions determines the pace of the nation’s development.

Quality in the educational sector is considered in terms of exceptionally high standards, consistency, fitness for purpose, value for money (accountability) and transformative effects (Atanda 2007). Onuh (2006) claims that quality in education is a multidimensional concept which should embrace all functions  and activities, teaching and academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, students, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community and academic environment (UNESCO 1998). There are five indicators of quality measures in an organization or the school system.  They include highly trained staff; adequate funding; visionary leadership; Service to the community/academic environment and Research and academic activities

There are also some elements or indicators of good service delivery in schools or organizations. They are adequate staffing, population (enrolment of students), management of funds, and adequate management of infrastructure, accommodation and equipment,  provision of adequate instructional materials, co-curricular activities, uniform input and output evaluation procedures and provision of scholarship facilities. In schools that are extremely good, we inevitably found an aggressive, professionally alert, dynamic principals determined to provide the kind of educational programmes deemed necessary no matter what (Gold, 2006).

In another development, (Hechinger, 2005) has this to say “I have never seen a good school with a poor principal or a poor school with a good principal. I have seen unsuccessful schools turned around into successful ones and, regrettably outstanding schools slide rapidly into decline. In each case the rise and fall could readily be traced to the quality of the principal. Leadership is the pre-eminence of one or a few individuals in a group in the process of controlling the societal phenomena”. By this definition, leadership is meant to be the central focus of a group of people (workers) in the working goals. Thus, by virtue of his/her special position in the group, the leader serves as the primary agent for the determination of group activities (Mumford, 2000).

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