SCHOOLS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN PUBLC AND CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN SENATORIAL ZONE OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Schools management strategies are important to achieving academic goals in secondary schools. Effective implementation of schools management strategies are associated with better academic goals outcome for schools. In Nigeria, there are two basic types of secondary schools: public and private. Public schools are owned by government and run by its agents, while private schools are owned by individuals, organizations or corporations. The Catholic Church runs one of the most popular network of secondary schools in Nigeria. There is a general sense that this ownership status of schools can influence the effectiveness of implementing schools management strategies. It is therefore imperative to examine how well public and Catholic schools perform in regards to schools management strategies. Using a descriptive survey research design, the study employed a sample of 325 teachers in 68 public secondary schools and 68 teachers in eight Catholic secondary schools in Plateau Northern Senatorial zone of Plateau State, Nigeria. The Schools Management Strategies Questionnaire (SMSQ) was develop with 46 likert-scale items to examine six schools management strategies employed by public and Catholic schools in the study area: academic goal setting, teaching quality control, discipline management, students’ motivation and resources management. The results show that respondents agreed both public and Catholic schools are performing well in all three schools management strategies. However, the independent t-test results show that Catholic schools are faring better than public schools in implementing all three schools management strategies. The study recommends that schools management be encouraged to adopt global best practices in managing strategies. Government is also enjoined to provide greater support to both public and Catholic schools for more effective implementation of schools management strategies.