PRINCIPALS’ ROLES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM IN PORT HARCOURT METROPOLIS, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study examined principals’ roles in the implementation of senior secondary school curriculum in Port Harcourt Metropolis in Rivers State. The study was guided by five objectives from which five research questions and five null hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted an analytical descriptive survey design with a population of 1935 comprising 35 principals and 1900 teachers in the 35 public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis. The entire principals were taken as census while the non-proportionate stratified sampling technique was adopted in selecting a sample of 350 teachers from the 35 public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt metropolis. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed questionnaire titled “Principals Roles in the Implementation of Secondary School Curriculum Questionnaire. The Questionnaire was validated by the researcher’s supervisor and two other experts. A test of internal consistency was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. A cumulative reliability coefficient of 0.90 was obtained to show the instrument was reliable. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed among others that the supervisory roles principals play in the implementation of secondary school curriculum are that they ensure teachers follow the scheme of work, plan their lesson in line with the scheme of work, cover all they are to teach in a term, use recommended textbooks and ensure learners are regular in class. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that public school principals should engage more in objective supervision of teachers and students alike as this has the potential of enhancing effective implementation of the curriculum.