Description
Abstract
he study seeks to investigate the planning and instructional supervision
mechanisms for enhancement of Universal Basic Education goal attainment in
Cross River State. To achieve the aim of this study, two null hypotheses were
formulated to guide the study. The study adopts survey design. A sample of one
hundred and sixty (160) head teachers were randomly selected for the study. The
selection was done through the simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire
was the main instrument used for data collection. Pearson Product Moment
Correlation analysis was employed. The hypotheses were tested at .05 level of
significance, the result of the analysis indicated that there is significant relationship
between school head teachers planning and UBE goal attainment also, there is
significant relationship between school head instructional supervision and UBE goal
attainment.
Keywords: Planning, instructional supervision and goal attainment.
Introduction
Education is an important instrument that all developing and developed nations
of the world can use skilfully to achieve whatever national objectives that they wish.
Where the bedrock of the nation‟s educational system is concerned, care should be taken that the right foundation is laid. The Universal Basic Education (UBE) is a new educational programme proposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the primary school system and the junior secondary school level. The programme is to be free and compulsory to all children of school age. It is an innovation, and as such, it has to pass through the initiation, adoption and implementation stages, according to
the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institution) Decree 1985 (Bassey, 2005). Universal Basic Education is at the base of Nigeria‟s educational system and therefore, constitutes the cornerstone of the nation‟s new technological
and scientific education. According to Oden (2005) the UBE scheme, which was
launched by the Obasanjo administration on the 30th of September, 1999 is designed
to bestow social relevance on Nigerians by meeting their various needs, thus it seeks
to equip them with appropriate literacy and numeracy skills, moral, ethical and civic
values as well as life enhancing skill. It also desires to drastically reduce the incidence
of dropout from the formal school system and also cater for the learning needs of
youths who have reason to interrupt their schooling by providing appropriate forms of
complementary basic education. Since the rest of the education system is built upon
UBE, the Universal Basic Education level is the bedrock or key to success or failure
of the entire system. The objectives of Universal Basic Education according to
Ikediugwu (2005) include;
a. To develop in the citizenry a “strong consciousness” for education and
commitment to its promotion
b. To provide free universal basic education for every Nigerian child
c. It would also promote the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy,
numeracy, manipulative and life skills as well as ethical, moral and civic
values needed for the formation of life-long learning
d. It is also aimed at saving the educational sector from the root and decay of
the past
e. It is also aimed at making sure that every Nigerian child has access to basic
education.
In analyzing the aims of the UBE, Anyanwu (2000) and Akpan (2005),
described the programme as people-oriented and problem-centered. According to him,
the operating philosophy for the programme has to accommodate citizens‟
involvement, sharing of decision making and total community participation. The UBE
scheme cover the first nine years of schooling for all Nigerian children, this implies
that primary education which covers a period of 6 years is free for all Nigerian
children of primary school age while children who qualify for the junior secondary
will enjoy free and compulsory junior secondary education for three (3) years. The
Federal Government therefore considers these two levels of education as important levels which children should acquire fundamental basic education. It is in this sense that Obanya (2000) and Anyanwu (2000) stated that the focus of the programme is to equip individuals with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that may enable them to live meaningful and fulfilling lives in their communities, thereby contributing to the development of the Nigerian society.
All result achievement depends on good planning and supervision. Planning is
very necessary for any organizational goal attainment, without planning it will be
difficult to know the resources both human and materials to be channel into the school system that will help in the attainment of school goal (Osika and Essien, 2015). In abroad sense, planning defines where the school wants to be in future and how to get
there (Parker, 2011). According to Oosterlynck (2011), plan gives purpose and
direction to the school. Planning is important because it provides staff with a sense of purpose and direction, outlines the kind of task to be performed, and explain how their
activities are related to the overall goal of the school. In addition, comparing plan and
actual results provide the school administrator with a sound basis on which to make
necessary adjustments in the schools plan of action for the attainment of school goal.
A good plan reduces time and effort required to achieve a goal. A plan is like a man,
when following a plan it is easier to know how much progress has been made towards
goal attainment and how far it is from the destination (Wikipedia, 2015). That is, plans
made during the first step become benchmarks or criteria against which to measure
actual performance in the monitoring step.
According to Lumenburg and Irby; Lumenburg and Ornstein in Osika and
Essien (2015) unless plans are formulated and mutually agreed on, there is relatively
little value or basis for measuring the effectiveness of the school outcomes. In the
word of Godstein (2011) planning is a prerequisite to other leadership functions. It is a
basis for monitoring and evaluating actual performance (Mc Donnel, 2011). Planning
also called forethought; is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities
required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to
achieve some specific goal. Montana and Charnove (2015) maintained that planning is
a management process, concerned with defining goals for organizations future
direction and determine on the mission and resources to achieve those targets.
Planning increases the efficiency of an organization. The concept of planning is to
identify what the organization wants to do by using the four questions which are
“where are we today in terms of our business or strategy planning? Where are we
going? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there? (Osika and Essien,
2015). Planning as analysis of relevant information from present and the past and in
assessment of probable future developments so that a course of action may be
determined that enables the attainment of stated objectives. This implies that planning
is concerned with the future and involves predicting the effect of future events so that
hindrances of the present could be minimized or eliminated in order to meet the future
with more confidence and success (Siak, 1973). Thus, planning gives direction,
enhances continuity of actions and reduce overlapping of responsibilities and waste of
time and energy.
In the word of Koontz and O‟Donnel (1976) planning is a process of deciding
in advance of what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who should do it. Hence,
planning bridges the gap from where we are to where we want to go (Ukeje, 1992).
Instructional supervision is another strategy that facilitates the attainment of school
goal. Supervision is not peculiar to the field of education that is why Nwaogu (1980)
defines supervision as the process of bringing about improvement in instruction by
working with the people who are with the pupils. It deals with having a
comprehensive view of the activities and problems of the institution and the
assessment of the extent to which the school is fulfilling its basic objective (Ozigi,
1971). Akintunde (2001) maintained that instructional supervision is considered as a
service to help teachers to see beyond their present performance and to improve on it.
It is also a process of giving and receiving help in an effort to enforce compliance with current best practices to improve instruction and these are expected to raise the
standard of education. The effort is concerned with what to teach, when to teach, to
whom and by whom it will be taught. Through supervision, fault or mistakes are
easily detected and corrected in the state. As a result, the head teacher provides
professional guidance to teachers in order to improve the conditions which affect
learning and growth of the students and the teachers. This implies that if the teachers
are not well supervised, effectiveness in instruction will be adversely affected and the
instructional purposes may not be well realized. Nwaogu in Mbipom (2000) added
that supervision is a process of stimulating growth and a means of helping teachers to
help themselves. The need for instructional supervision as the pupils, teachers,
administrators and even the school grow modern supervision is designed to help the
school, the learners and the instructors grow and change in a positive and systematic
manner.
Instructional supervision is an aspect of administrative behaviour expected
from a head teacher if teachers are to perform well for the attainment of educational
goals. In view of the central role of instructional supervision in the teaching/learning
process, the head teacher is expected to therefore devote much time to this aspect
because of its importance in the UBE goal. The fundamental purpose of a school is
improvement of students‟ learning. Instructional supervision is mainly concerned with
improving teaching and learning by helping teachers to reflect on their practices, to
learn more about what they do and why to develop professionally (Sergiovanni and
Starratt, 2007). In a broad sense, when a school‟s instructional capacity improves, it is
an indication of improved teachers‟ work performance, thus leading to improvements
in students‟ academic performance. The role of the teacher in the process of
promoting such improvement cannot be under estimated. In order to attain the
optimum level of improvement, teachers are expected to be well-educated and be part
of the learning community (Osika and Essien, 2015). On discharging supervisory role,
the head teacher can help the teachers to better instructional effectiveness in the
following areas: lesson preparation, good use of instructional methods and teaching
aids, good classroom management and control among others. Head teachers of UBE
have been identified as the key agents in providing the necessary environment that
will lead to the attainment of UBE goal. Pupils perform best when the school
atmosphere and environment is conducive.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to find out;
(1) The relationship between school head planning and UBE goal
attainment
(2) The relationship between school head instructional supervision and UBE
goal attainment
Research Questions
The following research questions were posed to guide this study:
1. To what extent do school head planning result to UBE goal attainment?
2. How does school head instructional supervision enhance UBE goal
attainment?
Statement of Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide this study:
1. There is no significant relationship between school head planning and UBE
goal attainment
2. There is no significant relationship between school head instructional
supervision and UBE goal attainment.
Method
The researchers adopted survey design. The population of the study comprise
of 216 teachers in all the 321 UBE in Cross River State. A total sampled of 160 drawn from forty (40) respondents randomly sampled for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire titled “Planning and Instructional Supervision For UBE Goal Attainment (PISUGA). The instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation while the reliability of the instrument was done using test-retest method to determine the reliability estimate of the instrument. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used for data analysis.
Presentation/Results
Hypothesis 1 stated that there is no significant relationship between school
head planning and UBE goal attainment
The result of the analysis as presented in Table 1 shows that the calculated r-
value of 0.36 is greater than the critical r-value of .195 at .05 level of significance with 158 degree of freedom. The result of the analysis is significant since the calculated value is higher than the critical value. With this result, the null hypothesis of no significant relationship between school head planning and UBE goal attainment alternative hypothesis was accepted. This implies that there is significant relationship between school head planning and UBE goal attainment.
Hypothesis 2 stated that there is no significant relationship between school
head instructional supervision and UBE goal attainment.
