THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN DELTA STATE

The study examined principals’ leadership practices and effective administration in public secondary schools in Delta State. The study was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. It adopted a correlational design. The population comprised 493 principals in the four hundred and ninety-three (493) public secondary schools in Delta State. The sample used for the study was 246 principals using stratified sampling technique which represented 50% of the population. The instruments that were used for data collection in this study were two scales titled ‘Principals’ Leadership Practices Scale’ (PLPS) and ‘Effective Administration Scale’ (EAS). Face and content validities of the instrument was validated by two experts and the reliability coefficient was obtained using Cronbach method, which yielded coefficients of 0.84, 0.77 and 0.79 for the three objectives and 0.81 for EAS (dependent variable). The research questions and hypothesis were both answered and tested using Pearson Product Moment correlation statistics. The findings revealed that principal’s instructional leadership practices, principals’ positive school climate building practices and principals’ interpersonal relationship practices had a strong relationship with effective administration in Delta State. It was concluded that there is a strong and positive relationship between principal’s instructional leadership practices, principals’ positive school climate building practices, principals’ interpersonal relationship practices and effective administration in public secondary schools in Delta State. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended amongst others, that, principals of public secondary schools in Delta State should uphold instructional leadership in schools. Also, principals should ensure that the climate within the school is safe and positive, so as to enhance the effective administration of schools.