PRINCIPALS' SCHOOL PLANT PLANNING AND UTILIZATION PRACTICES AS CORRELATES OF TEACHERS' JOB COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EBONYI STATE

The study investigated principals’ school plant planning and utilization practices as correlates of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance guided the study. A correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 3,206 teachers from the 218 public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. A sample size of 237 teachers was drawn for the study using a multistage sampling procedure. Two sets of instruments, titled School Plant Planning and Utilization Practices Questionnaire (SPPUPQ) and Teachers’ Job Commitment Scale (TJCS), were used to collect data for the study. The face validation of the instruments was determined by three experts in the field of education. Cronbach's alpha method was used to obtain a reliability of the instruments, which yielded overall coefficient values of 0.78 for SPPUPQ and 0.81 for TJCS. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to answer the research question and test the formulated hypotheses. The findings showed, among others, that school plant planning and utilization practices have a strong and significant correlation with teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that the Ebonyi State Secondary Education Board should develop a manual to serve as a guideline to principals in their school planning practices to improve teachers’ job commitment in secondary schools.