TEACHERS INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION—MAKING IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS AS PREDICTORS ON THEIR JOB PERFPRMANCE IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the influence of teachers’ participation in decision-making on their job performance. To achieve the purpose of the study, 6 research questions and 6 hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.  The study adopted a descriptive survey design.  The population of the study was three thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five teachers.  Three hundred and twenty teachers randomly drawn from eight secondary schools in Bayelsa State constituted the sample. A self-developed questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Participation in Decision-Making and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire’’ were used for data collection. The Questionnaire comprised Section A with 2 items on demographic characteristics of the respondents and Section B comprised 75 items that were divided into 6 clusters each on the research purpose.  The instrument was validated by experts and corrections made were effected appropriately. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha technique. An overall coefficient value of .87 was obtained.Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions and independent t-test was used for testing the hypotheses at .05 level of significance.  The results obtained indicated that teachers’ participation in decision-making influence their job performance.  Among the six variables investigated, the results revealed that curriculum and instruction, school planning, promotion of school-community relations and making school policies have high influence on teachers’ job performance. Teachers’ participation in budgeting in school indicated low influence on their job performance.  It was therefore, recommended that school principals should create conducive environment by adopting leadership style that would encourage teachers’ participation on decision-making.  This would enhance teachers’ job performance consequently leading to students’ high academic achievement.