Assessment of conflict management strategies in public secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The main thrust of this paper is on the assessment of conflict management strategies in public secondary schools in Delta state, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and convenient sampling to select 140 public secondary school heads out of the 159 public secondary schools in Delta north senatorial district. The questionnaire was used as the key data collection tool and analysis of data by simple percentage was done. The study revealed that the major causes of conflict in secondary schools were; principal’s illegal collection of levies, principals delegating duties meant for senior teachers to junior teachers, principals tempering with staff salary, communication without feedback and irregular payment of staff salary. It found that the area most affected by conflict in secondary school administration were financial administration and student personnel. The study also found that the most effective resolution strategies were the confrontational, compromising, setting up committee, free flow of communication between members of staff, proper school record keeping and dialogue. The study recommends that Government should initiate compulsory workshops for principals in order to enhance their knowledge in financial management, conflict resolution strategies for particular conflict situation and authority boundaries. Finally, Government should include conflict management as part of the curriculum of teachers training education.