Perceived Influence of Nigeria Union of Teachers (Nut) Activities on the Management of Secondary Schools in Benue State

Abstract

This study investigated the perceived influence of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) activities on the management of secondary schools in Benue State. Two specific objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 Alpha level of significance. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study is 4888 secondary teachers of all the 301-government grant aided secondary schools in Benue State. The sample size is 370 gotten by the use of Taro-Yamane formula. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection is a structured questionnaire title “Trade Union and Management of Secondary Schools Questionnaire” (TUMSSQ) developed by the researcher. The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by three experts, two of which are Educational Administration and one in Measurement and Evaluation. Cronbach Alpha Statistic was used to determine the internal consistency of the items of the instrument and an overall reliability coefficient of 0.91 was obtained. The data collected were analyzed using Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions and Chi-Square Goodness of fit-test to test the null hypotheses at 0.05level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that trade unionism have positive significant influence on teachers productivity and teachers welfare in the management of public secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that; members of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) should ensure the establishments of a functional staff development centre that would constantly organize seminars, workshops, conferences and correspondence course purposively geared towards improving teachers pedagogical skills for effective school management. Also, members of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) should encourage regular payment of salaries, regular payment of teachers promotion arrears, fringe benefits and special bonuses as this would further enhance teachers classroom participation for an enhanced school management. Furthermore, NUT Benue State Branch should do more to pressurize the government of Benue State to constantly improve teachers’ welfare services, regularize payment of teachers’ retirement benefits in Benue State.