Principal’s Mentoring Skill as a Correlate of Teachers’ Job Performance in Senior Secondary Schools of Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated principal’s mentoring skill as a correlate of teachers’ job performance in Senior Secondary Schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0. 05 level of significance. The study employed a correlational research design. The population of the study included 5,558 academic personnel (i.e. 337 school principals and 5,221 teachers) in senior secondary schools that are stationed in all the five education zones in Adamawa state. The sample size for this study was 556 academic personnel (i.e. 522 teachers and 34 principals) that were selected using multistage sampling technique. A questionnaire titled “Principal Mentoring Skill and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (PMSTJPQ)” was used to collect data. The instrument was validated by three experts from the department of Physical Sciences Education of the Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola; and also trial tested using Cronbach Alpha that revealed a co-efficient of 0.82. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation method (PPMC) and Multiple Correlation Analysis were used for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study were that there was a significant high positive relationship between principals’ mentoring of teachers in instructional leadership and teachers’ job performance (as, r = 0.919, p < 0.05). Also, that there was a significant high positive relationship between principals’ mentoring of teachers in career development and teachers’ job (as, r = 0.938, p < 0.05). Similarly, principals’ mentoring of teachers’ instructional leadership and career development correlates significantly of teachers’ job performance in senior secondary schools in Adamawa state, Nigeria with F (2, 546) = 2007.79, p = 0.00. As a result, it was concluded, that principals’ mentoring of teachers in instructional leadership and career development correlates significantly of teachers’ job performance in senior secondary schools in Adamawa state, Nigeria. The study therefore recommended amongst others that the State Ministry of Education should put in place formal mentoring programmes for all newly employed teachers as a capacity building tool; newly employed teachers are encouraged to acknowledge the benefits of mentoring and be open to mentoring for enhanced capacity building. Keywords: Mentoring; Instructional Leadership; Career Development; Teachers’ Job Performance