Survey of Nigerian Secondary School Principals’ Educational Innovation and Leadership Behaviour: Implications for Effective School Management

Abstract

The Nigeran education system at various levels has witnessed a lot of setbacks in the recent past due to the economic hardship meted on the school administrators. This economic hardship resulted from several factors of which the emergence of coronavirus in late 2019 was a part. This situation has brought a lot of drastic negative changes in the school administration in Nigeria and beyond. Moreover, it is worthy to note that the school's development revolves around the principal who is a major determinant of effective school administration. Thus, the principal's involvement in exhibiting leadership qualities and behaviour is a key element in deciding if the school is successful in attaining its objectives. However, there is a dearth of research on the level of educational innovation of school principals in the Nigerian context. Therefore, this research explored the association between principals’ educational innovation and their leadership behaviour for effective management of schools. This research adopted cross-sectional correlational survey research using a sample of 250 secondary school principals. Innovation and leadership behaviour questionnaires were used for data collection. Data analysis was conducted using regression analysis. The findings of the study revealed that principals' leadership and work behaviours significantly predict their educational innovation. The implication of this is that a principal without good leadership and work behaviours will not be able to exhibit quality educational innovation for the management of schools. The researchers, therefore, recommend that secondary school principals should be properly trained through in-service training to be able to acquire good leadership and work behaviours that are healthy for effective school management.