The Influence of Policy Factors on the Quality of Secondary Education in the Rural Communities of South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Achieving the Quality of Secondary Education seems to have assumed a frightening dimension in South-Western Nigeria. This study, therefore, investigated the contributions of the policy factors (PF: Recruitment and Selection-RS, Salary and Compensation-SC and Training and Development-TD) to the Quality of Secondary Education (QSE) in the rural communities of South-western Nigeria (RCSN). The data were collected via a Secondary School Graduate- Aptitude Test (SSGAT) instrument from 467 secondary school graduates; and a total enumeration technique was adopted for the data collected from 134 teachers from 9 rural secondary schools. Six participants were purposely selected for the Key Informant Interviews, which comprised three principals and three senior officials from the Teaching Service Commissions and the Ministries of Education. Three research questions were developed, and one hypothesis was formulated for the study. The study was located within a post-positivist paradigm that incorporated the convergent parallel design in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the qualitative and quantitative data. The data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics and a Pearson-Product Moment Correlation at the 0.05 level of significance; while the qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The RS ( =3.08 ± 0.82), SC ( =2.72 ± 0.90) and TD ( =2.62 ± 0.83) strongly influenced the QSE in RCSN. The PF (r=0.75) had a negative significant relationship with QSE. The study concluded that urgently addressing the policy issues is highly essential in revamping the QSE in RCSN.