MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ JOB ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE.

Abstract

The study investigated management support services as predictors of teachers’ job engagement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 7,248 teachers in the 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample for this study consists 726 teachers drawn using proportionate stratified sampling technique. Two sets of structured instruments titled ‘‘Management Support Services Questionnaire (MSSQ)’’ and ‘‘Teachers’ Job Engagement Questionnaire (TJEQ)’’ were used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts made up of two experts in Educational Management and an expert in Measurement and Evaluation, all from Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus. The construct validation of the instruments was determined using factor analysis. The internal consistencies of the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha method which yielded overall reliability indices of 0.83 for MSSQ and 0.84 for TJEQ respectively. The instruments were administered by the researcher with the help of five research assistants who are secondary school teachers in Anambra State. A total of 726 copies were distributed, out of which 713 copies were properly filled and successfully retrieved indicating 98% return rate. Simple regression was used to answer the research questions and test hypotheses 1-2, while multiple regression to answer research question 3 and test hypothesis 7. The findings of the study revealed among others staff professional development services is a strong predictor of teachers’ job engagement in secondary schools in Anambra State. It was also found that mentoring services is a strong predictor of teachers’ job engagement in secondary schools in Anambra State. Further result showed hat management support services is a significant predictor of teachers’ job engagement in secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Ministry of Education should mandate and support principals to constitute management support services committee saddled with responsibilities rendering assistance to teachers for improving their job engagement.