Principals’ Administrative Skills for Secondary Schools in Plateau State, Nigeria

This study investigated the necessary skills needed by principals in the effective administration of schools at secondary school level. The issue of poor academic performance of students in Nigeria could be attributed to poor administrative skills of school administrators. The poor performance was however, as a result of the multi-faceted problems facing the system in Nigeria such as: inadequate funding; inadequate facilities; low morale of teachers; poor supervision of schools and frequent changes in educational policies. The roles of the principal in meeting these challenges were examined as the chief executive who manages the school finance and who can use his ingenuity to raise fund to complement government’s efforts; a motivator and a change facilitator. This study was carried out in some selected schools in Jos North Local Government in Plateau state. Principal Administrative Skills Survey Questionnaire (PASSQ) was used to obtain information. Some of the recommendations include: The modern-day school principals should be knowledgeable, professionally and administratively competent. Government should make provision for sponsoring principals and organising conferences for them to serve as a means for professional growth as well as incentives to the principals; Principals must define objectives with teachers as teachers would be committed in their job to ensure that the objectives are achieved as they participated in deciding the objectives.

Keywords: Principal, Administrative Skill, Secondary Schools, Plateau State and Nigeria.