Comparative Analysis of students’ personnel management practices applied by principals in the administration of public and private secondary schools in Ebonyi State

Abstract

The study comparatively analyzed students’ personnel management practices applied by principals in the administration of public and private secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Three research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 418 respondents (222 public and 196 private) secondary schools principals in Ebonyi State. The sample size for the study was 209 respondents (111 public and 198 private) drawn using proportionate stratified sampling technique. The data were collected through the use of face validated questionnaire titled Students’ Personnel Management Practices of Principals in School Administration Questionnaire (SPMPPSAQ). The internal consistency of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach alpha and it yielded reliability coefficient values of 0.78, 0.81 and 0.82 for three sections BI, BII and BIII respectively with overall coefficient of 0.80 for the entire instrument. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions and t-test to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed among others that admission practices are applied by principals in the administration of public and private secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that ministry of Education should develop standard admission manual to serve as guideline to create uniformity and improve admission processes in public and private secondary schools.