Published Article

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study was to investigate secondary school conflicts and effective resolution strategies in Akwa Ibom State. The study was conducted in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Expost-facto research design was used for this study. This design was considered appropriate for this research as it will investigate the already existing relationship between the independent variable (school conflicts) and the dependent variable (effective resolution strategy). The population of the study comprises all the public senior secondary school principals and teachers of senior secondary schools in Akwa Ibom state. There are 234 principals and 19,624 teachers distributed into 234 public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. Cluster and random sampling techniques were used to select 200 respondents, which constituted the sample size used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher-developed questionnaire titled "Secondary School Conflicts and Effectiveness of the Resolution Strategies Questionnaire (SSCERSQ)". Face and content validity of the instrument was carried out by a supervisor and a lecturer in tests and measurement, in the Faculty of Education, University of Uyo, Uyo. Instrument reliability was tested using the Cronbach reliability test at 0.94 coefficients. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean) and standard deviation, while simple regression analysis will be used to analyse the hypotheses. The result was tested for significance at 0.05 alpha levels. The study concluded that the peer mediation program has a positive effect on the school discipline climate, the level of violent disciplinary problems, increases the self-image of students who are peer mediators, and improves vocational-educational attitudes. One of the recommendations made in the study was that school mediators should be given adequate training and seminars to guide them during the mediation process, and the training should be precisely based on technical skills such as setting up a hearing, gaining trust, gathering facts, questioning, note-taking, identifying and prioritizing issues, and writing an agreement.