Published Article

ABSTRACT

The study examined communication styles to enhance management of secondary schools in Abia State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 3472 principals and teachers in 252 public secondary schools in Abia State. The sample size of the study was 347 principals and teachers from the selected public secondary schools. 25 principals and 322 teachers formed the sample for the study from 20 public secondary schools used for the study selected using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for the study was a researcher-design questionnaire titled "communication styles for effective secondary school management" (CSESSM)". It had two (2) sections, section A obtained bio data of respondents, while section B comprised 10-items in two clusters which has information on assertive and passive communication stylels. The instrument was structured along four-point modified Likert scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). the face and content validity of the instrument was done by three (3) experts. Two (2) from the department of educational administration and planning and one (1) from measurement and evaluation unit all from the faculty of education, Abia State university Uturu. A reliability coefficient of 0.78 and 0.82 for the 10 items in two clusters was returned using Cronbach’s alpha statistics. Twenty (20) teachers in a secondary school not part of the study was used to determine the reliability. The coefficients returned implied that the instrument was reliable for the study. Data collected was analyzed using the statistical packages for the social sciences (SPSS) mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings from the study revealed that the assertive communication style has a positive impact on the management of secondary and that the passive communication style may inhibit effective management of secondary schools. The study recommended that stakeholders in education should always ensure that there is adequate enlightenment on communication styles that would enhance the management of secondary schools and passive communication style should be effectively excluded from the management of secondary schools as it is very ineffective in getting jobs done.