PRINCIPALS PERCEPTION OF THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR INTEGRATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined principals’ perceptions of the ethical considerations for integration of artificial intelligence in the management of public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 267 public secondary school principals in Anambra State. The instrument for data collection was a structured question which was developed by the researchers, validated by experts and subjected to a pilot test. Test of reliability was done using Cronbach Alpha which reported reliability coefficients of 0.85 and 0.88 for Clusters, 1 and 2 respectively with an overall reliability coefficient of 0.87. Mean, standard deviation and one sample t-test were used to analyse data for the study. Findings revealed that principals strongly perceive data privacy and algorithm bias as ethical considerations for integration of artificial intelligence in the management of public secondary schools in Anambra State. Findings further showed that data privacy and algorithm bias were statistically significant. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that the Anambra State Government, through the Ministry of Education and the Post Primary Schools Service Commission (PPSSC) should ensure that when AI tools are deployed for school management, explicit data privacy policies are developed and enforced. It was also recommended that the Anambra State Ministry of Education should organise continuous professional development programmes for school principals and administrators to equip them with knowledge of AI technologies, ethical practices and legal implications.