STAFF DEVELOPMENT AS CORRELATES OF TEACHERS’ TASK PERFORMANCE IN GOVERNMENT-OWNED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined staff development programmes as correlates of teachers’ task performance in government-owned secondary schools in Anambra State. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 8,128 teachers in 267 government-owned secondary schools in the six education zones of Anambra State. A sample of 257 teachers was selected using multi-stage sampling. The instrument for data collection is a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instruments were validated by experts, and reliability coefficients of 0.84, 0.78, and 0.78 were obtained for workshops, conferences, and teachers’ task performance respectively. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the research questions, while correlation analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was a high positive relationship between workshops and teachers’ task performance and a very high positive relationship between conferences and teachers’ task performance in government-owned secondary schools.  The findings further showed that workshops and conferences had significant relationships with teachers’ task performance. Based on the findings, the study concluded that workshops and conferences are important staff development programmes that enhance teachers’ task performance in secondary schools in Anambra State and therefore should be encouraged. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) should give adequate attention to improving teachers’ acquisition of practical teaching skills by organizing training workshops for teachers. It was also recommended that secondary school teachers should also invest in their professional and personal development by participating in conferences on their areas of specialization both in and outside their local locality.