EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
Abstract
The study determined emotional intelligence and locus of control as predictors of teachers’ instructional leadership models in secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. Seven research questions were answered while four null hypotheses were tested at p ≤ 0.05 level of probability. The design was a correlation design. The population of the study is 4,516 teachers consisting of 1,407 males and 3,109 females in the public junior secondary schools in Enugu State. The sample for the study was 903. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used for the study. Three instruments: Teachers’ Instructional Leadership Rating Scale (TILRS), Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Rating Scale (TEIRS) and Teachers’ Locus of Control Rating Scale (TLCRS) were developed and used for the study. The TILRS, TEIRS and TLCRS were face validated by three specialists in the field of study. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency reliability of the items which yielded a reliability estimate of 0.81, 0.83 and 0.79 respectively. The researcher administered the instruments with the help of six research assistants. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions one to three, whereas Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r) was used to answer the research questions four to seven. Linear and multiple regressions analysis and t-test statistic were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of probability. Results indicated that majority of the teachers perceived themselves as having high emotional intelligence whereas few teachers had low emotional intelligence; majority of the teachers rated themselves as having internal locus of control while few teachers had external locus of control; most of the teachers were authoritative, some of the teachers were authoritarian while few teachers were permissive in their instructional leadership models. Emotional intelligence significantly predicted teachers’ instructional leadership models. Locus of control significantly predicted teachers’ instructional leadership models. Gender of teachers predicted significantly teachers’ instructional leadership models and emotional intelligence, locus of control and gender of teachers significantly predicted teachers’ instructional leadership models. The educational implication of the study is that if the findings of the study are made available to teachers, it would help them in teaching irrespective of their emotional intelligence and locus of control. It was recommended that school administrators organize workshops or seminars for teachers on the relationship among emotional intelligence, locus of control and teachers’ instructional leadership models, teacher preparation institutions should incorporate instructional leadership models in the relevant areas of their curriculum units to expose both the pre-service and in-service teachers to the prediction effect of emotional intelligence and locus of control on teachers’ instructional leadership models, male and female teachers should be exposed to training on the extent emotional intelligence and locus of control can predict instructional leadership models without discrimination among others.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Recently, the reports of poor academic achievement of students especially in secondary schools has raised more attention and greater concerns among stakeholders in Nigerian education. Academic achievement or academic performance is the outcome of education, that is the, extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals (Ward, Stoker, & Murray-Ward, 2000). Academic achievement is commonly measured by continuous assessment or examination but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects is most important, whether procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts (Stumm, Hell, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). Irrespective of the method of academic measurement, Isangedighi (1999) observed that indiscipline, drug addiction, poor socio-economic background of the parents, inadequate motivation on the part of students, lack of information couple with teachers’ nonchalant attitude to work and students’ negative self-concept have often resulted into students’ inconsistent and poor academic performances. Yoloye (1999) submitted that theories of educational disadvantages and social cultural pathology have been most prominent in the explanation of poor academic achievement of students in schools.
On the contrary, a growing number of scholars, have rejected this latter view and have suggested that many of the problems of learning are the artifacts of discontinuities which are brought about by the separation of learning from real life functions and situations (Fagbemi, 2001) and by the exclusion of the child’s language, values and mode of cognition from the school environment (Ugodulunwa, 2007). It seems that the causes of low academic achievement are diverse and cannot be associated with a single factor alone. For in-stance, Adamu (1998) observed that self-concept and its variables may be a paramount factor in academic failure. Tukur & Musa (2001) attributed the causes of fluctuating performances among students to teacher-student inter-actions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, classroom behavior and other extraneous variables. The above may be responsible for the academic achievement of students in the area of the study.
In Enugu State, the academic achievement of secondary school students has been observed to be generally poor. A look at the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination results in the past eight years (2005-2012) shows clearly the declining state of secondary school students’ achievements in external examinations in the state. The West African Certificate Examinations Councils’ (WAEC) result analysis has it that in 2005, only 27.53% of candidates who sat for the senior secondary school certificate exanimation had five credit passes and above including English Language and Mathematics (WAEC, 2010).The same trend continued in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011and 2012 where only 15.56%, 25.54%, 13.76%, 25.99%, 24.94%, 30.99% and 25.76% of candidates respectively obtained five credit passes including English Language and Mathematics.