PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATORS’ EFFICIENCY TOWARDS UTILIZATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR MANAGING EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The inability and deficiency of many public and private secondary schools’ administrators to efficiently utilize most of these emerging computer technologies in the educational processes, making it difficult for them to effectively manage these processes, has led to conducting the present study. The present study therefore, is a comparative analysis of public and private secondary school administrators’ efficiency towards utilization of emerging technologies for managing educational processes in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Population of the study constituted 776 secondary school administrators which comprised 259 public and 517 private school administrators from 259 public and 517 private secondary schools respectively located within the six education zones in Anambra State. Sample of the study comprised a total size of 389 administrators comprising 130 public and 259 private secondary school administrators from 389 public and private secondary schools, drawn at 50% (percent) using stratified random sampling technique. A 25-item researcher’s self-developed questionnaire structured on a 4-point scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) and titled: “Administrators’ Efficiency Towards Utilization of Emerging Technologies for Managing Educational Processes Questionnaire (AETUETMEPQ)” was the main instrument for data collection. The research instrument was validated by three experts in the Department of Educational Management and Policy, and Department of Educational Foundations (Measurement & Evaluation expert), Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. Reliability of the questionnaire was established through a pilot-test conducted on a sample of 15 public and 20 private secondary schools administrators selected from 15 public and 20 private secondary schools in Enugu State, which was not part of the study. The scores obtained were computed using the Cronbach Alpha method which gave internal consistency reliability values of 0.82, 0.88 and 0.81 for each of the three clusters and added up to yield an overall reliability value of 0.84, showcasing that the questionnaire was reliable and trustworthy for conducting the study. Data collated were analyzed using mean scores and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed among others that although many of the administrators in both public and private schools were inefficient in utilizing emerging technologies, the private secondary school administrators were efficient towards the utilization of most of the emerging hardware technologies for managing educational processes in Anambra State more than the public secondary school administrators. From the findings, recommendations were proffered and among such included that both the public and private secondary school administrators should regularly undergo continuous ICT training and retraining programmes in order to boost their efficiency towards utilizing emerging technologies required for school administration.