A PRINCIPALS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ADAMAWA STATE

Abstract

The need for principals to be able to manage conflict effectively in secondary schools
necessitated thisstudy. The study isto assessthe extent the principals in secondary schools
in Adamawa State utilize conflict management strategies in their school administration.
Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level
of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted and 385 principals were
studied without sampling. A five point rating scale questionnaire containing 18items was
used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts. Test-retest method was
used to establish the reliability of the instrument. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was
used for the analysis and the clusters yielded coefficients of 0.76 and 0.82, with an overall
coefficient of 0.84. Three hundred and sixty duly completed copies of the instrument were
retrieved and used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer
the research questions and to determine the homogeneity of the respondents' ratings while
the z- test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that secondary school
principals in Adamawa State utilized competitive strategy to a great extent while
collaboration strategy was used to a moderate extent. Gender did not influence the
respondents' choice of adopting competitive strategies in resolving conflicts while there
was a significant difference in the mean ratings of principals in urban and rural secondary
schools on the use of collaboration as a conflict management strategy. Based on the
findings, it was concluded that secondary school principals in Adamawa State were using
appropriate strategies in resolving conflicts. It was therefore recommended among others
that institutions and government should train teachers in conflict resolution strategies
beforeappointing themasprincipals.