Comparative Analysis of Internal Quality Assurance Measures Adopted by Principals of Public and Private Secondary Schools in Enugu State

Abstract

The seeming decline in the quality of education in Nigeria necessitated this study aimed at comparing the internal quality assurance measures adopted by principals in public and private secondary schools in Enugu State. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Three research questions guided the study while three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study comprised 25,579 respondents made up of 8,362 teachers in public secondary schools in Enugu State and 17, 217 private secondary school teachers in Enugu State. The sample for the study comprised 773 (382 public and 391 private) teachers. A researcher-developed questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, one in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Educational Foundations and others Educational Management and Policy Department all in the Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The Cronbach’s alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items and it yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.77. The researcher with the help of eight research assistants administered the instrument. The research questions were answered using the mean, while the hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. It was found among others that principals in public and private secondary schools in Enugu State adopt strategic supervision measures for quality assurance. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that principals of public and private secondary schools in Enugu should provide a central guidance and counselling centre and counselling clinics towards ensuring effective guidance and counselling services for the students