PRINCIPALS’ UTILIZATION OF DIGITAL TOOLS FOR JOB PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The difficulties encountered by most principals in executing their administrative responsibilities in secondary schools in Anambra State, which seem to be worrisome, was the reason for conducting this study. 
This study assessed principals’ utilization of digital tools for job performance in secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey design was employed in the study. Population for the study comprised 259 principals from all the public secondary schools in the 6 education zones in Anambra State. Sample size of the study constituted 207 (80 percent) principals from 207 public secondary schools in the 6 education zones selected using the stratified random sampling technique. A 29-item researcher-developed questionnaire structured on a 4-point scale of Highly Utilized (HU), Utilized (U), Less Utilized (LU) and Not Utilized (NU) was used for data collection. The instrument was titled “Principals’ Utilization of Digital tools for job Performance Questionnaire (PUDTJPQ)”. The PUDTJP was face validated by two experts from the Department of Educational Management and Policy, and one Measurement and Evaluation expert from the Department of Educational Foundations, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Reliability of the research instrument was established through a pilot-test carried out once on a single administration sampling 20 principals in some selected 20 public secondary schools in Enugu State. Data collated after the pilot test were measured using Cronbach Alpha statistics which gave internal consistency reliability coefficient r-value of 0.82. Data collated were analyzed using mean scores rated at 2.50 and standard deviation statistics. Findings of the study revealed that the principals did not utilize many of the digitalized tools for their job performance in secondary schools in Anambra State. From the findings, recommendations were proffered and among them were that, Anambra State Government in collaboration with educational authorities and institutions such as the Post Primary Schools Service Commission (PPSSC) should prioritize investment in professional development programmes tailored to equip principals with the necessary digital literacy skills and competencies. These programmes should focus on enhancing principals’ proficiency towards utilization of social networking tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and Microsoft Office Software tools effectively for their job performance in executing all their administrative tasks, duties and decision-making in schools.