PRINCIPALS’ ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN OBOLLO AFOR EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study is focused on principals ethnical leadership practices in the administration of secondary schools in Obollo Afor Education Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was chosen for the study. The entire population for the study was 1,562 teachers elicited from all public secondary schools in Obollo Afor Education Zone of Enugu State. 20% was used to get the sample of 312 teachers. A self structured questionnaire, developed by the researcher titled“Principals Ethical Leadership Practices Questionnaire” (PELPQ) was used for data collection. Three experts, two from the Departments of Educational Management and one from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Education (Measurement and Evaluation Unit) , all from Faculty of Education, Enugu State, University of Science and Technology (ESUT) validated the instrument. Reliability coefficient of .76 was established using Cronbach Alpha reliability estimate. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were analyzed using t test statistics at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study among others revealed that the application of fairness as an ethical leadership practice by principals in the administration of secondary schools in Obollo Afor Education Zone of Enugu State is to a high extent. The researcher recommended among others that principals in the six Education zones of Enugu State, in particular and Nigeria as a whole should not be restricted to the application of fairness and accountability only but should embrace all the necessary ethical leadership practices in the administration of their schools.