Professional Qualifications and Experience as Determinants of Supervisory Practices of Head Teachers of Public Primary Schools in South East Nigeria

The study investigated professional qualifications and experience as determinants of supervisory practices of head teachers of public primary schools in South East Nigeria. Two specific objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted an ex post facto research design. The population of the study comprises 5,453 head teachers in public primary schools in South Eastern Nigeria. The sample size for the study was 373 head teachers in public primary schools in South Eastern Nigeria. The sample size was selected using proportionate stratified random and convenience sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was self structured questionnaire developed by the researcher titled “Professional Qualifications and Experience of Head Teachers’ and Effective Supervision Questionnaire (PQEHTESQ)†. The questionnaire was validated by experts and its reliability was established using Cronbach Alpha method which yielded a coefficient of 0.83. Data collected for the study were analyzed using Means and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions while independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that, there is a significant difference among the mean responses of head teachers on supervisory practices based on professional qualifications in public primary schools in South Eastern Nigeria. The findings also revealed that there is a significant difference between the mean responses of head teachers on supervisory practices based on experience. The study concluded that professional qualifications and work experience are determinants of supervisory practices of head teachers in public primary schools in South Eastern Nigeria. These variables play a significant role in the supervisory practices of head teachers. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended among others that, the Government should ensure that only qualified teachers with repository competencies and knowledge skills acquired in the course of academic learning as measured by teacher academic qualification or by way of in-service training are made head teachers for enhanced supervision of academic activities and seminars and workshops should be organized where the head teachers with more years of work experience are made to share their experience on how they have succeeded in supervision with those of lesser experience.