PRINCIPALS' SUPERVISORY FUNCTIONS AND STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined principals' supervisory functions and students' academic performance in public secondary schools, Kwara State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design of survey type. The population for the study comprised 9,939 teachers in the 340 public senior secondary schools in the 16 Local Government Ares of Kwara State, Nigeria. Proportionate sampling technique via KrejcieMogan Table was used to select 313 out of 4855 teachers in Kwara Central, 116 out of 2102 teachers in Kwara North and 165 out of 2982 teachers in Kwara South Senatorial District. “Principals' Supervisory Functions Questionnaire” (PSFQ) and a Proforma tagged: Students' Academic Performance Proforma (SAPP) were used to collect data for the study. Descriptive statistics of mean ranking and percentage were used to answer the two research questions, while Inferential statistic of Multiple Regression was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that: principals' supervision of teachers' adherence to curriculum content is the most supervisory functions used by principals' in secondary schools in Kwara State; and the level of students' academic performance in secondary schools, Kwara State, Nigeria from 2020-2022 was beyond average. The study concluded that principals' supervision of teachers' adherence to curriculum content is the most supervisory functions used by principals' in secondary schools in Kwara State. Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, it was recommended among other things that, principals should ensure that teachers monitored the students' learning progress and outcome by effectively assessing their level of understanding in each subject that would enhance an excellent academic performance of students.