PRINCIPALS’ ADMINISTRATIVE COMPETENCIES AS A CORRELATES OF TEACHERS’ JOB RETENTION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The persistent decline in teachers’ job retention in public secondary schools remains a critical challenge confronting educational systems, particularly in Anambra State, Nigeria. This study investigated the relationship between principals’ administrative competencies and teachers’ job retention, with specific focus on instructional leadership, decision-making skills and communication skills. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. Anchored on Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory (1985), the study adopted a correlational research design involving a census of all 268 principals in public secondary schools across Anambra State. Two validated structured instruments, the Principals’ Administrative Competence Questionnaire (PACQ) and the Teachers’ Job Retention Questionnaire (TJRQ), were used to collect data. The overall reliability coefficients for the PACQ and TJRQ were 0.83 and 0.82, respectively, indicating high internal consistency and reliability of the instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, while inferential analysis, specifically the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, was employed to examine the relationships among variables. The significance of the correlation coefficients was tested to evaluate the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed very strong, positive and statistically significant relationships between each of the principals’ administrative competencies and teachers’ job retention in public secondary schools in Anambra State: instructional leadership (r = 0.895, p < 0.05), decision-making skills (r = 0.890, p < 0.05), and communication skills (r = 0.865, p < 0.05). The significance tests of the Pearson correlation coefficients confirmed that these relationships were meaningful and not due to chance. Among the competencies assessed, instructional leadership exhibited the strongest association with teachers’ job retention. The study concluded that principals’ administrative competencies are critical for fostering teacher stability, although their impact may be moderated by systemic constraints such as inadequate funding, heavy workloads, and poor infrastructure. The study recommended that principals should strengthen instructional leadership by supporting teachers’ professional development, receive continuous training in strategic decision-making to address school challenges effectively, and enhance communication through regular staff briefings and feedback sessions, all aimed at boosting teacher morale, competence, retention, job satisfaction, and commitment.