Principals' supervisory skills: Precursor of teachers' morale and instructional delivery in southwestern Nigerian secondary schools

Busuyi Francis Olowo

Authors

Busuyi Francis Olowo Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3950-9413

Keywords:

supervisory skills, teachers' morale, instructional delivery, principals, secondary schools

Abstract

The study was carried out to ascertain the extent to which school principals' supervisory skills affected teachers' morale and instructional delivery in public secondary schools in the Southwestern region of Nigeria. The factors that led to this study included inconsistent supervisory practices among principals and the associated implications for teacher motivation, performance, and the quality of instruction. A descriptive survey research design was chosen. A structured, validated questionnaire was used for data collection, with a reliability coefficient of 0.72. Four hypotheses were tested using linear multiple regression statistics at the 0.05 significance level. The results showed that all four supervisory components had a significant effect on teacher outcomes. Demonstration and guidance techniques were found to be the most effective in enhancing teachers' job performance (R² = 0.451, p < 0.05). Principals' supervision of workshops was a significant factor in improving teachers' instructional delivery (R² = 0.433, p < 0.05). Teacher morale was positively and significantly influenced by classroom visitation techniques (R² = 0.443, p < 0.05). The same can be said for feedback and evaluation practices, which resulted in greater teachers' motivation and morale (R² = 0.467, p < 0.05). The study concludes that principals' supervisory skills are strong predictors of teachers' morale and instructional delivery in Southwestern Nigerian secondary schools.

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