American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 28 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC PRINCIPALS’ INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE Obidile, Stella Ogechukwu (PhD) Department of Educational Foundations and Administration, Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State Email: ellajoseph1920@gmail.com DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15341181 Abstract: This study determined the principals’ instructional leadership competency and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. Related literature pertinent to the study were reviewed which exposed the need for the study. Correlational research design was adopted using a population of all the 263 principals of public secondary schools in the area of the study. The entire population was used as the sample size since the population is a manageable size and the respondents were adequately reached. The instrument for data collection was researcher’s structured questionnaire. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The overall reliability indexes obtained were 0.81, 0.79 and 0.83. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions and to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significant. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data collected. The results showed that there is an average positive relationship between principals’ instructional leadership competency (monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development) and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. The results also showed that there is a significant relationship between principals’ instructional leadership competency (monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development) and effective management of secondary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that principals should always have routine instructional supervision taking into cognizance the effective classroom management strategies, lesson preparation and delivery as well as class interaction. Keywords: Instructional leadership competency, principals, effective management of secondary school. Introduction Secondary education is very important in the Nigerian education system and also serves as the link between the primary and higher levels of education. Ownership of secondary schools in Nigeria is categorized as private and government owned. Secondary schools owned by the government are referred to as public schools while those owned by others (religious organizations, non-governmental organizations and individuals) are known as private mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com mailto:ellajoseph1920@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15323413 American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 29 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC schools. Nnorom, Okonkwo, Ezeanolue and Nwankwo (2020) noted that secondary education develops the individual’s mental capacity, character and behaviour for higher education and useful living within the society. The broad aims of secondary education according to Nigeria National Policy on Education, FRN (2014), are preparation of students for useful living within the society and for higher education. The future of a country is on the quality of education given to its citizens, because, education assures the future of the society and provides continuity, as such, it is imperative that a school manager adopts some financial management competencies in order to enhance effective school management in secondary school. For this reason, educational managers responsible for educational institutions have important responsibilities in ensuring quality outputs. This is so because educational system is in continuous interaction with socio-cultural, political and economic systems which surround it. In view of this, for the goals of secondary education to be achieved, school administrators should apply management practices that would help improve school processes and activities. Kafele (2016) saw school management as the organization of educational resources and programmes available for education and using them carefully and systematically for achieving educational objectives. School management could be seen as the systematic process of managing the available resources to attain predetermined goals. These resources include; human, time, material, and financial. In secondary schools, principals are the chief executive officers of the schools and they are the head of the school management team. The principal directs the way things are done in the school. Thus, principals are in charge of the management of secondary schools. For an administrator to perform effectively, he needs management competency backed by education as a means towards effective management and learning. For example, effectiveness is best estimated in relation to goals of teaching and research. Effective school management becomes a necessity for the successful attainment of any educational policy. Effective management is the capacity of an administrator to produce desired result of attaining the school objectives. Wagbara and Ukaigwep (2019) defined effective management as the extent to which the secondary school administrators are able to effectively execute and implement the school policies with regard to the task areas of school administration as laid down by the ministry of education and schools board. Wali (2018) stated that effective school management is the process of coordinating human, material and time-based resources efficiently towards the attainment of pre-determined objectives of a school. Effective school management should consider successful administrative strategies of what teachers and student value. This is because the underlying basis of secondary school administration and management is the existence of adequately trained administrators with a set goals or aim, and members who have roles assigned to them and a person at the top who coordinates activities to attain the already set goals of the school. Effective school administration cut across effective leadership, communication, commitment, social interaction, persuasion and risk management (Manager, 2021). According to Bilkisu (2018), the success or failure of any educational institution in terms of quality education provision rests highly on the management competence of the administrator. It is most disheartening to note that most principals are underperforming in their statutory administrative functions. Empirically, it was reported by mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 30 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Nmaduagwu (2019) that most public secondary school principals find it very difficult to influence their subordinates to work expectedly. In the same vein, in study involving public secondary school principals, 67% of them agreed that they are not satisfied with their level of achievement in the school administration (Nworgu, 2019). Similarly, most of the principals submitted that it is difficult to effectively harness the limited human and material resources in the school system (Amadi, 2019). Thus in any educational enterprise, school administrators with right competencies are hired to perform certain tasks using materials to facilitate the performance of the tasks. Okafor in Omeke and Onah (2012) noted that in Nigeria, most of the successes or failures in secondary school management or other institutions depend largely on the influence of these leaders on their subordinates. Therefore the success of an organization depends greatly on its management. School management by principals is the planning and delivery of education to ensure that both human and material resources allocated to education are efficiently and effectively used in the achievement of educational objectives and goals. Effective school management depends on the competency of principals in handling the activities of the school. Stronge, Richard and Catano (2016) described competency as the ability to do something well, measured against a standard especially ability acquired through experience or training. Kruger (2009) stated that competence is a person’s capacity to connect knowledge, skills, attitudes and professional identity that are relevant for a certain profession. It is also described as being adequately or well-qualified physically and intellectually to perform duties of any specific profession. In other words, a competent principal should possess the right knowledge, skills and behaviour needed for effective administration of secondary schools. For organization to meet the expectations of its set goals, it must be effectively and efficiently organized and managed. The ability of the manager to provide sound skills for administration of the school programme is known as managerial competency. Managerial competency involves demonstration of one’s abilities through efficient supervision in the classroom, managing human and material resources to achieve the mission and vision of the school. In Nigeria today, there is an increasing public fear and complaints that the administrative effectiveness of the principals is jeopardizing due to the falling standard of education over the years (Muraina, 2014). Ineffective administration have led to hostile school environment, poor implementation of school policies in the area of maintenance of school facilities and inadequate students’ personnel services such as selection, orientation, placement, guidance and counseling as well as poor staff personnel management in secondary schools in Nigeria (Wagbara & Ukaigwep, 2019). There seems to be variations in teachers’ punctuality to school, coverage of scheme of works, mode of continuous assessment of students, date of examinations among others in public and private schools in Anambra State. This may be attributed to the difference in instructional leadership practices of public secondary principals. Instructional leadership is the act of influencing learning process for desirable academic outcome. According to Makau, Tanui and Ronoh (2016), instructional leadership practices refer to the activities that the principal engages in or delegates to others that promote growth in student learning. Si-Rajab and Musa (2019) defined instructional leadership as the process of setting goals, providing resources for learning, managing curriculum, controlling lessons and evaluating teachers teaching performance. Instructional leadership depicts ability to influence people mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 31 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC to strive for the accomplishment of certain objectives of teaching and learning. The notion of instructional leadership is the attainment of academic excellence for all students. According to Boe, Lahui and Ako in Ismail, Don, Husin and Khalid (2018), instructional leadership is very closely related to the role and duty of a school principal such as developing and disseminating school aims, setting targeted standards, coordinating curriculum, supervising and evaluating teachers’ classroom instructions, encouraging students to study and increasing teachers’ and staff professional development. In the view of the researcher, instructional leadership is the act of planning teaching and learning programmes and inspiring, motivating, and exerting influence over staff and students to attain set objectives. There are various components of principals’ instructional leadership practices. These include: framing and communicating, communicating school goals, supervision and evaluation of instruction, curriculum management, monitoring of students’ progress, management of instructional time, providing incentives for teachers (staff welfare), promotion of professional development and providing incentives for students (Ahmed, 2016; Medina, Mansor, Wahab & Vikaraman, 2018; Si-Rajab & Musa, 2019). Hui (2020) noted that the vital roles of principals as instructional leaders include: communicating the vision and mission of the school, using assessment data to improve teaching and learning, monitoring and evaluating teaching and learning, providing professional development programs for teachers, creating and enforcing policies that prioritized teaching and learning. It also involves developing the school time-tables, supervising teachers’ activities and providing resources for effective curriculum implementation. As instructional leaders, school administrators help teachers in identifying trends, discuss with them new teaching techniques and strategies that enhance their teaching skills that benefit learners (Lincuna & Caingcoy, 2020). The authors also added that it entails managing the introduction of curriculum initiatives in line with policies, working with teachers in curriculum review, enriching the curricular offerings based on local needs, managing the curriculum innovation and enrichment with the use of technology, and organizing teams to champion instructional innovation programs toward curricular responsiveness. The principal can demonstrate effective instructional leadership practices through: planning of school syllabus, assigning tasks to teachers and constantly supervising their instructional for attainment of educational objectives and promoting of sustainable development. Instructional leadership practices of principals are directly linked to creating the conditions for optimal teaching and learning. In the context of this study, instructional leadership practices could be referred to as administrative activities and roles that are geared towards providing support for teachers and students to ensure quality instructional delivery for school effectiveness. Based on this, it becomes necessary to determine the relationship between principals’ instructional leadership competencies and effective management of secondary schools in these areas of competencies namely monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development. The quality of teaching and learning outcomes depend on monitoring of instructional practices as well as the administrators involved (Komar, Komar, Kolomiiets, Roienko & Diachuk, 2019). Monitoring is a management tool used in overhauling schools to ensure that effective teaching and learning take place. Ndungu, Gathu, and Bomet (2015) define monitoring as an activity that incorporates constant and systemized checking and keeping mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 32 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC under scrutiny a program/project that is implemented to improve on the standard of teaching and learning. Kyalo, Mulwa and Nyonje (2015) posited that monitoring is imperative as it guarantees the implementation of the program/project based on plan. It aimed at seeing to it that the project or program plan is followed consistently. In a school set up, monitoring requires inspection and control through ongoing, intermediate and final assessments to highlight improvements in the attainment of learning goals and for quality teaching and learning outcomes. For quality teaching and learning outcomes to be achieved, the school principals’ must put in place and enhance practices that increase monitoring (Ibrahim & Benson, 2020). In a school, the principal serves as the team leader who monitors teaching and learning processes in schools by putting necessary strategies (Kiptum, 2018). Principals monitors instructional practices of teachers such as their preparation for the lesson, lesson presentation, assessment methods used by the teacher as well giving monitoring feedback to teachers on their teaching methods and resources. Monitoring helps school principals to discover the needs of the learners and difficulties encountered by the teachers as they dispense knowledge (Mngomezulu & Bhengu, 2015). Leiva, Montecinos, Ahumada, Campos, and Guerra (2016) asserted that monitoring practices should be more than just formal method of complying with rules/policies but should give information concerning the strengths and weaknesses of a project/program. Niyivuga , Otara and Tuyishime (2019) established that monitoring of instructional practices also apply to different levels of staff self-assessment, student-staff evaluation, peer evaluation, and principals’ evaluation. However, most principals spent most of their time going for meetings and doing other administrative duties with little focus on management of teaching and learning processes (Mngomezulu & Bhengu, 2015). Ndungu’, et al cited in Otieno (2022) observed that most of the principals are not checking lesson plans because the teachers are not preparing them, and that a few teachers who make lesson plans are more productive than the ones who did not. The head-teachers’ involvement in observation of instructional process was not frequent, monitoring preparation and use of professional document was never done and that checking of learners’ notebooks was rarely conducted (Sankale, 2015). When teachers are not monitored well, their efficacy to instructional delivery is negatively affected and the instructional objective may not be well achieved leading to low quality of teaching and learning outcomes (Sule, Ameh & Egbai, 2015). Thus, monitoring makes it easy for managers (principals) to maintain clarity, responsibility, reporting and empowering all the concerns of the people in the organization Teachers’ professional development is regarded as a key contribution to enhancing quality education. Professional development involves the career-long processes and related systems and policies designed to enable educators (teachers, administrators and supervisors) to acquire, broaden and deepen their knowledge, skills and commitment in order to effectively assist students perform well in their examinations. Staff professional development is a learning programme designed to help the staff update and refine their knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to meet the new challenges and technologies in the education system. Onyali, Akinfolarin and Famuti (2018) asserted that teachers’ professional development broadens their knowledge and modernizes their skills to cope with changes and innovation and also handle the various challenges brought about by advancement in technology. Teachers require staff professional development programmes to address dynamic roles and responsibilities of mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 33 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC teaching profession so as to meet the contemporary needs of the society. The staff development practices include; evening courses, short courses; conferences, workshops and seminars; correspondence courses and study leaves with pay among others (Ojiemhenkele, 2014). Professional development’s main purpose is to improve learner achievement as attested by majority of educational researchers and policy makers (Mwihaki, Kagema & Wambugu, 2019). Teachers require ongoing and appropriate training to be able to incorporate evidence-based methods into their teaching, to enhance the quality of instruction given to students and to improve educational outcomes (Didion et al., 2020). According to Mutuku (2015), the teacher training keep the teachers in touch with the current educational thinking in order to maintain good practice and raise standards of teaching. Mutuku (2015) further asserts that these skills promote the performance of the teacher, the teacher is able to transmit the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes to the learners in the learning process hence attainment of quality education by learners. Mwihaki, Kagema and Wambugu (2019) stated that professional development influences student performance in three different ways: it enhances teacher knowledge and skills which then enhance classroom practice and teaching which on the other hand elevates students’ attainment. The most useful professional development activity focuses on engaging instructors to concentrate on the needs of their learners. They learn together with an aim of ensuring that all students achieve success. School principals as instructional leaders have to employ instructional practices. Monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development of teachers is among these practices. All these are geared towards the achievement of the school’s intended objectives which include better academic performance. School principals have the pivotal roles in leading and managing schools. School principals have crucial roles in any school system in the world especially in developing countries. However, reports showed that principals of Nigerian secondary schools are more of administrative leaders rather than instructional leaders because according to the reports, they are mostly preoccupied with strictly administrative duties in their offices, leaving the management, instructional leadership, monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development responsibilities in the hands of teachers alone. It is against this background that the researchers sought to evaluate the principals’ instructional leadership and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Statement of the Problem Ideally, secondary school principals are expected to promote effective management in education of the citizens for national development. It is the expectation of the government, parents and even students that quality education is received by students in Nigeria secondary schools through the adoption of appropriate instructional leadership competencies by the principals. However, observations have shown that there seems to be poor principals’ management processes which have led to an ineffective management in secondary schools in Anambra State. Lack of principals’ effective management and supervision make the teachers to abscond from their duties. Some of the teachers do not even properly prepare their lesson and as such dictates or give to the class prefect to write on the board. A good number of them leave their duty post at will. This unfortunate development may negatively affect the performance of the students in both internal and external examinations. This may in one way or the mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 34 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC other disrupt the normal school operation as well as in the actualization of the lofty goals and objectives. This can be seen in the areas of the inadequate instructional leadership by the principals like school facilities and professional development among others. For any school to function effectively, the school facilities must be in good condition. These situations seem to have led to poor academic achievement among the secondary school students, among others. The above situation should not be allowed to continue, hence the problem of this study put in question form is, ‘what is the relationship between principals’ instructional leadership competency and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State? Purpose of the Study The main purpose of the study is to examine principals’ instructional leadership competency and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Specifically, the study sought to determine the principals’: 1. Monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools 2. Promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools Research Questions The following research questions guided the study: 1. What is the relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State? 2. What is the relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State? Hypotheses The following null hypotheses were tested 0.05 level of significance: 1. There is no significant relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. 2. There is no significant relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Method The correlational research design was adopted in this study. Nworgu (2015) defined correlational design as the type of design that seeks to establish the relationship between two or more variables as well as indicating the direction and magnitude of the relationship between the variables. The study was carried out in state-owned public secondary schools in Anambra State. The population for this study consisted of all the 263 principals of public secondary schools in the area of the study. The entire population was used as the sample size since the population is a manageable size and the respondents were adequately reached. Two structured questionnaires which were developed by the researcher were used for data collection from the respondents (that is; principals). Both questionnaires designed for only principals as the respondents, were constructed in line with the purpose of the study and research questions. The first questionnaire was titled “Principals’ Instructional Leadership mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 35 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Questionnaire (PILQ) containing 20 items. PILQ has two sections of A and B. Section A contained the personal data of the respondents and elicited such information as the status of the respondents based on their education zones. Section B of the PILQ was arranged and organized into 2 clusters. The second questionnaire titled “Effective School Management Questionnaire (ESMQ)” was designed to gather information from the principals on effective school administration. ESMQ have only one section with 10 items. The instrument designed for this study was subjected to face validity. The instrument were validated by three experts in the field. To ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument, Cronbach Alpha was used. The application of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 using Cronbach Alpha reliability method was used to determine reliability coefficient values of 0.81, 0.79 and 0.83. The researcher administered 263 copies of the questionnaire personally to the respondents in their schools with the aid of five research assistants who were briefed by the researcher. A period of two weeks was used for the administration of the instrument to ensure a high response rate. Out of the 263 copies of questionnaire distributed, sixteen were incompletely filled and eight were not returned, hence twenty four copies of the questionnaire were not utilized. Thus, 239 copies of the questionnaire represented 90.87% return rate were used for data analysis. The data collected for this study was analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to test the degree of relationship. The decision rule for the two research questions, the coefficient (r) and the size of the relationship was interpreted using the interpretation of correlation coefficient by Onunkwo in Obi (2016) as 0.8 to 1.0 (Very high), 0.6 to 0.8 (High), 0.4 to 0.6 (Average), 0.2 to 0.4 (Low) and 0.0 to 0.2 (Very low). For the hypotheses, p- value was used for decision making for the hypotheses. Where the calculated p-value is less than the stipulated level of significance (.05), it means that there is significant difference between subject mean scores and the null hypothesis was rejected. Conversely, where the calculated p-value is equal to or greater than the stipulated level of significance (.05), it means that there is no significant difference between mean scores of variables in emphasis and the null hypothesis was not rejected. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used to analyze the data. Results Research Question 1 What is the relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State? Table 1: Pearson r on the Correlation between Principals’ Monitoring of Instruction and Effective School Management Source of Variation N R Remark Principals’ Monitoring of Instruction Effective School Management 239 0.593 Average Positive Relationship Table 1 shows that there is an average positive relationship existing between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of public secondary schools in Anambra State. This is evident by the size of the Pearson's Correlation Coefficient r, which is 0.593. mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 36 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Research Question 2 What is the relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State? Table 2: Pearson r on the Correlation between Principals’ Promotion of Professional Development and Effective School Management Source of Variation N R Remark Principals’ Promotion of Professional Development Effective School Management 239 0.515 Average Positive Relationship Table 2 shows that the Pearson’s r = 0.515, indicating that there is an average positive relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Hypothesis 1 There is no significant relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Table 3: Test of Significance of Pearson Correlation between Principals’ Monitoring of Instruction and Effective School Management Source of Variation N r p-value Remark Principals’ Monitoring of Instruction Effective School Management 239 0.593 0.001 Sig Analysis in Table 3 shows that there is a significant relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. The calculated r (0.593) had P-value < 0.05. The 1st null hypothesis was therefore rejected. Hypothesis 2 There is no significant relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Table 4: Test of Significance of Pearson Correlation between Principals’ Promotion of Professional Development and Effective School Management Source of Variation N r p-value Remark Principals’ Promotion of Professional Development Effective School Management 239 0.515 0.00 Sig Table 4 shows that there is a significant relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. The calculated r (0.515) had P-value < 0.05. The 2nd null hypothesis was therefore rejected. mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 37 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Discussion Results of the study revealed that there is an average positive relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. This implies that principals diagnostic monitoring include access to curriculum, abiding by scheme of work, use of diary, writing of lesson note, writing of lesson plan, truancy in students, discipline and counselling of students in public secondary schools. This finding corroborates with that of Akporehe and Asiyai (2021) who discovered that some principals conferred desired courtesy to monitoring of teachers’ school attendance, adequacy of diaries and preparation of lesson notes while duties such as the provision of reference books, instructional materials, review and feedback of activities with educational stakeholders were slightest performed by most school principals. In support of this Akinfolarin and Emetarom (2017) revealed that school principals are not involved in instructional supervision practices to witness classroom instruction and ensure that curriculum are covered, teachers’ compliance to schedules in school was not monitored, regular meeting with teachers where instructional challenges were discussed and give feedback to teachers after class surveillance in Anambra State. In line with the study Opurum (2019) stated that instructional supervision helps in lesson preparation, feedback mechanism and teaching aid utilization. Effective monitoring to ensure high quality organizational outcomes requires careful consideration of appropriate assessment and data tools. Furthermore, findings of this study also indicated a positive significant relationship between principals’ monitoring of instruction and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Results of the study indicated that there is an average positive relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. This finding is in consonance with that of Ololo, Onditi and Mwebi (2024) who observed that most teachers have embraced Continuous Teacher Professional Development to equip themselves with current professional knowledge and skills to effectively deliver the curriculum and promote good quality learning outcomes. Effective professional development should take cognizance of the needs of teachers, learners and school context. These findings were further supported by the principals during the interviews who reported that a few number of teachers demonstrate changes in their professional behaviours after attending T.P.D. courses. The finding imply that the principals should connect professional development of teachers to improvement in academic performance by ensuring that all professional development courses attended by teachers address school needs (Darling-Hammond, 2017). Ndabuki, Kasivu and Mwanza (2020) also revealed that principals support staff professional development in their schools by ensuring that funds are made available in the school annual budget for capacity- building. These study findings imply that principals of public secondary schools greatly support and promote the idea of staff professional development for their teachers. Furthermore, findings of this study also indicated a positive significant relationship between principals’ promotion of professional development and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. This finding is in agreement with that of Shikokoti, Okoth and Chepkonga (2021) who reported that there is a relationship between principals’ involvement on professional development mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol.10, Issue 2; March-April 2025; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 7.94 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 38 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC and teachers’ job satisfaction. This implies that the more principals do promote professional development the more teachers are satisfied with their jobs. Conclusion The findings of the study showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between principals’ instructional leadership (monitoring of instruction and promotion of professional development) and effective management of secondary schools in Anambra State. Principals’ application of instructional leadership competency in school management is essential for improving quality of instructional delivery. It is hoped therefore, that if all these tasks are satisfactorily performed by the principals and their performance greatly enhanced through ways suggested improving their competencies, the quality (in terms of professional and technical competencies) of our secondary school products will be improved. It will also ensure the attainment of the objectives of secondary school education as stipulated in the National Policy on Education. Recommendations Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: 1. The school principals should always have routine instructional supervision taking into cognizance the effective classroom management strategies, lesson preparation and delivery as well as class interaction. 2. School principals should appoint head-teachers who could assist them in checking teacher lesson note. They should ensure that records (diary, result, continuous assessment) are monitored in the school. 3. There is need to encourage teachers to attend professional developments this will enable them teachers advance with current trends in education. 4. Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission and all other education stakeholders embrace and support staff professional development to enhance learner performance in secondary schools. 5. Training of both principals and teachers will equip them with knowledge and skills required in curriculum delivery in schools for better learner performance. REFERENCES Ahmed, K.A. (2016). 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