Utilization of Information Communication Technology for the Improvement of Personnel Economics in the Administration of Public Secondary Schools in Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated utilization of information communication technology for the improvement of personnel economics in the administration of public secondary schools in Rivers state. The study had two objectives, with corresponding research questions and hypotheses. A descriptive survey design was employed, and the population consisted of 11,258 secondary school teachers from 258 public senior secondary schools in Rivers state, with 4,127 males and 7,131 females. A sample of 383 teachers (163 males and 220 females) was drawn from 15 public senior secondary schools using the Taro Yamane Formula and a two-stage sampling technique of stratified and simple random sampling. Data was collected using a self-structured questionnaire titled "Utilization of Information and Communication Technology and Personnel Economics in Secondary School Administration." The questionnaire underwent face and content validation by three experts and demonstrated good reliability with a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.82. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while inferential statistics utilized the z-test. The findings indicated a significant difference between male and female teachers in their perceptions of ICT utilization for teachers' supervision and evaluation, highlighting the potential for ICT to improve personnel economics in the administration of public secondary schools in Rivers state. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that implementing various ICT-based strategies such as developmental supervision, contextual supervision, clinical supervision, and collaborative forms of developmental supervision could enhance the effectiveness of teaching staff and overall school productivity in public secondary schools in Rivers state.