SCHOOL RECORD KEEPING: A STRATEGY FOR
MANAGEMENT OF NIGERIAN SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
By
DR.Y.A. Fasasi
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN.
Abstract
This paper focuses on keeping of school
records as a strategy for management of secondary educational institutions in
Nigeria. Educational industry has certain problems which makes its administration
complex. Therefore school managers are expected to use their administrative
skills to solve such problems and ensure the achievement of educational
objectives. Through school records, management functions such as planning human
and materials resources, directing of school programmes and funding can be
enhanced. School records can also assist school managers in supplying
information to and soliciting assistance from parents, communities, government
agencies and international organizations. Ensuring safety and confidentially of
school records, positive attitude towards record keeping, adequate knowledge of
record keeping and availability of record materials are recommended as means of
making school records a management tool.
Introduction
Development of a society is closely
tied to its level of educational development. In Nigeria, for instance the
belief is that the higher the level of educational attainment, the better the
condition of living and the overall development of the citizens. Hence
education has been adopted as an instrument for effecting national development
(Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004).
Moreover,
problems facing Nigerians such as poverty, political instability, poor
agricultural products and poor transportation are being attributed to lack of a
type of education that is relevant and adequate for the need of the nation.
Thus, it is believed that a solution to such problems lies in acquisition of
the right type of skills knowledge and competencies through education.
As
a result of the belief in education as a potent solution to emerging or
existing societal problems, a lot of human and material resources are being invested
on regular basis, into the nation’s educational institutions. At secondary
school level, like the other two levels of education, the investments in the
past years have been very enormous.
Incidentally,
there are many problems which are emanating within the secondary educational
institutions. For instance, problems such as examination malpractices, poor
academic performance, moral decadence and other forms of deviant behaviour, are
of regular occurrence in the institutions. As the problems occur they
constitute impediments to the achievement of educational objectives.
One
of the presumed causes of these problems is poor management. Whenever a problem
erupts in a school, managers of the school i.e. principal, vice principals,
head of units and subject teachers are looked upon for solution. The belief is
that if schools are well managed, things will go on smoothly and the
educational objectives will be achieved. The extent to which a manager is able
to rise up to this challenge would determine the level of confidence he would
enjoy from this government and the public.
School
managers are therefore, expected to perform management functions on order to
control the activities of members of the school. In this paper, the focus is on
strategies for using school records for effective management of secondary
educational institutions in Nigeria.
Management of secondary schools
Management
is a process of making use of human and non-human resources to achieve
organizational goals (Onifade, 2004). Management involves planning,
controlling, organizing, staffing, leading, coordinating and directing the
available resources (Adeleke, 2001). Management of secondary schools refers to
a process of making use of the available resources towards the achievement of
an education goal at secondary school level. The goals, according to the National
Policy on Education, are preparation of individuals for:
(a)
useful
living within the society, and
(b)
higher
education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004)
The head of school and their
subordinates have the administrative responsibilities of directing available
resources towards actualization of the goals. They plan classrooms and
out-of-classroom activities for teachers and students. They also co-ordinate
the school activities in order to ensure that many programmes go on at the same
time without one conflicting with others.
Specifically they perform the
following administrative duties.
1.
Resources
and programme planning and policy making
2.
Provision
and maintenance of funds and facilities.
3.
Obtaining
and development of personnel.
4.
Improvement
of instructional programmes.
5.
Student
personnel services and
6.
Maintenance
of effective interrelationship with the community and external agencies (Nwankwo,
1982.)
In spite of the fact that many school
managers do engage in these duties, problems of indiscipline are still rampant
among their teachers and students. The reason for these could have been that,
school managers are operating within a complex environment which could be
posing a lot challenges to their successful administration.
According to Nwankwo (1982), there
have been changes in composition of school personnel in terms of numbers,
gender and student-teacher relationship. Also modern technological development
has led to information and knowledge explosion; and, students are no more
reliant on teachers as their sole source of information. Other reasons include,
increasing politicalization of education which has brought about divergent
demands from government, politicians, parents and other stake-holders. Changes
in societal values are posing another challenge to a school manager. Little
attention is being paid to educational pursuit and the attention is more on
acquisition of wealth. These developments, which are true in the present as
they were in the past are making school administration complex. Also the situation
could have led to a breakdown of law and order in schools.
Therefore, improvement on existing
administrative practices and exploring ways of tackling any emerging problems
is demanded of school managers in order to overcome the administrative
problems.
School records and their essence in
secondary educational institutions.
Records as defined by the American
Heritage Dictionary (1980), and cited by Onifade (2004), are ‘information or
data on a particular subject collected and preserved’ This definition implies
that any processed or unprocessed datum that is collected and kept for future
use constitutes a ‘record’. (p.60)
On
regular basis, information on school personnel (pupils, teachers and
non-teachers), facilities, funds and school activities, are collected and
preserved. This collection becomes school records. School records are therefore
information or data which are collected on various aspects of a school and
preserved for future use. The information or data which are written manually or
electronically are preserved in books, files, diskettes and other electronic
materials. Mbiti (1974), summmarises this concept when he states that school
records include all books and files containing information on what goes on in
school, who is in the school and the type of properties owned by the school.
School records include
(i)
A register
of admission and withdrawal
(ii)
A
register of attendance
(iii)
A
log-book
(iv)
A cash
book
(v)
A visitor’s
book
(vi)
A copy
of education law
(vii)
Scheme
of work
(viii)
Teacher’s
record of work
(ix)
School
time-table
(x)
Corporal
punishment book
(xi)
Counterfoils
of transfer and leaving certificates, and
(xii)
Minutes
book of the Board of Governors. (Olagboye, 2004 p. 122)
School records serve as a bank in
which information is deposited and kept with the hope of retrieving and
utilizing in the future. Proper keeping of school records could enhance
planning process, serve as historical record, provide knowledge on students academic
performance and facilitate schools’ financial administration. It will also
provide a basis for advisory and counselling services.
School records provide raw data which
can be used by officials of education ministries for planning purpose. Data
collected from school records on pupils enrolment and school facilities can be
analysed in order to determine the number of teachers and other resources that
would be needed by the school. Within the school, records would enhance
planning for placement of students into higher classes.
Through records, especially the
log-book, the history of the school could be known. Important events of the
school are recorded in the log-book. Hence, it services as a good reference
point of whoever intends to know the happening in the school. In fact, it
serves as historical sources of useful information to principal’s or
headmaster’s successor and to outside researchers’ (Edem, 1982).
School records also enables us know
the termly and yearly academic performance of students. School managers will be
able to determine the academic progress of the students and take necessary
precautionary measures towards improving their academic performance.
The financial status of the school
could be determined through school records. Income and expenditure of the
school are entered into appropriate ledger, and this enhances accountability on
the part of the school administrator.
School records also provide a basis
for advisory and counselling services. Teachers, head teachers and school
counsellors could make use of records in order to give advice on students’
academic activities.
Using school record as a management
strategy
One
purpose a school record can serve is to assist in effective management of the
school. Managers are required to keep records not only because it is a
statutory duty but because of its value in improving management practices.
School records can enhance managerial duty performances in the following area:
(i) Planning
for resource acquisition and utilization
Resources
such as teachers, non-teachers and students, constitute the personnel in the
school. They are to be absorbed into the school in adequate quantity and
quality. Also, facilities that would be needed in the school should be
determined by the administration. Records such as students’ admission and
attendance registers, school inventories book and teachers’ register will be
consulted in order to plan for acquisition of the resources. Their utilization
should also be planned for when records are consulted.
Time
is another scarce resource which needs to be well managed in order to avoid its
being wasted. School calendar, time-table and class time-table could be used to
allocate programmes, curricular and co-curricular activities of the school.
Planning, coordination, control and organizing of school activities could be
enhanced through the use of these records.
(ii) Student
and staff personnel services
Teachers’
office accommodation and students’ classroom accommodation should be provided
in school. Also, teachers and students’ school and classroom attendance and
movement during school periods should be monitored. Another aspect of personnel
services is control and modification of students’ and staff behaviour. Records
such as students attendance register, staff time book, staff movement book,
students class records book, teachers class record book, corporal punishment
book, staff personal file and, students personal file will be administratively
relevant in this situation. As stated by Akube (1991) when people are aware
that records are being kept about them, they tend to be more careful in their
general behaviour. Moreover, government regulations on what to do (course
content, curriculum) who do it (personnel) when to do it (time) where to do it
(educational institutions) and how to do it (methodology, funding, and
facilities required), are vital to school management. These are contained in
the education law and the National Policy on education which are to be kept in
school.
(iii) Financial
management
When
financial transactions are properly documented and kept in records, incidence
of fraud, overspending and financial waste, will be curtailed to large extent.
Records such as cash book, bank account book, cheque book, account ledger and
receipt for payments, are useful records for this purpose.
(iv) Improvement
of instructional programme could be achieved when records such as lesson plan,
scheme of work and record of work are kept. Teacher’s activities could be
controlled and monitored when records of what has been done and what should be
done within a period are checked. The teacher could advised praised encouraged
and directed as appropriate.
(v) Maintenance
of effective interpersonal relationship with the community and external
agencies. Record such as visitors book, Parent-Teachers Association minute
book and Board of Governor’s book, constitute points of reference of fostering
good relationship between school and external bodies, knowing their needs and
getting the needs of the school across to them.
Recommendations
School record may not be able to
serve its purpose as a management tool unless certain measures are taken by the
school administrators. The following recommendations are therefore worthy of
note.
School
and classroom administrators should develop a positive attitude towards record
keeping. As a result of lack of commitment on the part of the administrators,
some records are not properly kept while some are not kept at all. For example,
many schools including government owned ones, are not having copies of
education law and national policy on education, in their schools. Records
should be seen as “a tool for attainment of school objectives, and as a routinized
ritual with no useful purpose in view” (Edem, 1982, p.3).
As
a corollary to this teachers should have an understanding of record keeping
process. At school level, a seminar on record-keeping should be held and
samples of all records should be made available for teachers to see. Through
this method, records such as log-book and punishment book which are usually
kept in the head of a school’s office, would be seen and handled by younger
teachers. In addition, teachers should acquire knowledge on modern methods of
record keeping which are made available through modern information technology.
Records
should be kept honestly, accurately, safely and confidentially, planning done
with falsified records can not be accurate and this will not augur well for the
nation’s educational development.
Finally,
the government and the school authorities should provide facilities that are
required for record keeping. For example, record books, files, audio and visual
equipment, should be provided in sufficient quantity. Storage facilities which
will enhance safety of the records from theft, mutilation, destruction and
accessibility to unauthorized persons, should be provided to all schools.
Conclusion
School records are meant to enhance
the performance of secondary school administrators. When records are kept and
utilized appropriately, execution of management functions is likely to be easy
and effective. School records also enable teachers and student to be alive to
their responsibilities and work conscientiously towards the achievement of
educational objectives.
References
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(1974). Foundations
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