Capacity-Building Needs of Principals for Conflict Resolution and Staff Appraisal in Secondary Schools in Anambra State

This study ascertained the capacity-building needs of principals for conflict resolution and staff appraisal in secondary schools. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study was conducted in public and private secondary schools in Anambra State using descriptive survey research design. There are 257 public secondary schools and 298 private secondary schools in the six education zones of Anambra State. Thus, the population of the study constituted of 555 respondents made up of 257 and 298 principals in public and private secondary schools respectively in the six education zones of the state. The sample of this study comprised 167 respondents made up of 30% of the entire population selected through proportionate random sampling technique. A questionnaire developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The face and content validity of the instrument were determined by three experts. The reliability co¬efficients of 0.75 and 0.81 were obtained for sections ?A? and ?B? of the instrument respectively using Cronbach alpha. The researchers together with the help of six research assistants administered the instrument. Mean scores and standard deviations were used to answer the research question while t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings indicated that principals need capacity-building on fostering harmony in the schools. They also need capacity-building on the use appraisal to assess deficiencies in work behaviours at scheduled intervals; they need capacity-building on the use staff appraisal to promote staff commitment to the school organization; they need capacity-building on the use staff appraisal to evaluate the staff strengths and weaknesses. It was found that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of principals in public and private secondary schools on their capacity-building needs for conflict resolution and staff appraisal in secondary schools. It was therefore recommended among others that the principals should use workshops for retraining to improve their administrative capabilities especially in the areas of conflict resolution and staff appraisal.