Management of skill-oriented subjects and goal attainment in private secondary schools in Ikom Education Zone, Cross River State, Nigeria

This study investigated management of skill-oriented subjects and goal attainment in private secondary schools in Ikom Education Zone, Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of the study, two research questions were raised and converted to two null hypotheses to guide the study. Literature review was done based on the variables of the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 127 private secondary schools in Ikom Education Zone, Cross River State. All the 127 administrators of the schools were used for the study through census approach. The instrument for the study was the researchers-developed questionnaire titled: Management of Skill Oriented Subject Questionnaire (MSOSQ) and School Goal Attainment Questionnaire (SGAQ) designed on four-point Likert scale format. The MSOSQ measured 6 items, while SGAQ measured 18 items. The instrument was validated by two experts in Test, Measurement and Evaluation Department, University of Calabar. After the trial test, the reliability coefficient range of 0.72 to 0.91 were obtained which were considered reliable. The data collected were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Product Correlation Analysis at 0.05 level of significance with 125 degree of freedom. Findings revealed that management of Agricultural Science and Introductory Technology subjects did not have a significant relationship with secondary school goals attainment in terms of higher education opportunity, knowledge acquisition and learning outcome. It was recommended among others that Principals should ensure adequate management of skills oriented subjects in order to make students employable rather than job seekers. Keywords: Management, Skill-Oriented Subject, Goal Attainment, Computational Content, Introductory Technology