This study used a structural equation modelling approach to assess the association between employee work-life policies, psychological empowerment, and academic staff job commitment in universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study following a descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection of 315 academic staff from two universities in the study area. “Work-Life Policies, Psychological Empowerment and Job Commitment Questionnaire (WPPEJCQ)” was used as the instrument for data collection. The construct validity of the instrument was ascertained through an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Kaiser-Meyer-Ohlin of .894 and the Bartlett coefficient of 7795.820 were obtained. Several fit indices of Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to accept the model such as RMSEA=.031, TLI=.969, CFI=.971 and many others. The null hypotheses were all tested using Path analysis. Findings revealed, among others, that there is a significant effect of work-life policies on the affective (β=.774,t=21.636,p<.05), continuance (β=.450,t=8.932,p<.05), and normative (β=490,t=9.967,p<.05) dimensions of academic staff commitment; furthermore, psychological empowerment has a significant effect on the affective (β=.795,t=23.199,p<.05), continuance (β=.501,t=10.261,p<.05) and normative (β = .520, t = 10.795, p< .05) dimensions of staff commitment; and there is a significant composite effect of work-life policies and psychological empowerment on the affective, continuance, and normative commitment levels of academic staff in universities. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made

Primary education is universally accepted as the foundation laying level of education in all nations of the world. It provides the mini-structural framework on which the quality of other levels of education is anchored. It is on this premise that this paper examines the pertinent issues that, if properly addressed would recapture and refocus policies in Nigeria for qualitative education at the secondary and tertiary levels. These issues include: A deliberate and conscious effort at achieving the goals of primary education in Nigeria, Addressing the perennial problems of teachers and teaching in primary schools and the management of primary education in general, Dealing with the virus of examination malpractices at the level of primary education and its effect on higher education. In the light of these and other issues adversely affecting the quality of products of education, this paper recommends, among others that the implementation of national policy in primary education by states and private institutions should be closely monitored to ensure uniformity in quality output from the nations primary schools. All primary schools in Nigeria, irrespective of where they are located, should be given a face lift with modern infrastructures in terms of building for administration, classrooms, introductory technology workshops, library, equipment and all relevant instructional materials to ensure effective teaching and learning.

This study aimed at Investigating Head teachers' Managerial Behaviour and Teachers' Task Performance in Public Primary Schools in Calabar-South L.G.A. of Cross River State. Three (3) hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The survey research design was adopted for the study. The study population comprised all the head teachers and deputy head teachers in the twenty one (21) public primary schools in Calabar-South L.G.A. The twenty one (21) head teachers and twenty one (21) deputy head teachers in the twenty one (21) public primary schools in the area were purposively used as sample for the study. The instruments for data collection were two structured questionnaire; Head teachers' Managerial Behaviour Questionnaire (HTMBQ) and Teachers' Task Performance Questionnaire, which were subjected to reliability test using test-retest method and were found reliable at 0.72 and 0.76 r-values. Data collected were analyzed using contingency chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that head teachers' decision-making strategy and head teachers' leadership style have significant influence on teachers' task performance in the sampled schools. And that head teachers' communication skills significantly relates to teachers' task performance in the area. Based on this result, it was recommended that head teachers should adopt appropriate managerial behaviour to boost teachers' morale towards high task performance.

This study was undertaken to assess the causal effects of the wastage of school material resources and school system effectiveness in secondary schools in Cross River State of Nigeria. A survey was conducted using a sample of 1,480 respondents (271 principals, 396 vice principals, and 813 teachers. Data were collected through two instruments Wastage of School Material Resources Questionnaire (WSMRQ) designed by the researchers, validated by three experts, and with Cronbach alpha reliability of .895; School System Effectiveness Scale (SSES) designed and validated psychometrically by Bassey, Owan, and Eze (2019) with Cronbach reliability values of .982, .983, and .930 for the three sub-scales, and a reliability coefficient of .941 for the overall instrument. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling were employed in analysing collected data. Findings of the study revealed that school material resources are wasted in different and numerous ways. Some of these ways are significant while others are not. Teaching equipment that are wasted in schools include manuals, desks, workbooks, charts, projectors, playgrounds, drawing books, chalks, textbooks, laboratories, chalkboard/whiteboards, markers, handbooks, and computers. It was discovered also that wastage of school farm resources, buildings, and teaching equipment have a direct significant but negative effect on the effectiveness of schools, accounting for 17% of the total variance in the effectiveness of the school. It was concluded, that increment in the wastage of school material resources will cause the effectiveness of schools to decline. The implication of the finding of this study is discussed for global best practices. Contribution/Originality:This study contributes to the existing literature by being the first to used a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to analyse the direct and indirect effects of the wastage of school material resources on school system effectiveness.

This study assessed school management practices, teachers' effectiveness and students' academic performance in mathematics in Cross River State's secondary schools. The study was guided by two formulated null hypotheses. The study adopted the factorial research design. Simple and proportionate stratified random sampling techniques were adopted in selecting a sample of 2,145 (893 teachers and 1252 students) from a population of 6,356 teachers, and 39,468 senior secondary school students respectively. "School Management Practices Questionnaire" (SMPQ), "Teachers' Effectiveness Questionnaire" (TEQ), and Students' Mathematics Achievement Test (SMAT) were all used as instruments for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was established using the Gutman Split-Half (GSH) reliability technique, with coefficients of .919, .889, and .952 obtained for SMPQ, TEQ, and SMAT respectively. The null hypotheses were all tested at .05 alpha level using Pearson correlation matrix and multiple regression. Multiple regression was employed as a multivariate statistical tool due to its ability to examine the combined effect of several independent variables on a dependent variable. Findings revealed that principals' leadership techniques, conflict management, teachers' motivation, teachers' discipline, school supervision, students' records management, students' discipline, effective communication, teachers' effectiveness, and students' academic performance are significantly related. The eight independent variables jointly predicted teachers' effectiveness (F= 505.47, p<.05) and students' academic performance (F=728.16, p<.05) significantly. It was recommended that secondary school principals should perform their routine duties of school management regularly and consistently in order to boost teachers' effectiveness and improve students' academic performance in mathematics. Contribution/Originality:This study is one of few studies which have assessed inter-relationships among some school management practices, teachers' effectiveness and students' performance in Mathematics. The study also contributes to existing literature by determining the partial and cumulative effects of some school management practices on teachers' effectiveness and students' performance respectively.