An Assessment of Provosts’ Communication Skills in Colleges of Education in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the communication skills needed by provosts for effective management of Colleges of Education in Kwara State. The study was a descriptive survey study. It was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses. The population of the study comprised the academic staff and NCE students in the three Colleges of Education owned by Kwara State Government. In all, there are 426 academic staff and 7,500 NCE students in the three colleges. The samples consisted of 100 academic staff and 250 NCE students drawn proportionately from the three colleges. An instrument constructed by the researchers, titled: Provosts’ Communication Skills for Effective Management Questionnaire (PCSEMQ) was used for data collection. Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation and t-test statistics were used to analyse the data collected. The result of data analysis revealed the problems caused by poor usage of communication skills to include the decrease in the standard of Nigeria Certificate in Education; lack of sustainability of College’s good track record; lack of adequate control of staff and students; neglect of staff welfare and non-provision of grant for research and publications; poor supervision and monitoring of college’s activities; disruption of college environment making it difficult for lecturers to achieve their goals maximally; etc. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made which include the use of clear and concise language by provosts, constant use of face-to-face communication and the provosts being active listeners.