A Synodal Church: The Church in a Journey or a Journey in the Church?

Observation after facilitating few sessions of the people of God on the synod on synodality shows that it fills the atmosphere of the Church with the  mixture of extreme doubts and exceeding joy. This article, therefore, is an attempt to contribute to the debate and provide footpaths for fruitful and  enriching discussions as the synod goes on. The question that is most prominent in this discussion is whether the synod is the Church in movement or a  movement in the Church. This goes on to point out that the Church of the future will be largely determined by the way we see and handle this synod

TEACHERS’ ATTRITION IN PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA: CAUSES AND THE WAY FORWARD

The seeming high teacher turnover in private secondary schools necessitated this study on teachers’ attrition in private secondary schools in Enugu State: causes and the way forward. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. One research question guided the study. The population of the study comprised 17,217 teachers in the 923 private secondary schools in Enugu State. The sample for the study comprised 391 teachers using the Taro Yamen sample size formular. A researcher’s developed questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts who are lecturers, two in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Educational Foundations and the other in Educational Management and Planning, Department of Educational Management and Policy all in the Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The Cronbach’s Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.72. The researcher with the help of ten research assistants distributed and successfully collected 368 copies of the questionnaire administered. The research question was answered using the arithmetic mean. It was found among others that non-participation of teachers in professional development programmes like conferences and seminars is one of the causes of teachers’ attrition in private secondary schools in Enugu State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that private secondary school principals in Enugu State should sponsor and allow teachers to participate in professional development programmes with the view of curbing the high rate of teachers’ attrition.  Article visualizations

SCHOOL MAPPING AS THE DETERMINANT OF THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION RESOURCES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

In this study, the researcher investigated school mapping as a determinant for the provision of education resources in public secondary schools in Imo State. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used to collect data from the respondents was “School Mapping as a Determinant for the Provision of Education Resources in Public Secondary Schools in Imo State Questionnaire (SMDPERPSSISQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts. The reliability of the SMDPERPSSISQ was established through a pilot testing and analysis using Cronbach alpha which yielded an average of 0.84 considered high enough for the study. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were used to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses. In testing the null hypotheses, when p-value is equal or greater than 0.05 level of significance, the null hypothesis is accepted, but if it is otherwise, the null hypothesis is rejected. The finding of the study, among others is that most of the schools in the study area are concentrated in the urban areas with few of them are cited in the rural areas. It was therefore recommended that more schools should be located at the rural communities to provide education opportunities for children of school age in the rural area. Article visualizations

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Secondary education aimed at developing individual for useful living. Among its specific goal is the provision of diverse curriculum in technical knowledge, vocational skills’ acquisition, and commerce. These objectives no doubt equip learners with entrepreneurial skills needed for socio-economic development. This is to say that there is a link between secondary education goals and socio-economic development in Nigeria. Unfortunately, there seems to be poor socio-economic development which ranges from high rates of corruption, social vices, unemployment, low wages and income, among others. In view of these, it appears there is a missing link between secondary education goals and the present socio-economic development in Nigeria. Thus, the researchers show that the bridge between secondary education goals and the socio-economic development is quality assurance in secondary education. Hence, this paper examined the concept of quality assurance, socio-economic development and above all, ways school principals can enhance quality assurance in secondary education in order to achieve socio-economic development in Nigeria. It is hoped that the result of the study will assist school principals in designing relevant managerial skills that can enhance quality assurance in secondary education for socio-economic development in Nigeria.  Article visualizations

UTILIZATION OF E-LEARNING RESOURCES AMONG LECTURERS IN NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY STUDY CENTERS IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

Despite the effort of the Federal Government of Nigeria to enhance the quality of the learning process in Nigerian universities by introducing the use of ICT resources in schools through which lecturers will acquire knowledge and skills that would enable them source the internet and utilize e-learning resources for qualitative teaching, the attainment of the e-learning objectives in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) appears elusive. The study investigated the utilization of e-learning resources among lecturers in National Open University study centers in South East Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study, while survey design was adopted. The population of the study comprised all the 724 facilitators in National Open University study centers, South East Nigeria. The sample size comprised 84 lecturers obtained through simple random sampling and accidental sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used to collect data. The reliabilities of the clusters in the instrument which were ascertained with Cronbach alpha method were found to be 0.71, 0.80 and 0.77. The data collected were analyzed using mean. The findings of the study revealed that many of the lecturers utilized e-learning resources for instructional delivery, research purposes and evaluation purposes. Based on the findings, it was recommended that University administrators should promote the use of e learning among lecturers by providing technologically enhanced libraries in order to support the use of e learning for the tripartite purposes of instructional delivery, research and evaluation. Article visualizations

Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Performance in Nigeria

The study examined corporate social responsibility on financial performance of banks in Nigeria by using earning per share, gross earning and profit after tax as measures of financial performance of banks in Nigeria. The study design was ex-post-facto. Pearson correlation and simple regression analysis were the major statistical tools used for the analysis through the application of SPSS version 20.0 and E-View 8.0 software packages. Correlation results showed that whereas the relationship between corporate social responsibility and earning per share was positive but insignificant, it showed strong, positive and significant relationships with gross earning and profit after tax respectively. Similarly, corporate social responsibility expenditure was found to have insignificant effect on earnings per share, it has significant effect on gross earning and profit after tax of the banks in Nigeria. The study recommends among others that corporate organizations should endeavor to give more to the society in CSR and leverage it to enhance the financial performance of their businesses in the country