TEACHERS’ COMMITMENT TO THE CODE OF ETHICS OF PROFESSION AS PERCEIVED BY PRINCIPALS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE
AGUSIOBO, HILDA CHINEZE *
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Godfrey Okoye University, Thinkers’ Corner, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria
REV. FR. DONATUS NWOBODO
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Godfrey Okoye University, Thinkers’ Corner, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study aimed at determining the extent of teachers’ commitment to the code of ethics of profession as perceived by secondary school principals in Enugu State. Two types of ethical practices were identified. This study was a descriptive research. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A questionnaire of 25 items was used to gather information from secondary school principals. The questionnaire was face validated by 3 experts in Faculty of Education from Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. The reliability of the instrument was established using cronbach alpha technique which yielded a coefficient alpha of 0.86%. The instrument was based on a four point likert scale and was administered to 92 principals of Enugu and Nsukka education zones of Enugu State. The data obtained were analyzed using mean score and standard deviation for the research questions. For analysis of the hypotheses the t-test statistic was used. The result showed that the teachers to a great extent were committed to ethical practices of the profession in the perception of the principals. Gender and the fact that some principals headed a boarding school and some did not were not significant factors in the study.
A major recommendation of the study is that government should organize seminars, conferences, workshops and refresher courses for teachers in which the ethical practices expected of the teachers should be stressed.
Keywords: Code of Ethics, honesty, discipline, principals