ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA

The study investigated the relationship between Organizational Identity and Public and Private Senior Secondary School Effectiveness in South West Nigeria. To put the study on course, three hypotheses were formulated. In the same vein, three separate instruments were designed and constructed to collect pertinent data namely the School Identity Questionnaire (SIQ), the School Effectiveness Questionnaire (SEQ) and Performance Records of Students in West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). While the first instrument measured identity, the other two simultaneously measured effectiveness. There was a total sample of 2,400 students from 120 sample schools at 20 students per 20 schools in each of the six South West States – Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. Also, a total of 120 principals participated in the study. The Questionnaires were subjected to content and construct validity as well as split-half reliability test. The reliability coefficient for the SIQ was found to be 0.86 and for the SEQ was 0.90. The data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis employing the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient Analysis to test Hypotheses 1and 2, and the Analysis of Variance to test Hypothesis 3. Results of the analysis indicate that there is no significant relationship between organizational identity and school effectiveness in the two categories of schools separately, public and private. However, a significant relationship was found to exist between organizational identity and school effectiveness in private schools only when WASSCE Results were used as a measure of effectiveness. Results also show that a significant difference exists in organizational identity and school effectiveness between public and private senior secondary schools irrespective of the instrument used in measuring effectiveness. Recommendations were then made, in the light of the results, among which are that some degree of autonomy should be given to senior secondary schools for them to grow and develop their identity and effectiveness and, that the identity and effectiveness should regularly be monitored and measured for school improvement purposes. Key words: organizational identity, secondary school, school effectiveness.