TEACHERS’ VIEWS OF UNETHICAL ACTIVITIES AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS IN DELTA STATE MISSION SCHOOLS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
Early Christian missionaries’ primary purpose was to educate indigenous peoples in order to convert them to Christianity. A good Christian was regarded to need Bible knowledge, the ability to sing hymns and memorize catechisms, and the ability to communicate vocally and in writing.
Several missionary groups sprang up during this time, each with its own political, economic, and theological leanings, all vying to create as many schools as possible. It’s worth mentioning that each missionary organization operated and sponsored its own educational system. Mission schools have grown like wildfire across the United States (Nwaze, 2010).
Mission schools, like any other school in Nigeria, face a host of difficulties that jeopardize its primary goals. Mission schools must cope with a wide range of administrative options as well as unethical behavior. Differences in the duties and responsibilities of teachers within the school system may enhance the likelihood of conflict in certain situations. As a result, there is little discussion of the ethics that underpin the difficult judgments that must be made.
Unethical behavior is frequently the outcome of decisions that require value judgments about what is the correct or best thing to do in a given situation. According to Campbell (2008), doing the “right thing” appears simple most of the time, but when an ethically complex situation arises, it may cause people to question their ethics in practice. He continued by stating that education is ultimately a moral enterprise, with administrators, teachers, and the entire school community grappling with severe ethical concerns on a regular basis.
Moral thought, according to Kohlberg (2010), is not an essential prerequisite for ethical behavior. Teachers are frequently expected to do the “right thing,” therefore ethics and moral principles may easily become part of the hidden curriculum.
This suggests that the concepts driving instructors’ behaviors are so firmly embedded in practice that they are rarely confronted, questioned, or discussed. Lyons (2006), on the other hand, rightly noted that the majority of teachers indicated difficulty in dealing with real-life unethical situations that they experienced in the course of their daily operations inside the school system.
However, as Leke (2009) points out, unethical activities in mission schools include instructor and student absenteeism, cheating during examinations, bad attire, drug use, lying and being late to school and lectures, and leaking test questions. These immoral tactics irritate instructors’ and students’ minds, interfering with their and their peers’ learning (Aduma, & Auwal, 2007).
For parents, the quality of education is decided by what influences their children, namely the school environment based on learner character development. Learning and work ethics are essential factors in determining educational excellence. Schools with a high percentage of unethical activity are unable to produce disciplined and quality graduates.
This reduces the value of our educational commodities based on the standards we use to evaluate human conduct. To put it another way, moral values such as promoting what is deemed good and minimizing or avoiding what is deemed bad are instilled in children from an early age at home and in school. Mission schools encounter not just unethical behavior within the organization, but also management issues.
Mission schools and school administrators must cope with a number of issues (principals and teachers). According to Sidhu (2007), these issues include a rise in student enrollment, a lack of credibility, inadequate facilities, political instability, a lack of collaboration, non-performance, a lack of dedication, obsolete expertise, waste, and bad planning.
Similarly, managerial issues may be the outcome of the mission school’s current location in a changing society. Today’s culture is constantly changing, with one development leading to the next. The public realm has become increasingly bewildered, divided, and disgruntled (Grimmett & Echols 2010). This is because the rapid pace of change has touched all institutions, especially mission schools.
The culture of students and instructors at educational institutions has changed dramatically, influencing their views about teaching and learning (Nwaka, 2010). Learning, skills, attitudes, instructional materials, equipment, and practices from the past are quickly becoming obsolete, irrelevant, or inadequate.
While the community is undergoing these rapid upheavals, education has been viewed as the sole means of salvation. According to the researcher, education, as the foundation of all societies and an internationally competitive economy, is the most efficient way for a society to handle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
1.2 Problem description
Unethical actions and management issues have afflicted a mission school that is well-regarded by the government, the host community, and parents. Due to these issues, parents have lost faith in their children who attend mission schools across Nigeria, notably in Delta state.
The influence of unethical behaviors on school management, school climate, the quality of school graduates, and public opinion on mission schools is well documented. This has a negative influence on the social worth of mission schools on a local, national, and global scale. These are some of the factors that have been identified as contributing to a perceived reduction in teacher quality of instruction and student academic performance.
Increased dropout rates, as well as inter-school mobility among local governments, states, and nations, are regarded as unethical in Delta State mission schools. Scholars are also aware of the implications of waste in education caused by corruption as a result of immoral behaviors, after substantial financial, human, and material expenditures in mission schools.
However, one issue that has bothered the researcher is how mission school teachers see unethical behavior and management issues in their school system. As a result, the focus of the study is on teachers’ judgments of unethical behavior and management decisions in Delta State mission schools.
1.3 The study’s purpose
The study’s principal goal is as follows:
To investigate unethical activities as seen by instructors in Delta State mission schools?
To investigate the causes of unethical behavior in Delta State mission schools?
To discover the ramifications of unethical practices in Delta State mission schools?
to look into disciplinary possibilities for unethical behavior in Delta State mission schools?
1.4 Hypotheses for research
H01: Unethical activities in Delta State mission schools have no penalties.
H02: In Delta State mission schools, there are no management disciplinary measures for unethical practices.
1.5 Importance of the research
The importance of this study cannot be overstated because:
l The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of unethical practices and management options in Delta State mission schools.
The conclusions of this research will surely provide much-needed information to government institutions, the Ministry of Education, and academics.
1.7 The scope of the research
This study will look at teachers’ perceptions of unethical practices and management options in Delta State mission schools. As a result, will be restricted to a few Asaba mission schools.
1.8 The study’s limitations
A variety of difficulties hampered this investigation, which are as follows:
just like any other research, from a lack of needed precise materials on the issue under study to an inability to obtain data
The researcher faced financial constraints in obtaining pertinent materials as well as printing and collating surveys.
Time limitation: Another constraint is time, which makes it difficult for the researcher to juggle between producing the research and engaging in other academic activity.
1.9 Definitions of terminology
Unethical practice: a conduct that is regarded wrong or improper for a person, profession, or industry.
The process of dealing with or controlling objects or people is referred to as management.
A mission school is a religious school founded and managed by Christian missionaries.
REFERENCES
P. S. Aduma and A. Auwal (2007). A Survey of Behavioral Issues and Management Strategies in Secondary Schools in the Akwanga Local Government Area 1(2):117-127 in Lapai Journal of Arts and Education.
G. H. Campbell (2008). The nature and influence of values in major decision making. Doctoral dissertation, unpublished. Toronto University
P. P. Grimmett and F. H. Echols (2010). In changing times, there are teacher and administrator shortages. 25th Canadian Journal of Education (4). Pp 328-343
L. Kohlberg, “The Psychology of Moral Development: Essays on Moral Development,” vol.10, 2010. Harper and Row, San Francisco
Leke, O. (2009). Ethics and Conflict Resolution in Nigerian Universities, International Journal of Social and Policy Issues, 6(1), 98-110.
Lyons, N. (2006). Knowing dilemmas: Ethical and epistemological dimensions of teacher work and growth 60,159-181 Harvard Educational Review
Secondary School Administration in Anambra State Today: Challenges and the Way Forward, an International MultiDisciplinary Journal, Ethiopia, Nwaka, N. G.
K. S. Sidhu (2007). School administration and organization Sterling Publishers PVT,Ltd., New Delhi
Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic
TEACHERS’ VIEWS OF UNETHICAL ACTIVITIES AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS IN DELTA STATE MISSION SCHOOLS