| Abstract: | The study examined the management of teachers’ work
environment and cell phone related distractions for increased performance
in secondary schools in Rivers State of Nigeria. Two research questions and
two hypotheses were answered and tested in the study, respectively. The
design for the study was the analytic descriptive survey, with the population
as all the 258 public secondary schools in the state. These schools have a
corresponding number of 258 principals, who acted as participants in the
study, from which 155, representing 60% were selected as sampling, using
the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Respondents of the
study responded to a fourteen (14) item instrument titled ‘Teachers’ Work
Environment and Cell Phone Related Distractions Management for
Increased Performance Scale (TWECPRDMIPS)’ designed by the
researchers in the modified 4-point Likert scale model, with a reliability
index of 0.81, determined using the Cronbach Alpha statistics. Mean and
standard deviation were used in answering the research questions while
z.test statistics was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance. The findings of the study show that the strategies for managing
teachers’ work environment distractions include turning off alert from all
personal technologies to investing in noise absorbing materials and that in
managing cell phone related distractions, administrators should develop a
policy on the use of cell phones to providing technology breaks for teachers
in schools. The study also found no significant difference between the mean
ratings of male and female principals on the strategies for managing
teachers’ work environment distractions for increased performance and no
significant difference between the mean ratings of principals from rural and
urban schools on the strategies for managing teachers’ cell phone related
distractions for increased performance in secondary schools in Rivers State.
It was therefore concluded that deliberate management of teachers work
environment and cell phone related distractions has positive implications for
increasing Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Private Higher Education in
Africa
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teacher performance in secondary schools in Rivers State. It was
recommended that school administrators should continue to use appropriate
management strategies in managing teachers work environment and cell
phone related distractions in order to increase their performance. |
