ASSESSMENT OF CONFLICT CONTROL MECHANISMS IN ADMINISTRATION OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (FCT) ABUJA, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted on the Assessment of Conflict Control Mechanisms in Administration of Junior Secondary Schools in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. The study has five objectives which are to; find out the use of mediation approach in conflict control, examine the use of negotiation mechanisms in conflict control, ascertain the use of consensus decision- making process in conflict control, assess the use of parents’ involvement in conflict control and find out the use of community initiative in conflict control in Junior Secondary Schools in (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. In line with these objectives, five research questions, five null hypotheses and five basic assumptions were formulated. Related literatures were reviewed along with four (4) empirical studies. Survey design was adopted for the study, a total of 357 respondents were sampled from the total population of 4294. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected were presented in tables and were analyzed using weighted mean to answer the research questions. The five hypotheses were tested using One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the bio- data of the respondents. The major findings of the study were among others; Mediation Mechanism is effectively used in controlling conflict in Junior Secondary Schools in FCT Abuja. Negotiation Mechanism is used in conflict control in Junior Secondary Schools in FCT Abuja. Consensus Decision Making Mechanism is used to promote collaboration between teachers and members of the school community thereby reducing conflict to the barest level in FCT Abuja. The following recommendations were made: Refresher courses should be organized regularly for head of schools to make them familiar with various conflict control mechanism that could be used in their schools, School administrators should see the need to negotiate with all parties in conflict in order not to disrupt academic process in their schools, Principals should always create room for robust decision making with their staff in order to ensure smooth running of the school.