Managing Teachers’ Work Environment and Cell Phone Related Distractions for Increased Performance in Secondary Schools in Rivers State of Nigeria

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 114 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.