Abstract

The study aimed to compare the views of college principals and teachers regarding the various administrative problems faced by principals and how these problems affect their job. By using stratified random sampling technique 28 college principals and 140 faculty members were randomly selected from the six districts. A self-made validated questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The Cronbach’s alpha values for administrative problems and job performance were 0.73 and 0.85 respectively. Study results showed that both the parties have similar perceptions about the administrative problems and job performance of college principals. Both respondents agreed that due to massive administrative problems, college principals may not be able to achieve vision and mission of the college. It was recommended that providing capacity building and continuous professional development opportunities may be worthwhile strategies for improving the administrative roles of principals.

Key Words

Comparison, Administrative Problems, Job Performance, College Principal, Faculty Member, Professional Development

Introduction

Principals are the backbone of the college. They are responsible for developing and approving the curricula, monitor students’ learning, evaluate teaching methodology, observe teachers and students in curricular and co-curricular activities, encourage community participation, formulate and revise policies and procedures, hiring new staff, prepare budget and supervisee facilities. Other responsibilities may include developing safety procedures and response to emergency situation. To perform the above-mentioned responsibilities principals face numerous problems. Some problems often need immediate attention such as students’ disciplinary problems. Educational administrators have to make key decisions regarding administrative and instructional matters, prepare budgets, hire staff, and arrange co-curricular activities with the ultimate goal of improving students’ academic performance. They play the role of administrator, leader and manager simultaneously. 

Educational administration deals with coordinating the activities performed by different people in different styles which shows the active side of the education. It is related with the established set of policies, budgeting and financing, organizational resources and keeping records of the events taken place in the organization (Noor, 2013). The major purpose of the educational administration is to use resources like time, money, space and human effectively for the achievement of set goals. It is also concerned with planning, organizing, coordinating, leading, staffing, budgeting, evaluating, and communicating (Rajput, 1998). Hanson (2005) declared that the major goal of educational administration is to provide a conducive and congenial working environment in the institution to improve the teaching-learning process and students’ academic achievement. Further he stated that it is an ongoing and continuous process of improvement both in academic and non-academic matters in educational institutions. It is related with the growth and development of the personnel involved in educational institution. Shakir et al., (2017) concluded that it is the responsibility of the principal to engage all the stakeholders, faculty members and supporting staff and ensuring their active engagement and involvement in academic and non-academic matters, so that stated educational goals and objectives can be accomplished.

Principals of educational institutions have to perform various administrative, academic and non-academic responsibilities. Some time they act as instructional leader, some time they assist in appointing and assigning right person for the right job, preparing budget and dealing financial matters, and the most obvious responsibility is to provide a trustworthy, respectful and congenial environment where teacher can teach and student can learn efficiently and effectively (Hayes, 2004). Furthermore, it is also the responsibility of the principal to keep neat and clean the building and maintain the building for educational purpose. They also have the responsibilities to implement the established policies of federal, provincial and local government in true letter and spirit, so that educational institutes can accomplish its goals. They also have to plan the academic calendar for curricular and co-curricular activities, so that both teachers and students may actively involve in teaching-learning process. They are also supposed to monitor the academic staff, supporting staff and students in their academic and non-academic activities. They are also act as active contributor in organizing social, cultural and religious events for the overall personality development of the students. They are responsible for maintaining good relationship both inside and outside the institution. They strive to present themselves as a role model for staff personnel and students. They act as a mentor for community members and students in various societal and educational matters. That is why most of the educationist are of the view that competent and knowledgeable administrators are necessary for educational institutes to achieve their stated aims (Kazak & Ciner, 2021; Tahira, 2005).

Administrative problems are defined as barriers in the achievement of educational goals. Chu and Cravens (2012) stated that these problems are being faced by principals while carrying out their roles and responsibilities and badly affect their performance and keep them away from the achievement of goals and objectives. As principals have multifarious tasks to be performed, therefore, principals are struggling to grasp on these administrative issues. Apart from administrative problems they also face problems in teachers’ evaluation, students’ evaluation, making schedules, handling interruptions, setting short, medium and long term goals, shortage of supplies, staff related issues, and disciplinary issues too. Similarly, principals face problems related to instructional matters, pedagogical issues, work related issues, arranging meetings, dealing with emergencies and feel pressure from the high ups. Thus, it is very challenging for the principals to provide and establish a trustworthy, respectful, structured and congenial working environment where task is focused and all stakeholders are satisfied (Abel & Sewell, 1999).

The other issues may be related to curriculum and development, instructional methods, students and staff related issues, financial management and preparing budgeting, provision of healthy working environment and provision of adequate physical, human and financial resources which hinder the institutions from the achievement of their goals (Lydiah & Nasongo, 2009). Similarly, Ubben and Huges (1992) described the five key areas for educational administrators to be conscious about these. These areas include financial management; establishing positive relationship with community; instructional development; provision of guidance and counselling services to students; and managing curriculum and instructional process.

The administrative theories including “classical theory, scientific management theory, the bureaucratic theory, human relationship theory, behavioural approach and system approach” also reveals that how to manage and administer effectively and efficiently the matters and affairs of educational institutions. These theories focuses on the functions of management, maintain effective relationship inside and outside the organization, effective communication process, effective solutions of problems, dealing with subordinates and co-workers, improving skills and competencies and solution of potential problems. Therefore, it is important to investigate the perceptions of college principals and faculty members regarding administrative problems faced by principals and how these administrative problems become hinder in performing their roles and responsibilities and achieving in educational goals and objectives. 

Problem Statement

The literature shows that college principals have to perform multitasking responsibilities to run the day to day affairs. They try to maintain a good relationship with teachers, students and community to achieve educational goals (Victor, 2017). However, college principals are facing various challenges, issues and problems regarding performing their roles and responsibilities. These problems hinder them from achieving them educational goals. There are various research studies which have been conducted by eminent researchers both inland and foreign countries in which various problems have been identified related to administration, management, leadership and instructional problems (Amadi, 2008; Kazak & Ciner, 2021;  Mehmood, 2008; Shakir et al., 2017; Tahira, 2005). However, these studies were conducted at school level or in developed areas and the findings of these studies are not applicable to college level and in remote area like Malakand division. Moreover most of the studies have only investigated the perceptions of only principals or faculty members and did not compare the perceptions of two parties to get a clear evidence that whether both parties have same or different views regarding the administrative problems in college and how these problems hinder them from performing their job and responsibilities. Therefore, the current study aims to compare the perceptions of Government degree and post-graduate level college principals and faculty members regarding the administrative problems which they face while performing their effective roles and responsibilities.   




Hypotheses of the Study

Ho1: Principals and faculty members have different views about administrative problems.

Ho2: Principals and faculty members have different views about job performance.

Research Methodology

The current study employed quantitative method for collection and analysis of data. Descriptive (survey) design was used to collect data from the respondents related to administrative problems and job performance of college principals. The population of the study comprised of all government degree and post graduate level college principals and faculty members working in six districts of Malakand division.  The data were collected from 28 college principals and 140 faculty members selected through stratified random sampling technique. For data collection a self-made questionnaire was used to collect data from the sampled respondents. The questionnaire was consisted of 79 items based on Rating Scale which ranges from “always do so” to “never do so”. Among these 79 items, 37 items were related to administrative problems and 42 items were related to principal job performance. The independent variable “administrative problems” was further divided into six constructs which were related teaching-learning process in college, availability of physical, human and financial resources, and maintaining relationship with community, financing and budgeting, capacity building training and political interference. The dependent variable “job performance” was consisted of 42 rating scale items and these 42 items were further divided into five constructs. These constructs include instructional leadership, evaluation of teachers and students performance, maintaining conducive working environment, record keeping regarding budgeting and financing and implementation of policies. The self-made questionnaire was validated through a panel of six experts who had enough administrative and teaching experience and hold PhD degree in the field of educational management, administration and leadership. After establishing validity of the instrument it was piloted on five college principals and twenty five faculty members. After pilot testing of the questionnaire, the reliability of the questionnaire was found through inter item consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha). The calculated values of Cronbach alpha for administrative problems was found to be 0.732 and for job performance it was found to be 0.856, which were found more than the threshold value. The final questionnaire was crossly checked through faculty members to 

Know whether college principals and faculty members are same or different regarding administrative problems and job performance or not.  

The data were collected from 28 college principals (15 male principals and 13 female principals) and 140 faculty members (71 male faculty members and 89 female faculty members) through the above mentioned research instrument. The average age of the college principals were 54 years and of faculty members it was found to be 37 years. The average administrative experience of college principals were found to be 09 years. The average teaching experience of the faculty members were found to be 17 years.

Data Analysis

Table 1. Principals and Faculty members have different views about Administrative Problems

Constructs	Respondent	n	M	SD	Std. Error Mean	t	p
Problems related to Teaching-Learning Process	Principals	28	3.94	.556	.145	.198	.845
	Teachers	132	4.03	.688	.167
Problems related to Availability of Resources	Principals	28	3.33	.752	.113	1.875	.073
	Teachers	132	3.64	.847	.257
Problems related to development of relationship with community	Principals	28	3.38	.768	.143	.419	.679
	Teachers	132	3.27	.322	.270
Problems related to finance and budgeting	Principals	28	3.37	.574	.155	.579	.568
	Teachers	132	3.17	.632	.165
Problems related to arranging capacity building training programmes for staff	Principals	28	3.21	.997	.213	1.310	.203
	Teachers	132	3.24	.931	.333
Problems related to political interference	Principals	28	3.08	.934	.355	.0210	.070
	Teachers	132	2.97	1.07	.299
Overall Administrative problems score	Principals	28	3.39	.771	.125	.981	.336
	Teachers	132	3.38	.626	.173

 




To check whether college principals and faculty members see the administrative problems faced by college principals in government degree and post graduate colleges of Malakand division similarly or differently, the researchers used independent samples t-test. The values of t and p shows that both the parties agreed that government college principals are facing administrative problems related to teaching-learning process, lack of availability of physical, human and economic resources, maintaining and developing good relationship with community members, financing and budgeting, providing opportunities for professional growth and development, and excessive political interference in college affairs. As the value of p was found greater than that of the level of significance (p>.05), therefore, it was found that no significant difference exist between the perceptions of government degree and post graduate college principals regarding administrative problems.




 

Table 2. Principals and Faculty members have different views about Job Performance

Constructs	Respondent	n	Mean	SD	Std. Error Mean	t	p
Instructional Leadership Role	Principal	28	4.04	.685	.075	.720	.473
	Teacher	132	3.98	.581	.063
Assessment of Faculty members and students	Principal	28	4.07	.742	.092	2.039	.044
	Teacher	132	3.92	.649	.080
Maintaining Conducive Environment	Principal	28	3.97	.836	.081	.832	.407
	Teacher	132	4.03	.604	.076
Financing and Budgeting (Record Keeping)	Principal	28	4.07	.842	.067	.075	.940
	Teacher	132	3.91	.653	.084
Implementation of Policies	Principal	28	3.96	.843	.078	.516	.606
	Teacher	132	4.16	.712	.083
Overall Administrative problems score	Principal	28	4.02	.654	.058	.406	.686
	Teacher	132	4.00	.843	.074

 




To check whether college principals and faculty members see the job performance of college principal in government degree and post graduate colleges of Malakand division similarly or differently, the researchers used independent samples t-test. The values of t and p shows that both the parties agreed that government college principals are facing problems related to instructional leadership, assessment of teachers and students performance, provision and maintaining conducive working environment, preparing and keeping record ng related issues and executing the policies in practical situation. As the value of p was found greater than that of the level of significance (p>.05), therefore, it was found that no significant difference exist between the perceptions of government degree and post graduate college principals regarding job performance.

Discussion

The research findings indicated that college administrators encountered numerous administrative challenges, including teaching and learning process, lack of availability of resources, maintaining good relationship with community, lack of financial resources, lack of capacity development programmes, and political interference. These administrative problems in turn effect lack of exhibiting instructional leadership, evaluating teachers and students’ performance, maintaining conducive working environment, preparing and utilizing budget, and implementing policies. The findings show that both college principals and faculty members agreed that in government colleges principals faced a lot of administrative problems which hinder them from performing their job effectively.

The findings of previous researches also showed that provision of congenial atmosphere for teaching and learning should be the priority of educational leader (Tahira, 2005). One of the major problem which hinders leaders from achieving institutional goals is lack of physical, human and financial resources (Shakir et al., 2017). It is imperative for the educational leaders to maintain a good relationship with all stakeholders including inside and outside the institution (Mahfouz, 2018). The most important factor which contribute to the administration, management and leadership problems of educational institution include lack of continuous professional development and provision of ample chances for provision of in-service training to enhance their capacities (Harris & Jones, 2015). Political interference may be another important factor which may hinders college principals from the achievement of institutional goals (Victor, 2017). These administrative problems not only affect the performance of college principals but also hinder them from the achievement of educational goals. Therefore, both respondents perceived that provision of conducive environment for teaching learning process, provision of required resources to run college matters effectively, maintaining fair and respectful relationship with community members, arranging and providing ample chances for professional growth and development, minimum interference by politician in college affairs were the key administrative responsibilities of college responsibilities to perform their assigned job and responsibilities effectively and efficiently.  is one of the most occurred problem in educational institutions.

The job performance components include the responsibilities of performing instructional leadership role to provide a conducive and congenial environment for teaching-learning process (Bush, 2008; Hallinger, 2003; Leithwood & Seashore-Louis, 2012; Nawab & Noor, 2023). One of the important responsibility of college principal is to assess the performance of teachers and students in both curricular and co-curricular activities which enable them to reach to their goals (Komalasari, Arafat & Mulyadi, 2020). For effective teaching-learning process provision and establishing trustworthy and pleasant environment is major duty of college principals to achieve the vision and mission of the college (Bellibas & Liu, 2016). A college principal is supposed to have the skill of preparing budget to meet with the financial needs of the college and achieve the goal of the college (Zulaiha, Lian, & Mulyadi, 2020). Therefore, college principals have the competency to develop budget for the financial needs of the college. The major purpose of the educational administration is to implement the rules, regulations, and policies to implement efficiently to achieve the goals of the college (Hou, Cui, & Zhang, 2019; Maponya, 2020). This study also confirmed the results of previous studies which focused on the performance of instructional leadership role, assessing the performance of faculty members and students in academic and non-academic activities, establishing friendly, conducive, trustworthy and respectfully relationship with colleagues and preparing budget and keeping the record of the financial matters in college is the top priorities of principals to achieve the educational goals.

Conclusion

On the basis of data analysis, it was concluded that both college principals and faculty members agreed that in government colleges of Malakand division principals were facing numerous administrative problems included problems related to teaching and learning process, lack of availability of resources, maintaining good relationship with community, lack of financial resources, lack of capacity development programmes, and political interference. Both the parties also agreed that these administrative problems in turn effect lack of exhibiting instructional leadership, evaluating teachers and students’ performance, maintaining conducive working environment, preparing and utilizing budget, and implementing policies. Both the parties perceived that the above mentioned administrative problems proved to be obstacles in the performance of job roles and responsibilities to government college principals. Thus, both the null hypotheses Ho1 and Ho2 were rejected and the alternative hypotheses HI1 and HI2 were accepted. 

Recommendations

The study findings offered a number of recommendations to the college principals, faculty members, policy makers and government for the removal of administrative problems and efficient and effective job responsibilities. The study recommended that to perform roles and responsibilities assigned to the college principals they must be provided ample opportunities to develop their administrative, managerial and leadership skills to handle various problems effectively and efficiently. For this purpose the Higher Education Department (HED) may provide sufficient physical, financial and human resources to colleges to avoid the scarceness of the resources and budgeting problems. The HED must provide enough opportunities to both college principals and faculty members to develop their selves both academically and professionally. This will help them to execute and implement the educational policies in true spirit and will enable them to achieve educational goals and objectives.

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