COMMUNITY - SCHOOL POLICING AND SCHOOL CLIMATE AMONG PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AKWA IBOM NORTH EAST SENATORIAL DISTRICT IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA JANE MICHAEL ESSIEN

Abstract

School violence, indiscipline, and insecurity continue to affect learning outcomes in many public secondary schools in Nigeria. This study investigates the relationship between community-school policing and school climate among public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The study adoptes a descriptive survey research design. The population comprises all teachers and students in public secondary schools in the Senatorial District. The population of the study comprised 3904 teachers in the nine Local Government Areas in 89 public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. The sample size of this study comprised 423 teachers representing 11% of teachers’ population. The study adopted multi stage sampling approach. The Local Government Areas were grouped into clusters (Nine Local Government Areas); Proportionate approach was used to select 45 schools (50%), and 423 teachers (11%) selected from each Local Government Area in the District. Simple random sampling technique of Hat and Draw method is use for the selection of teachers from the 45 schools earmarks for the study. The questionnaire was entitled “School Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) having fifteen items and Community and School Policing Questionnaire (CSPQ) having ten items”. Four point rating scale was adopted for both questionnaires. The options in the questions were; Strongly Agree (SA)-4, Agree (A)- 3, Disagree(D) - 2,Strongly Disagree(SD) - 1. The instrument (SCQ) and (CSPQ) were subjected to face validation by two experts in the department of Curriculum studies, Educational Management and Planning, Faculty of Education, and one expert from the Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences both in the University of Uyo. Cronbach’s Alpha Analysis was used to test the reliability coefficient indices which yielded 0.923 for Community and School Policing Questionnaire (CSPQ) and 0.822 for School Climate Questionnaire (SCQ). The instrument were administered to the school teachers (respondents) using two research assistants. Mean and standard deviation (SD) was used to answer the research questions, while the independent t- test was used in testing all the three null hypotheses at 0.5 level of significant. When the accompanying P- value of the t- calculated values are less than the significance level of 0.05, the null hypotheses were rejected while the alternate hypotheses were accepted. The result showed that there is a significant influence of community and school policing on school climate among public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. That is, community and school policing positively influence school climate. In summary the study reveals that collaboration between schools, community police, vigilante groups, and other stakeholders enhances safety, discipline, and a positive learning environment. Based on the above findings the study recommends that, the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Nigeria Police Force and community leaders, should institutionalize community-school policing frameworks and train school personnel on security management to sustain a safe and supportive school climate.