Personal Factors and Workplace Adjustment of Secondary School Teachers in Uyo and Ibesikpo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study investigated the influence of personal factors on workplace adjustment of secondary school students in Uyo and Ibesikpo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three corresponding null hypotheses guided the conduct of the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,568 teachers in 22 public secondary schools in the study areas. A sample of 525 teachers was selected from 15 public secondary schools using stratified random sampling technique. A researcher-made instrument titled ‘’Personal Factors and Workplace Adjustment Questionnaire’’ (PFWAQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was face validated by three experts. The internal consistency reliability of the instrument was established and a reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained using Cronbach alpha statistic. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The study revealed that length of service has significant influence on workplace adjustment of secondary school teachers, while level of education and age showed no significant influence. Thus, the study underscores the importance of recognising workplace adjustment as a dynamic process enhanced more by professional experience than by academic characteristics and age. Based on the findings, three recommendations were made among which is that secondary school heads in Akwa Ibom State should pair experienced teachers with newer teachers to provide guidance on classroom management and how to adapt to curriculum changes.