Attitude of School Leadership towards Time Management Skills: Based on Gender, Age, and Administrative Experience

Abstract

The major purpose of educational management is to manage human, financial and physical resources to
achieve the predetermined goals of school through maximum utilization of available resources. One of the important
scarce recourse which needs to be managed is the time. This paper investigates the attitude of secondary school
leadership towards time management skills and also finds the effect of principal’s gender, age and administrative
experience on their time management skills. Quantitative research approach was used. The data was collected through
a self-constructed questionnaire from 344 principals of seven divisional headquarter districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP) province through survey method. The questionnaire had seven dimensions including attitude towards time-,
scheduling-, short- and long-range planning, managing meetings, delegating authority and responsibility, establishing
priorities, and handling interruptions specifically designed for this study to focus on achieving predetermined goals.
Data were analyzed through frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and independent samples t-test. The
time management skills level of secondary school principals was found above average level. The Results also indicated
significant differences in principals’ time management practices based on gender, age and length of administrative
experience. Male principals’ time management skills were found better than that of their female counter partners.
Older and experienced school principals were found to be good time manager as compare to younger and less
experienced ones. It was recommended that time management course should be included in pre-service and in-service
trainings for school leadership to manage the school affairs efficiently and strive towards achievement of school goals.