Abstract

One of the ways through which secondary education goals can be achieved is by quality management of classrooms by teachers. This can only be possible when teachers are equipped with necessary classroom management skills. This study analysed interpersonal and communication skills used by teachers for quality classroom management in public secondary schools in Imo State. Two research questions were answered in the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted with a population of 5,363 teachers. A sample of 748 teachers was drawn using multi stage sampling technique. A questionnaire titled “Interpersonal and Communication Skills Questionnaire” (ICSQ) which was validated by three experts was used for data collection. Internal consistency coefficients of 0.87, 0.77 were obtained for the two sections of the instrument using Cronbach’s Alpha method. An overall reliability co-efficient of 0.82 was obtained for the entire questionnaire. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The result among others revealed that teachers: make use of interpersonal skills such as listening to students with academic problems and help in finding solutions to their problems, make use of humor to strengthen their relationship with the students in the classroom and create a democratic atmosphere where the interest and needs of the students are adequately catered for. Teachers also make use of communication skills such as giving frequent and consistent feedback regarding students’ behaviour and performance, providing clear directions for classroom activities so that the students know what to do at any given time and use command tone that does not terrify students during teaching and learning. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that teachers should continually utilize relevant interpersonal and positive communication skills in order to achieve quality classroom management.