Competence and Work Engagement Among Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between perceived job autonomy and employee engagement in public secondary schools in Bayelsa State. The cross-sectional research design was employed in the study. A questionnaire for perceived job autonomy and employee engagement was used to generate data for the study with Cronbach’s alpha reliability scores above .80. The respondents to the research instrument comprised 312 public secondary school teachers drawn from 144 public secondary schools in Bayelsa State. Data generated were analyzed with Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) at the 0.05 level of significance. The results showed a significant relationship between competence and the measures of employee engagement. Given these findings, it was concluded that there is a significant empirical relationship between perceived job autonomy and employee engagement among teachers in public secondary schools in Bayelsa State. Based on this conclusion, it was recommended firstly that: To get employees to be more Vigor ous in their assignments, administrators of public secondary schools should stimulate their staff to believing that they have what it takes to be successful in their careers. This could be done through face-to-face conversations and through recommendations. If this is done staff would be able to take on even challenging tasks and demonstrate vigor in completing such tasks. Also, school administrators should enhance engagement by making their staff to be dedicated through enhancing their feelings of competence. Finally, school administrators should put in place mechanisms that will drive competence among their staff by helping them to heighten their levels of self-esteem, optimism and hope as these would encourage absorption.