An investigation into the nature and effect of internal public relations in education: a case study of the national youth service secretarial college

Abstract

Public Relations have become such an important tool for any school that wants to achieve her educational and societal objectives. It is an important foundation for educational progress and success. However, good external school public relations are founded upon good internal public relations among the members of a school. A school, whose level of internal public relations is low, is unlikely to develop the understanding, interest and confidence of the public.

This research was undertaken to investigate the nature and effect of internal public relations at the National Youth Service Secretarial College. I was particularly interested in the level of the personal relationships in the college, because a college that does not spread kindness and co-operation among her members can scarcely succeed in public relations and its overall performance.

The study revealed that the members of the National Youth Service Secretarial College appreciate good internal relations as a key prerequisite to successful learning and achievement of its organizational goals, however from the research it was revealed that not all of them are committed towards the attainment of good internal relations.

The study also revealed that the relationship between the students and the teachers is better than between the students and the non-teaching staff. It was also found out that there are no 'open days', 'graduation days' and students are communicated 'at' rather than 'with' by some members of the non-teaching staff; and there is no college newsletter or suggestion box in the college. The teaching staff, principal and the deputy principal have and know nothing about the students' life beyond the tuition block although these students stay within the National Youth Service compound. The findings also revealed that the current nature of internal relationship has led to poor coordination in student matters.

From the findings of the study, it was revealed that the nature of internal public relations at the Secretarial College does not nurture her members understanding and support. This is not very good for a college which is involved in the training of office personnel. A number of recommendations that may be adopted by National Youth Services Secretarial College have been proposed in chapter Five.