Functional education is no doubt a tool for potential leadership development in any nation. Educational institutions may not achieve its goal without instructional leadership. This paper examined instructional leadership practices for managing functional education in secondary schools in Aba Education Zone of Abia State. Three (3) research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 1067 public secondary school teachers which were also used as sample. No sampling technique was adopted. The instrument for data collection was a self-constructed questionnaire. Cronbach Alpha Method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which gave a reliability coefficient of 0.77. Data was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Findings showed that principals define school mission to a high extent; the extent principals manage instructional programmes is high; and the extent principals promote a positive school learning climate is low. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that principals should create a reward system, and also give support to staff initiatives which will help to improve the school climate.
Instructional leadership practices, Functional education, Secondary Education
