Investigating Organisational Culture and Its Influence on Physical Education Teaching Practices in Nigerian Secondary Schools

Organisational culture shapes the professional practices, beliefs, and behaviours of teachers within school settings, yet its specific influence on physical education teaching practices in Nigerian secondary schools has not been investigated through theoretically grounded empirical research. This dissertation investigates the relationship between school organisational culture and physical education teaching practices across diverse secondary school contexts in Nigeria. A mixed-methods sequential design is employed across 20 secondary schools in Anambra, Oyo, and Kano States, selected to represent variation in geopolitical zone, urbanisation level, school type (public and private), and organisational performance ratings. In the quantitative phase, physical education teaching practice quality is assessed through structured observation across 200 lessons using validated instruments, while organisational culture is measured using a school culture survey administered to 400 staff members. Multilevel regression examines the relationship between school-level cultural dimensions and lesson quality scores. In the qualitative phase, ethnographic case studies of four purposively selected schools illuminate cultural mechanisms through which organisational values, leadership behaviours, and collegial norms influence physical education teacher practices. Findings reveal that collaborative professional learning culture, principal instructional leadership, and physical education's institutional status are the strongest organisational culture predictors of teaching quality. Schools with cultures valuing physical education alongside academic subjects demonstrate significantly superior lesson quality and student engagement. The dissertation provides an original theoretical model of organisational culture influences on physical education practice and recommendations for school leadership development. Keywords: organisational culture, physical education teaching, secondary schools, Nigeria, multilevel analysis