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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 8, Issue 1, Article
4 (June, 2007) Nwachukwu Prince OLOLUBE The relationship between funding, ICT, selection processes, administration and planning and the standard of science teacher education in Nigeria |
Education is one of the most important needs for the well-being of any society. Because of education’s paramount importance, we need good schools and teachers (Kansanen, 2004). Thus, education is a powerful instrument of social progress without which neither an individual nor a nation can attain professional growth.
There is no doubt that the best way to enhance effective instruction in schools is through defined teacher education programs, which is a key towards understanding the knowledge and skills of teaching and learning (Ololube, 2005a, 2005b). The education of pre-service and in-service science teachers is meant to help the individual teacher grow and develop as a person, provide him or her with the skills and professional abilities to motivate children to learn, assist them in acquiring the right types of understandings, concepts, values and attitudes to manage classroom instruction and be productive members of the society in which they are born, grow and live (Lawal, 2003). Therefore, it is believed that with high-quality teacher education programs in place, we can guarantee effective teachers in schools thereby insuring first-class teaching that will raise students’ academic achievements (Amedeker, 2005; Haron, 1995; Thompson, 1995).
The education of teachers is interesting especially for those who are able to see and compare different educational systems and perhaps have the ability to view them from their own perspective and experience. Probably every educational system can be developed further to achieve among other things better teacher education. The consequence of which is better teachers. In Nigeria, the responsibility for the education of teachers in the universities, for instance, belongs to the Faculty of Education while teacher education as a subject belongs to the Department of Teacher Education. The Faculty of Education, as well as the Department of Teacher Education, strongly defend the right to educate student teachers. Several other departments in the faculty also have strong opinions as to how teacher education should be developed and the tools and the proficiency for carrying it out, and they view the future (subject) teacher as a reflective, autonomous professional who is capable of viewing his/her work from a scientific point of view (Merri & Maaranen, 2002).
However, there are people and institutions that do not consider teachers’ pedagogical studies as necessary at all. According to Owens (2004, p. 406), many colleges and universities in the United States of America took the position that teacher education was unworthy of inclusion in the august ranks of academe. Yale University’s example was not atypical: it simply abolished the small department of education that it once had. In many institutions of higher education, schools of education struggled with little support and often were isolated from either the leadership of the university or the faculty in the other schools. Nevertheless, by the year 2000, according to Owens, universities were being called both to account and to action in taking responsibility for meeting the need to educate and train the 2.5 million new teachers who would be needed in the United States in the first decade of the twenty-first century because “inevitably as school reforms unfold, increased attention was focused on the education of teachers. Not only was there rising dissatisfaction with the achievement of students in schools, but with the quality of instruction that students receive.” Thus teacher education still plays an indispensable role in national development.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument for effecting national development…All teachers in our educational institutions, from pre-primary to university, will be professionally trained. Teacher education programs will be structured to equip teachers for effective performance of their duties (Federal Government of Nigeria, 1989).
The National Policy on Education in Section 47 states clearly: “All teachers in tertiary institutions shall be encouraged to undergo training in the methods and techniques of teaching”. This is to enhance their teaching, but this policy, laudable as it may be, is yet to be implemented (Olujuwon, 2003).
In Nigeria, teacher education through Colleges of Education both at the federal and state government levels was meant to improve teacher preparation. Institutes of Education and Faculties of Education in various universities were also established to provide effective and professional teacher education programs. In such institutions, student teachers are prepared to develop habits that will help them become effective teachers who will shoulder responsibilities, be innovative and conduct themselves in ways that are worthy of emulation by their future pupils since studies have shown that teachers tend to teach the way they were taught. It is presumed that Nigerian teachers are prepared to cope with the monumental task that lies ahead of them. Accordingly, teachers must be ready to share new information and skills with their fellow teachers, seek more knowledge on their own initiative, and above all, be flexible and willing to experiment and not be afraid of failure. Flexibility is built into their total professional and academic make-up, and it is hoped that they will be helped through regular in-service training to keep abreast of the new techniques, skills and research in their fields (Lawal, 2003).
However, despite such efforts to establish teacher education programs to prepare effective teachers in Nigeria, there have been some fundamental problems from inception. These problems have hindered the successful implementation of effective teacher education. This inspired my desire to examine the effectiveness of teacher education programs in Nigerian institutions and the problems they encounter. In addition, the overall purpose of this study is to verify the research hypotheses stated below as a basis for making assertions that can inform Nigerian institutions of higher education on how to improve the quality of their teacher education programs. Thus, the research hypotheses and objectives of this research study are to theoretically and empirically ascertain the degree to which the intrinsic and extrinsic factors impact the development of teacher education programs. Specifically, to provide guidance and direction to this investigation, it addressed five statistically testable research hypotheses:
- There is no significant relationship between the nature of funding and the standard of teacher education programs in Nigeria.
- There is no significant relationship between the ICT usage and the standard of teacher education programs in Nigeria.
- There is no significant relationship between the administration and planning processes and the standard of teacher education programs in Nigeria.
- There is no significant relationship between the pre-service teacher selection processes and the standard of teacher education programs in Nigeria.
- There is no significant relationship between the standard of teacher education programs in Nigeria and the nature of funding, ICT usage, the administration and planning processes and pre-service teachers selection processes.
Teacher education is one of the most frequently investigated themes in professional education journals. Nevertheless, the fact remains that it is difficult to provide a unified description of an effective teacher education. And why is the education of teachers very essential to the development of students? As there are many academic writings on this concept, there are numerous definitions. However, many authors agree that the concept of effective teacher education can refer to the process as well as product. If the emphasis lies on achievement, effectiveness implies the predominance of the product. Thus, effective teacher education depends on simultaneous attention being granted to the two components of the development process: The process component consists of the relations between students and student teachers and educators as well as study climate and the product component consists of student teachers’ skills, disposition, behaviors and attitudes (Amadeker, 2005; Ololube, 2006a, b). Effective teacher education programs are not only the task of specific teacher educators or a university education, but must be seen as a cross-curricular concern of all university professionals (Merri & Maaranen, 2002).
In addition, teacher education is part of the education process or training that deals with the art of acquiring professional competencies and professional growth. It is an essential exercise that enhances the skills of learning and teaching. Teacher education is designed to produce a highly motivated, sensitive, conscientious and successful classroom teacher who will handle students effectively and professionally for better educational achievement. According to Amedeker (2005), inadequate teacher preparation programs cause the majority of teachers’ inability to demonstrate adequate knowledge and understanding of the structure, function and development of their disciplines. Therefore, an effective teacher education program is a prerequisite for a reliable education system which lends confidence to both teachers and students when learning is coordinated effectively and professionally. Thus the problems inherent in teacher education must be rectified and solved (Lawal, 2003). According to Hargreaves (1994) and Hargreaves and Jacka (1995), teacher education is the transformation of the latent curriculum into an area for open critical debate. In summary, the author proposed a model which illustrates teacher education as a means for the professional growth of teachers. This in turn leads to highly motivated, sensitive, conscientious and successful classroom teacher. And to keep abreast with the new techniques, skills and research in the field, regular in-service training is needed (see figure 1).
Figure 1: Teacher Education and Professional Growth
