Journal of Educational Research and
Development, Volume 5, Number 2, 2016
ISSN: 2226 –
8012
©2016
McEvans Academic Journal
SOCIOLOGICAL OVER-VIEW
OF TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA (1979-1999)
Allwell Ome-Egeonu
Department of Sociology
University of Port Harcourt, River
State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The concern of this study is to
establish, content-wise,a supposed dimension of good teacher Education ,considering the
past. This is because teacher education programmes have been regarded as
important in national planning. This explains that the success of any educational
programme depends very much on the availability of equally well-trained
teachers, seeng that they are often times the chief agents who implement such
programmes in the classroom. Unfortunately, many people entered the
teaching
profession with no determination to remain dedicated or devoted to the high
ideals required of this profession. Thus effective teacher education programmes
must be able to attract high caliber teaching personnel in order to improve its
productivity and quality. To achieve the objectives of this study, the paper adopts
content analysis of interviews and observational techniques as means of getting
the required data relevant. Also existing documents from the Federal and the Rivers State Ministries of Education were employed. The study observed among other
things, discrepancies in the application of standards in our teacher training
institutions which no doubt have implications for the educational process. The
study suggests that in service programme together with the five-fold dimension
established by the researcher, form an essential element of teacher education
in Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
Teacher education programmes in
Nigeria have been regarded as an important component of national planning. In
recognition of this, the government realized the importance of teachers in the
achievement of the National development efforts, which are anchored on the
National Educational Objectives. The new National Policy on Education
categorically states that teacher education will continue to be given a major
emphasis in all its educational planning.
However, the success of any
educational programme depends very much on the availability of equally
well-trained teachers because they are usually the chief agents who implement
such programmes in the classroom.
It
is in recognition of this fact that both the Federal and the State Governments
have emphasized the importance of getting well-trained people into the teaching
profession. Unfortunately in Nigeria, many people entered the teaching
profession with no determination to remain dedicated or devoted to the high
ideals required of this profession. Such people use teaching as a stepping
stone to other positions in society or careers. Thus effective teacher
education programmes must be able to attract high caliber teaching personnel in
order to improve its productivity and quality. This explains why teacher
education involves the acquisition of knowledge that is well sufficient in
depth, appropriate for instructing people how to teach and realize the goals,
purposes and techniques of producing a practitioner with the right role concept
and professional deposition.
Therefore since a teaching
staff of proper quality is the first step in training of skilled manpower, this
task demands first priority. The provision of adequately trained teachers is
one of the two needs which face education in Nigeria. It is necessary to train
Nigerians to run their schools, because the future of the nation rests in the
hands of its
Sociological Over-View of Teacher Education
Programmes Allwell Ome-Egeonu
in Nigeria (1979-1999)
teachers,
for the quality they possess today will inevitably be reflected in the citizens
of tomorrow. The great difficulty in the developing of curriculum lies in the
present limitation of teachers. It is not enough to demonstrate the
effectiveness of the new curriculum but that all teachers must have confidence
in their capacity to handle the new data and techniques with understanding.
This emphasizes the fact that, there are at this time, many teachers who are
poorly trained in Nigerian Schools.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM.
Teacher
effectiveness has been a subject of concern to Nigerians before and after
independence. While some people have blamed the seeming ineffectiveness of
teachers on their personality disposition, level of resourcefulness and low
social prestige due to inadequate working environment and welfare, others have
attributed it to the preparation process of the teacher, which include- terms
of selection, content, methodology and post training induction of the teacher
into the profession.
In
recent times, the National Policy on Education and the Education (National
Minimum, standard and establishment of institution) decree (1985) outlined the
policy and objectives of teacher education programmes. This are:
- To produce highly motivated
conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system.
- To encourage further the spirit of
enquiring and creativity in
teachers.
- To help teachers fit into the social
life of the community and society at large and
- To enhance their commitment to national
objectives.
- To provide teachers with intellectual
and professional background adequate for their
assignment and to make them adaptable to any changing situation not only in the
life of their country, but in the wider world.
- To enhance teacher commitment to the
teaching profession.
In the light of the above, the teacher
is the hub around whom educational activities revolve. Therefore, his/her
preparation determines the level and quality of the educational system. This is
without prejudice to the fact that the other qualities of a teacher mentioned
above in addition to cognate experience also determines the teacher’s classroom
effectiveness and consequently the quality of the educational system.
The question therefore, is- how
appropriate is the education of Nigerian teachers in ensuring their
effectiveness in the classroom? This is the main problem of this work. To
examine, historically the problem with teacher education in Nigeria
Objectives of the study
This
study is couched on the following objectives: examines content wise,
i. To examine, content wise, the historical
development of teacher education in Nigeria and recent policies.
ii. To determine its appropriateness and
relevance to contemporary issues and
trends
in Nigerian
iii
To establish a supposed dimension to best run the teacher-education programme.
Introduction: History of Teacher Education in Nigeria.
Before
1970, different regions and later states in Nigeria operated different
educational systems. The educational policies were also different.
Consequently, the approaches to teacher education were different. For example,
because of the Universal Primary Education Scheme in the then Western Region,
emphasis was placed on the mass production of Grade III Teachers. In fact, the
entry qualification into the teacher colleges was secondary modern certificate
(Western State of Nigeria, 1968.16).
Journal of Educational Research and
Development, Volume 5, Number 2, 2016
On the other hand, the Eastern
Regional Government enunciated a policy to discontinue the training of Grade
III Teachers by the end of December 1964. . This implies that Grade II Colleges
should not admit new students after January, 1963 (Government of the Eastern
Region of Nigeria 1964.26). By early 1970s, there were uniform educational
policies governing the whole country. However, no picture of the historical
development of teacher education could be complete without knowledge of what
happened before 1970. Accordingly, the historical development of teacher
education cannot be divorced from the earliest schools in Nigeria, which were
established by missionaries and served
as the earliest teacher training institutions.
The earliest endeavor to set up a
teacher training education was made by the church missionary society (CMS) at
Abeokuta in the then Western Nigeria in 1853, Ali (1992). Later the institution
was transferred to Lagos where it remained for thirty years (30yrs) before it
was again transferred to its permanent site at Oyo in 1896. Be that as it may,
the Baptist followed the example of the CMS in1897 by opening their first
teacher training institution at Ogbomosho. The earliest schools then were of
the “boarding type, the schools were in the premises of the missionaries and
most of the pupils lived with them and formed part of the family. This afforded
the missionaries the opportunity of selecting and training the most promising
pupils as teacher evangelist. During the colonial period (1960-1951), the
missions embarked on the professional training of teachers, because they had to
meet the demand for teachers to meet the rapidly increasing primary schools,
and more importantly to satisfy the provisions of the education ordinances
which laid emphasis on teacher certification as one of the criteria for
awarding grants to voluntary agency schools, Kosemani and Orubite (1995).
In the colonial period, prospective
teachers went through some rigid training to become teachers. The students in
training colleges were drawn from secondary and primary school leavers. Two and
four-year training programmes were planned for them, Imogie (1990). They were
trained as pupil-teachers and catechists through an apprenticeship system. Such
teachers were expected to teach some pupils and also had some additional
responsibility to serve as catechists. In fact, before starting the two-year
course, they had to serve as pupil-teachers for two years and must have passed
the pupil-teacher- examination. Moreover, at the end of the two- year course,
they had to take and pass a prescribed teacher- certificate examination before
certification.
The curriculum of these early training
institutions consisted of theology and teaching methods. This was probably
because of the double roles played by the prospective teachers (as teachers and
catechist-evangelists). According to Obukho (2004-29), the syllabus comprised
New Testament criticism, Christian faith school method and Management,
Preaching and Theology, Hygiene and Geography, History and English, Geometry
and Arithmetic, local language, Carpentry and Masonry. However, there were no
institutions that offered all the subjects due to lack of trained teachers,
fund and equipment. Again, emphasis varied from school to school and from
mission to mission.
It must be realized that some of the
subjects, especially Geography and History, were taught without any relation to
student’s environment. Only foreign
examples were drawn, given the impression that such natural features were
non-existent in their local environment. This system of preparing prospective
teachers by the missionaries was described by the phelp-Stocks Report of 1925
as being unsatisfactory. Some of the criticisms were that the pupil-teachers
were over-worked while they were also underpaid. The same report (Phelp-Stocks
1925) asserts that the curriculum was poorly organized. However, the report did
not bring out clearly what the purpose of African education was at that time.
Furthermore, by 1929, two types of
teacher training institutions emerged; the elementary teachers’ training
college and the higher elementary teachers college. The
Sociological Over-View of Teacher Education
Programmes Allwell Ome-Egeonu
in Nigeria (1979-1999)
elementary
teachers’ college offered a two-year course leading to the award of the Grade
three teacher’s certificate. Beyond the two-year elementary teacher- college,
the higher elementary teacher college offered two-year courses that awarded
grade two teacher- certificate. The grade three teachers were only expected to
teach in the lower classes of the primary schools (popularly known as junior
primary). The grade two teachers taught in the senior primary classes. Despite
the new development in teacher training, the prospective teachers still had a
long process to go through. This was in order to get grade two teacher
certificate which was the highest teacher- qualification at that time, Afe
(1995.160).
Although, under the new system, a
prospective teacher had to serve as a pupil-teacher for years before proceeding
to the elementary teachers college. He had to teach for another two years after
successfully completing the programme before any further training. The new
development in teacher training led to increased student enrolment in schools.
The number of training colleges also increased. For instance, Obukho (2004.12)
and Sabe (2008.33) assert that in 1948, the total government teacher- training
colleges rose to fifty-three (53) with a student-teachers population of 3,026.
If these figures are viewed against the pupil population of over 138, 594 in
primary and 108, 148 in secondary
schools in the country. It will be justifiable to say that there was a great
shortage of trained teachers for the schools. Secondly, it should be noted that
not all the students enrolled at the beginning of the course successfully
completed their programmes. There were also some drop-outs at this level.
The
se-rule period (1951-1956) witnessed the large scale production of merely
literate teachers in Southern Nigeria as a result of the Universal Primary
Education Scheme by the two regions (Western. Region 1955, Eastern Region, 1957). This worsened
the problem of untrained teachers in these schools. During this period, there
was lack of appropriate planning towards the production of teachers for the
schemes. As a result, many Nigerians with eight years of primary education were
recruited into the teaching profession. Most holders of grade two teacher- certificates
taught in lower classes of secondary schools, especially in unassisted
secondary schools at that time.
The most important landmark in the
history of educational development in Nigeria up to 1970 was the Ashby Report
of 1960. It realized that weak foundations at the lower levels of education
would adversely affect higher education in the country. The Ashyby Commission
Report (1960.81) notes that a well qualified teaching staff is the first vital
step in the attempt to train skilled manpower and that it should be given first
priority. A bold plan for university programmes in teacher education was
proposed by the commission which recommended that 7,000 graduate teachers be
trained for post-primary institutions by 1970. Thus, between 1960 and 1970, a minimum
of 700 graduate teachers where to be produced annually. In addition to this,
about 18,000 grade one teachers were needed for this period in different types
of schools.
The Ashyby Commission (1959)
recommended for the establishment of Grade 1 teacher- college, for the
improvement of primary education was not implemented, rather it was modified to
give rise to a new programme and a new certificate, the Nigeria’s Certificate
in Education (NCE), For the preparation of teachers in the lower forms of secondary
schools and in the teacher training colleges, Adesina (1988.146), Fafunwa
(1974.188), Lewis (1069.20) and Pandit (2006.120). Despite government’s effort on improvement of
teacher education, and the increase in the outputs of trained teachers, the
number was still inadequate to cope with the over increasing number of pupils
in schools. Subsequently to improve teacher education, a nine-month
Post-Graduate Diploma course for selected grade two teachers was also
introduced in 1958. A one-year associate ship course for selected grade two
teachers was also introduced in 1961. Few were interested in the one-year
course probably because of the poor conditions of service for teachers and also
because graduates were reluctant to return to the university for one extra year
at that time. Another
Journal of Educational Research and
Development, Volume 5, Number 2, 2016
contribution
factor for this reluctance was due to some strings attached to sponsorship. It
called for five years of service after the short programme, FGN (1960.80).
Other changes ranged from the
introduction of more flexible training schemes to replace the pre-independence
rigid structure, the abolition of the grade III teacher college
(Elementary Teacher College) to the
nullification of the pupil-teacher stage as a precondition for entrance to the
higher elementary teacher colleges. The new system allows straight five-year
duration in the teacher training colleges for the award of the teachers grade
two certificate. Secondary school certificate holders (West African School
Certificate) obtained after five years successful stay in the secondary school
and government class-four certificate holders (those who failed the WASC
examinations) respectively spent one and two years to obtain the teacher grade
two certificate.
Finally, in any expanding education
system, the desire to get well qualified teachers into the system involves
careful selection and training, effective induction, professional encouragement
and adequate remuneration.This has given rise to the dimensions proposed by the
researcher.
TEACHER-EDUCATION
QUA DRILATERAL
|
THE THESIS OF THE PAPER.
The
training and re-training of teachers in any education system is an important
issue in the implementation of the educational programmes. This by the paper’s
five told dimension for a good education system. Today, institutions which are
supposed to be producing teachers for the school system are not producing the
right quantity of teachers. This is because most of the NCE teachers produced
are not taught adequate senior secondary methodologies. This is both in the
full time and in all kinds of in-service programmes. Clearly, this negates both
Sociological Over-View of Teacher Education
Programmes Allwell Ome-Egeonu
in Nigeria (1979-1999)
quality
and quantity because all the NCE Teachers produced as at then to replace the Grade
II Teachers became Square PEGS IN ROUND THOLES IN THE classrooms. It is
important to note that today, one of the agitations in education is caused by
teacher education, which when properly resolved will be useful for combating
the fallen standards of education. For some years, there has been multiple
criticisms, central in this criticisms is quantitative and qualitative teacher
education for combating the fallen standards.
A
picture of the training programmes revealed that the low personal and academic
qualification of the entrants into the TC II programmes left much to be
desired. The variety of arrangements to produce teachers has been encouraged by
successive government from time to time and with its own ideas without due
reference to what went on earlier. A notable impact is the loss faith by a good
proportion of Nigerian publics on government promises to phase out the grade II
programs and making the NCE the minimum qualification to teach in schools.
These future promises are elusive; it is believed future government attitude towards
teacher preparation will probably not be ameliorating over a reasonable period
to change the perception of teacher education in all ramifications.
Nevertheless,
the gross underestimate, ranging from unexpected students population to
required physical structures and the inevitable establishing most of these
institutions. Thus, to meet the objectives of teacher education as contained in
the policy objectives, there is need for adjustment in the recruitment and
training systems and also by streaming the programmes leading to grade II and
NCE certificates because the inherent scenario is manifested in the low caliber
of students turn-out in the schools which we cannot overlook.
CONCLUSION
A
poorly trained teacher gives a devastating blow to the educational system. And
the entire state. The following recommendations are therefore advanced for
sustained qualitative and production of school teachers for a healthy
State.
i. Government
should embrace the researcher’s five fold dimension to re-appraise the
educational sector in order to ensure a
qualitative teacher education in Nigeria.
ii. The pre-service and in-service programmes
should be tailored to produce teachers that will teach in the educational
institutions.
iii.
The production of NCE and B. ED graduates should be encouraged.
iv. The current admission procedure and
requirements should be reviewed to all for stringent screening exercises
(interview) for those who want to be teachers, so as to determine whether they
are suited temperamentally and cognitively for teaching.
v. Research is needed to establish whether a
longer training would result in production of more efficient and effective
teachers or whether the more efficient use of the current respective programmes
duration is what is called for.
vi.
There should be a deliberate action to ensure that the NCE primary graduates do
not opt out of the primary school system, by removing differentials in the
payment system of primary school teachers and secondary school teachers.
vii.
provisions should be made for libraries
to befit the status of these institutions and the in-service programmes
should form an essential element of teacher education.
REFERENCES
Adesina, S.
(1988). The development of modern education in Nigeria. Ibadan: Heinemann
Educational books Nigeria Ltd.
Journal of Educational Research and
Development, Volume 5, Number 2, 2016
Afe, O.
(1995). Teacher education in Nigeria: Trends, issues and challenges. Benin:
Nigeria Education Research Association (Nera), University of Benin.
Ali, H.
(1992). Professionalism in Teacher Education in Nigerian Universities. Lagos.
Evdor Graphics Press.
Fafunwa,
A.B (1974). History of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and Unwin
Ltd.
Imogie, P. (1990). Needed direction for the Professionalism of
the Teaching Field in Nigeria. A paper
presented at the seminar on teaching profession in Nigeria today. Organized by
the school of education Ekiadolor, Benin City.
Kosemani,
J.M. and Orubite, A.K. (1995). History of Nigeria Education: A Contemporary
Analysis. Port Harcourt. Abe Publishers.
Lewise,
L.J. (1969). Towards a Curriculum Development policy. In a philosophy of
Education. Ibadan. Heinemann books Nigeria Ltd.
Obukho,
S.T. (2004). Edited. National Commission for Colleges of Education Guidelines
on Programmes.
Pandit, H.
(2006). Some Perspectives on Teacher Education in Nigeria: A Speech Delivered
at Convocation of College of Education Katsina-Ala, Benin State Nigeria, S Dec.
Sabe, J.I.
(2008). Understanding of the Subject Matter as an Effective Strategy for
qualitative Education: Implication for Teacher Education A paper presented at
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education Katsina-Ala.
Government
Gazetts
1) Federal Government of Nigeria decree 1985
National policy on Education 2004.
2) Western State of Nigeria Gazette 1968
3) Eastern Region of Nigeria Gazette 1964
4) Federal Government of Nigeria 1960
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