ABSTRACT

This study focused on influence of teacher quality and changes in minimum standards on performance of Primary Education educators in Colleges of Education, Nigeria. It focused on issues which influence PED educators implementing curriculum changes. In this study, nine objectives were formulated which covered different variables which include: the extent of influence of the educational levels of PED educators and increase in course content on the implementation of changed PED minimum standards in Nigerian Colleges of Education. Nine (9)   null hypotheses and nine (9) research questions were formulated based on the objectives of the study. The theoretical framework of the study hinged on models of curricular dissemination by adopting Context, Input, Process and Product Evaluation (CIPP) and Integrated Curriculum Evaluation Model (ICEM. This study adopted expost facto research design; The targeted population covered the eighty-three colleges of education in Nigeria with total of seventy-seven thousand, three hundred and eighty six (77,386) made up of seventy six thousand, five hundred and twelve (76,512) PES students and Eight Hundred and Forty-Two (842) PES educators. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in selecting the sample for the study. Three geopolitical zones, namely, North West, South West and South South were selected for the study. The study also adopted 20% of the colleges as sample size. A total of thirteen colleges made up of four (4) federal and nine (9) state colleges of education were sampled. An interview was conducted on NCCE officers, while questionnaires were administered to PES educators, NCE II and NCE III PES students, including PES products teaching in staff schools and their head teachers. The research questions were subjected to simple percentages while the hypotheses were tested using chi-square at P value of P<0.05 level of significance for acceptance or rejection and all the tested hypotheses were rejected. The findings among others revealed that PES educators’ area of specialization has significant influence on the implementation of the changed PES minimum standards in Nigerian colleges of education. Based on the above findings, it was recommended amongst others that effort should be made to ensure that only specialized professionally trained PES educators be assigned to implement the changed minimum standard curriculum in colleges of education. Also, the changes of minimum standards should not be done too often, the act that mandated every five years of changes should be strictly adhered to by the NCCE.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS                                     

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION                                                                                  

1.1        Background to the Study                                                                                              

1.2        Statement of the Problem                                                                                             

1.3        Objectives of the Study                                                                                    

1.4        Research Questions                                                                                                     

1.5        Research Hypotheses                                                                                                   

1.6        Basic Assumptions                                                                                                      

1.7        Significance of the Study                                                                                             

1.8        Scope of the Study                                                                                                      

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE                                       

2.1        Introduction                                                                                                      

2.2        Theoretical Framework                                                                                      

2.2.1     The Key Actors in the Process of Changing Minimum Standard                          

2.2.2     Types of Curriculum Change -                                                                           

2.2.3     Process of Curriculum Change -                                                                        

2.3        Concept of Teacher Quality        -                                                                                  

2.3.1     Teacher Quality and Job Performance                                                               

2.3.1.1  Degree Level Influence on Students Performance                                                          

2.3.1.2  Years of Teaching Experience Influence of Students Performance                                  

2.3.1.3  Certification Status                                                                                                       

2.3.1.4  Knowledge of Teaching and Learning                                                                

2.3.2     Factors that Determine Teacher Quality in School -                                                         

2.3.3     Training as a Good Determinant of Teacher Quality -                                          

2.4        Teacher Training Institutions -                                                                            

2.4.1     Teacher Education that meets Teacher and Students Needs                                           

2.5        Problems of PES Teacher Training Programme -                                                

2.6        National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and NCE                                  

            PES Minimum Standard -                                                                                              

2.7        Changes in NCE PES Minimum Standards                                                                     

2.8        Empirical Studies                                                                                                         

2.9        Summary and Implications                                                                                            

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY                                                          

3.1        Introduction       -                                                                                                          

3.2        Research Design                                                                                                          

3.3        Population -      -                                                                                                          

3.4        Sample and Sampling Technique                                                                                  

3.5        Instrumentation -            -                                                                                              

3.5.1     Validation of Instrument                                                                                    

3.5.2     Pilot Testing      -           -                                                                                              

3.5.3     Reliability of the Instrument -                                                                                         

3.6        Method of Scoring                                                                                                       

3.7        Procedures for Data Collection                                                                         

3.8        Methods of Data Analysis         -                                                                                  

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS                                

4.1        Introduction                                                                                                                  

4.2        Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents                                                          

4.3        Responses to Research Questions                                                                                

4.4        Test of Hypotheses                                                                                                      

4.5        Summary of Major Findings                                                                                          

4.6        Discussion of Findings                                                                                     

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS         

5.1        Summary                                                                                                                     

5.2        Conclusion                                                                                                                   

5.3        Recommendations                                                                                                       

5.4Suggestions for Further Studies                                                                               

References                                                                                                                  

Appendices                                                                                                                 

APPENDIX A: Questionnaire for PES Students and Lecturers (LSQTR)                           

APPENDIX B: Observation Schedule                                                                            

APPENDIX C: Interview(NCCE)  -                                                                                  

APPENDIX D: Types of colleges, number of students and lecturers running PES            

programme 2008/2010                                                                          

APPENDIX E: Population of Students and Academic Staff in Colleges of Education in   

Nigeria in Year 2010                                                                              

APPENDIX F: Sampled Schools, Students and Lecturers according to State and            

Geo-political Zones                                                                                          

APPENDIX H: Sampling Techniques      

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background to the Study

Education is the vital instrument for social and economic mobility at the personal level and an instrument for transformation of society at the national level. The maxim that no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers clearly demonstrates the roles of teachers in national development (FGN, 2004). This realization enforces each country to make vigorous efforts to produce qualified persons to take up the teaching of her citizens as teaching is a versatile field that requires at all times, the correct identification of indices of development(s) in the society. Its versatility makes it imperative that teachers be an embodiment of constant search for updated knowledge, latest information, skills and breakthroughs, in various fields of life (Adeorun, Oni, Oladipo, Onuoha and Yakasai, (2009).

In Nigeria as in many other developing countries such as South Africa, Ghana, education has usually been considered to be the cornerstone and pillow of economic growth and developments. Oredein and David (2007) believed that to survive in the competitive world of economy, quality education is the key variable. Grounded in this belief, education reforms have taken place that are directed towards improving the quality of education. These reforms are demanding greater performance and commitment from teachers, holding teachers responsible for the performance of students mostly right from primary schools.

Primary school pupils have the right to be taught by competent teachers who give a clear understanding of how pupils imbibe instructions and such teachers must acquire appropriate skills and knowledge in terms of educational background and area of specialization to carry out their assignment. Primary education serves as the foundation level of all other educational levels

 by providing the children with a good preparatory ground for further education. In realization of the important role and the place of primary education in National development and globalization, there has been agitation for more functional, qualified and competent teachers to handle the teaching of basic education pupils across the nation. This agitation and concern for quality primary education is reflected in the compulsory introduction of Primary Education Studies (PES) in all colleges of education in Nigeria. It is also reflected in the inauguration of education for all (EFA) in Jomtien (Thailand) in 1995 and Dakar in 2000 (Sofowora, 2010). This was followed by a meeting called by the 56th General Assembly of the United Nations to discuss the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

According to Sofowora (2010), the effort at ensuring quality primary education was not left to government alone but to such societies as Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE), Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) and the Information society, also sponsored and organized international conferences and workshops aimed at ensuring quality access to primary education were considered. However, at the global level, the United Nations came up with a target that all member states should seek to achieve the following goals on Basic education:

          Ensuring that by the year 2015, all children particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities should have access to a

complete, free, compulsory and good quality primary education.

          Ensure that the learning needs of all young people are in line with the MDGs.

          Eradicate extreme illiteracy, poverty and hunger.

          Achieve universal primary education by 2015. (Sofowora 2010, p. 13)

For the above mentioned points to be achieved, the important point to note is the area of how to get quality teachers that will be able to teach the pupils and meet their individual educational needs and aspirations. It demands for teachers that are specifically trained to be able to inculcate quality skills and knowledge to the pupils being carefully considered. Then, the focus should be on production of qualified PES teachers and the need for continuous changes in minimum standard of the teacher training institutions.

Nigeria as one of the signatory countries to the Universal Declaration Conference, was compelled to implement the UNESCO (2001) mandate to provide high standard and good quality primary education for every child. In 1999, former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo launched the Universal Basic Education (UBE) as a strategy to bring quality education to every child. Omotayo, Ihebereme, Maduewesi, (2008) attribute poor management and lack of quality assurance as responsible factors for the failure to realize the goals of primary education.

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme launched in September, 1999 was designed as an improvement on the Universal Primary Education (UPE). Obanya (2000) summarizes Basic Education at that level, as a type, and form of learning needed to build firm roots for literacy and numeracy, to inculcate basic life skills and more importantly, to consolidate the skills of learning how to learn. Sofowora (2010) articulate further that the launch of UBE will lead to other problem in primary education that is, disparity between the expected school enrolment and the actual enrolment. Poor management of information leads to conflicting statistics about the number of primary schools. The inability of the country to meet the target set for Primary Education Studies to effectively handle primary schools. Omotayo et al (2008), identifies problems responsible for poor implementation of primary school to include: financial problems, incompetent instructors, overcrowded classrooms, continuous changes in minimum

 standard and lack of quality control and proper implementation. Consequently, the above problems led to the decline in standard at all levels of education. Presently, there is the challenge of professionally qualified teachers (Sofowora, 2010). According to Egwu (2009), there are alarming difference between teachers certified qualifications, most especially in PES departments, NCE Level; and their actual teaching competence and performance on the job. Statistics revealed that a large number of teachers having below the National Certificate in Education (NCE) abound in North-East and North West (70%). Based on statistics obtained from Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (2004), the short fall in competent, certified and qualified teachers are: 969,078 for early childhood care development education, 338,147 for primary education, 581 for JSS, 1,580,000 for adult literacy and 12,329 nomadic education (Sofowora, 2010).

This however, takes the form of what is regarded as Quality Assurance. Quality Assurance according to Egwu (2009), is a mechanism used to evaluate the efficiency and appropriateness of teaching and learning in educational institution so as to ensure the delivery of high quality education. It is also a holistic method of identifying and resolving problem within the educational system in order to ensure continuous and quality improvement. It can also be described as means of disseminating information regarding the quality of primary education. Sofowora (2010), further explained that the challenges of lack of quality or qualified teachers, quality of teaching and facilities must be resolved if schools are to offer quality education.

Bara’u (2009) emphasized that the significant roles played by teachers in modifying, expanding and rejuvenating the curriculum content in an effort to meet the needs of the students, parents and the society cannot be underestimated. The implementation of any educational

systems curriculum depends to a large extent on the availability of the right type of personnel and their willingness to impart the desired knowledge to the learners.

This study examined the operational functions of PES school, which is the major unit saddled with the production of teachers for basic education levels. It is imperative that a good foundation is laid for Nigeria educational system especially at the foundation level because one area in which the implementation of the past and present curricular in Nigeria schools has been handicapped is the area of lack of qualified teachers to teach in the educational institutions (Ajayi, 1985). This serves as a means of ensuring that the quality of the teaching force in primary school, is increased and only qualified teachers handle primary classes.

It was rightly pointed out by Fabunmi (1997), who observed that the governments (federal and states) have had to create PES department in all colleges of education and universities and encourage primary school teachers to seek admission into these institutions for further training by providing in-service training. According to National Educational Quality Assurance Policy (2004), Nigeria is concerned with eight (8) components of quality standards itemized as learner achievement and standards; learners welfare and participation; guidance and support, leadership and management, school community relationship; learning environment, teaching and learning; curriculum and other activities (FGN, 2004). The above mentioned eight  (8)            components of quality standards can be achieved when the products of PES are well trained since some of the above components are embedded in the PES minimum standards. The objective of PES as reflected in the minimum standard NCCE (2009), include:

1.         Discuss intelligently the main ideas that have affected and affect the development and practice of education in Nigeria.

 2.        Examine the main psychological, health and socio-economic factors that may help or hinder a child’s educational performance.

3.         Study learner’s approximately to determine the most effective ways of relating to them to ensure their maximum achievement.

4.         Develop, select and effectively use appropriate curriculum processes, a strategy, instruction materials and methods for maximum learner achievement.

5.         Broaden learned perspective in effort to lay solid educational foundation for children.

6.         Demonstrate desirable attributes in moral and character required of children trainers.

7.         Discuss intelligently, major issues affecting teacher education and their professional issues attainment.

8.         Identify major problems of basic education in Nigeria and their corresponding solution. (NCCE 2009, p. 32)

A closer look at the above stated primary education studies objectives show that majority

of the components listed could be attained through proper implementation of PES minimum standard.

Educational system will continue to expand for a long time in the nation if teachers will be able to teach to reflect the eight components of the quality assurance policy and to achieve the above listed objectives of PES. Instead, personnel teaching in the PES department have gone to these institutions with the aim of increasing their life time earning as well as attaining a higher socio-economic status of being guaranteed a “secured job” (Bara’u, 2009). Quantitative expansion of Primary Education Studies (PES) requires quantitative increase in teaching personnel. It suffices to point out, that as important as the quality of teaching personnel is, so is

 their quality. Both constitute the back-bone for fruitful academic achievements of PES products as well as the success of primary school pupils.

The recognition given to primary education as the foundation for other level of education has led to the compulsory establishment of Primary Education Studies Department now upgraded to a School in all Colleges of Education, federal, state and privately owned colleges (FGN, 2004). This is to ensure that primary education is handled by teachers who have been professionally trained to teach. The trained teachers and officials of the ministry of education are accusing the low level of education over teacher’s performance and parent’s attitudes vis-a-vise their children education. The teachers union and the society on the other hand, are pointing accusing fingers at the recruitment of unqualified teachers and absence of proper monitoring by means of supervision and inspection. They also point at the lack of in-services training and the shortage of teaching materials in teacher training colleges and primary schools, non-challant attitudes of the learners and teachers to their duties, lack of recognition given to teaching profession in comparison to other professions. This shows that everyone is to be blamed (Fabunmi, 1997).

Teacher education programmes have been introduced for all levels of education (Oyeinike, Adesoji and Adebayo, 2009). One of such was the Advanced Teachers’ Colleges, known today as Colleges of Education. These institutions fall under the supervision of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and are responsible for awarding Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) to its graduates. Today, there are Eighty Three (83) such colleges in Nigeria. In addition to these are faculties of education in almost all the universities in the nation, which produce graduate teachers with Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree and Postgraduate Diploma in education for graduates of other disciplines who desire to become

 professional teachers. There are also various institutes of education in universities that offer refresher and in-service training programs for teachers.

In these institutions, students are trained to form habits that will help them become capable teachers who will shoulder responsibilities, be initiative and be of good conduct worthy of emulation to their future pupils/students. The minimum standard lays emphasis on subject mastery and pedagogy. To be eligible for the award of NCE/B.Ed, a student must earn required units (usually 128) to graduate. These cover education courses, research projects, general studies, teaching practice and a double major or two teaching subjects (NCCE, 2002). Evaluation is by means of continuous assessment and an end of semester examination.

The teacher is expected to be a specialist in whatever subjects he/she is trained in, while the education courses are to prepare him/her for competent classroom work. According to Ukpo (2005), despite these arrangements, Nigeria still has a significant number of unqualified teachers. Universal access to education has been a prime target for Nigeria since the middle of the 1970s when the universal primary education (UPE) scheme was launched. Pupils enrolment burged on rapidly from 6.2 million in the 1975/76 session to 14.8 million in 1992 (Singla and Gupta, 2007). However, this brought in its wake a plethora of changes, some positive, others mostly problematic. The major one was a severe dearth of quality of teachers. Trainees were rushed through short-term, often ineffective training programmes predictably, the scheme collapsed.

An attempt to combat the problem of non and under-qualified teachers as earlier on mentioned, led to the establishment of the Teachers’ Registration Council in 1993 with the sole responsibility of determining the standards of knowledge and skill to be attained by person seeking to become registered as teachers (TRCN, 1993). Furthermore, its precepts include among others: