REPOSITIONING TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY


A VIABLE OPTION FOR TRANSFORMING EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract
The study made a case for repositioning teacher training institutions for effective service delivery as a viable option for transforming education in Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of 112 staff of the institutions studied in their different categories. The entire population was used for the study as no sample was drawn.
Three research questions guided the study while data were collected using an instrument titled “Repositioning Teacher Training Institutions Questionnaire (RTTIQ)”. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Conclusion drawn included that since there is no effective service delivery in the teacher training institutions, there is need to reposition them through application of identified strategies. Recommendations were made that government should ensure adequate funding of the institutions among others.

Key words: Teacher, training, institutions, service, delivery.

Introduction
            The future of any nation depends on the quality of its teachers. The reason according to Elimuli (2006) is that teachers are ultimately responsible for translating educational policies into practice and programmes into action in the course of their interaction with learners. The maxims that no education system can rise above the quality of its teachers and that no nation can rise above the level of its teaching staff attest to the importance of the teacher. Ohuche (1999) remarked that the teacher is the pivot of any education institutions. There cannot be quality learning outcomes without competent teachers who are the prime movers of teaching and learning process.
            Quality or competent teachers are mainly produced from teacher training institutions which are paramount for the production of professional teachers needed in Nigerian educational system. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) stated that all teachers in educational institutions shall be professionally trained and that teacher education programmes shall be structured to equip teachers for effective performance of their duties. This implies that teacher training institutions should produce for the nation, competent teachers who will give our children quality education especially as there is presently no alternative substitute for them. As main determinant of quality of education, teachers need adequate preparation since they can only transit what they possess to the teacher.
            If teachers are apathetic, uncommitted, uninspired, lazy, unmotivated, immoral and anti-social, the whole nation is doomed. If they are ignorant in their disciplines and impart wrong information, they are not only useless rather portray what the next generation will be (NERC, 1980). Teacher preparatory institutions are therefore strategic in any nation especially Nigeria that by all indications is still far from achieving its teacher education objectives. The goals of teacher education in Nigeria are to:
§     Produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system;
§     Encourage further the spirit of enquiry and creativity in teachers;
§     Help teachers to fit into the social life of the community and society at large and enhance their commitment to national objectives;
§     Provide teachers with the 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; and,
§     Enhance teacher’s commitment to the teaching profession (FRN, 2004:39).
The crux of the matter is that teacher training institutions must be well positioned to produce desired result in terms of raising for the nation professional and competent teachers.
            For purpose of clarity, a teacher training institution according to Odusina (1990) is a training centre where individuals are groomed to be professional teachers. For Iheagwamu (2008), teacher training institution is a formal place where teachers-to-be are given the required skilled knowledge for the teaching career. In the same line of thought, Ihebereme (2008) described teacher training institution as a specified environment for the purpose of training and producing professional teachers who are expected to effectively manage our nation’s educational sectors. Okafor (2008) defined teacher training institution as an organized training area geared towards production of a crop of required manpower to implement the planned and developed curriculum of schools. Drawing from the underpinning assertions in those definitions, a teacher training institution can be seen as a consciously planned training environment in form of a premises built for the purpose of exposing teacher-trainees to the principles and practice of teaching that will sufficiently and adequately equip them to play key roles in teaching  and learning processes.
            Teacher training institutions are usually recognized as authorized training places for teachers. Ihebereme and Onwuagboke (2009) maintained that any teacher training programme received outside the periphery of teacher education institution does not qualify one as a professional teacher. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004:40) recognized the following as teacher training institutions in Nigeria:
·                    Colleges of Education;
·                    Faculties of Education;
·                    Institutes of Education;
·                    National Teachers’ Institute;
·                    Schools of Education in the Polytechnics;
·                    National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN);
·                    National Mathematical Centre (NMC).
            It is interesting to note that the same document stated that the institutions “shall give the required professional training provided they continuously meet the required standard”. No wonder Ihebereme, et al (2009) argued that teacher education institutions devoid of inadequacies, shortcomings or deficiencies as the case may be, are what are needed if the nation is to succeed in producing quality teachers for our school system.
            In an effort to lay emphasis on the functionality of teacher training institutions, Adeyemo and Olorode (2008) declared that to build a strong house, there must be a solid foundation, and to build and maintain a strong educational system, there must be an effective teacher. Sadly, there seems to be teacher training institutions plagued with lapses and pitfalls in Nigeria today. By all indications, teacher education sub-sector in Nigeria has remained consistently traditional in contents, mode of implementation, evaluation and management structure. The system appears terribly deteriorated in quality and yearns for repositioning. This is because:
At this point in Nigeria’s development, when it is hoping to be one of the 20 most developed economics in the world through vision 2020, it needs a virile, high quality educational system which can ensure that Nigerians are not just onlookers but active participants (Ijaiya, 2008:232-233)     

Only a virile and proactive teaching force through an equally vibrant and transformational teacher education with adequate support system can guarantee that (Ijaiya, 2008).
            In a related view, Anukam (2001) noted that Nigerians have begun to doubt the performance of their educational system and maintained that the best way to restore confidence in the system is to start monitoring its foundation with a view to determining the threatening factors and offering solution to such threats. The major threatening factor cannot be far from the regrets of Ogunyemi (2005) that teacher education institutions such as colleges of education, university institutes and faculties of education are given second rate treatment as against those associated with elite professions like medicine and law, with adverse effects on self image and occupational prestige of teachers, in training as well as those who train them. Research (Izumic and Evers, 2002) shows that the quality of classroom teachers has the greatest impact on the performance level of students. That is why our present educational system eroded by examination malpractices, cultism, truancy, drug abuse and academic incompetence should be remedied using teacher training institutions devoid of inadequacies, deficiencies and surmountable pitfalls.
            The basis of this paper therefore is to appraise service delivery status of Nigerian teacher training institutions with the view of repositioning them for effective performance for educational transformation.
Research Questions
The study was guided by the following research questions.
(1)              What is the extent teacher training institutions presently render their various services?
(2)              What problems do the institutions encounter in trying to render effective services?
(3)              What strategies can be adopted to reposition the institutions for effective service delivery?
Method
            The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population comprised the Deans, Heads of departments, Directors, Senior Management Staff and Senior Administrative Staff respectively of Faculty of Education, University of Uyo, Institute of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Federal College of Education, Okene and Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo. Available statistics showed 1 Dean, 5 HODS and 10 senior Administrative staff for the university of Uyo; 1 Director, 10 academic staff and 12 senior administrative staff for the institute of education, university of Nigeria, Nsukka; 5 Deans, 15 HODS and 15 senior Administrative Staff for Federal College of Education, Okene and 5 Deans, 20 HODS and 13 Senior Management Staff for Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo. Thus, the total population for the study was 112. The entire population was used for the study as no sampling was carried out.
            The instrument used for collecting data for the study was a questionnaire titled “Repositioning Teacher Training Institutions Questionnaire (RTTIQ)”. It consisted of two parts, A and B. part A sought information on the respondents while part B contained there sections with 25 items in three clusters, A, B, C. A four – point rating scale of strongly agree (4 points), agree (3points), disagree (2points) and strongly disagree (1point) was provided for respondents to make their responses.
            The instrument was validated by three experts in education administration and planning of the Department of Educational Foundations of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. The observations of the experts led to the modification of items of the instrument. The instrument was tested for reliability using cronbach alpha. The Alpha yielded 0.84, 0.81 and 0.76 for the sections respectively which were confirmation that the instrument was reliable for the study. Through the assistance of four research assistants, copies of the questionnaire were administered to the institutions. All the 112 copies of the questionnaire distributed were returned and used for data analysis. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Item that scored 2.5 above was considered a positive response while item that scored below 2.5 was considered a negative response.
Table one: Extent of service delivery
S/No
Item
X
SD
1
Effective teaching delivery
2.49
1.03
2
Laboratory experiences delivery
2.27
1.06
3
Delivery of library  services
2.33
1.13
4
Provision of physical facilities
2.19
1.04
5
Provision of other facilities
2.22
1.07
6
ICT experiences/services delivery
2.13
1.36
7
Effective supervision of students
2.25
1.04
8
Provision of entrepreneurial experiences 
1.94
0.90
9
Provision of guidance/counseling services
2.36
1.16
10
Provision of adequate human (personnel) resources
2.44
1.04

Results in table 1 indicate extent of service delivery in the teacher training institutions. Going by the decision score of 2.5, all the 10 items listed were not effectively being delivered in the institutions. Service delivery is therefore low.
Table two: Problems in effective service Delivery
S/No
Problem
X
SD
1
Poor funding
2.81
0.96
2
Inadequate facility/infrastructure
2.62
1.02
3
Inconsistency in teacher education policy
2.59
1.06
4
Cultism/poor reading culture among students
2.65
1.06
5
Admission/certificate racketeering
2.63
1.07
6
Poor handling of workers/students welfare
2.61
1.03
7
Inadequate supervision of students
2.54
0.98
8
Unqualified teaching staff
2.57
0.99

Result in table 2 show that each of the 8 items listed is a problem in service delivery in teacher training institutions. Item 1 (poor funding) scores the highest mean of 2.81 followed by item 4 (cultism/poor reading culture among students) with 2.65. All other items scored 2.5 and above indicating them as problems militating against effective service delivery in the institutions.
Table Three: Strategies for Repositioning the Institutions for Effective Service Delivery
S/No
Strategies
  X
SD
1
Adequate funding of the institutions
2.77
0.98
2
Provision of adequate facilities
2.65
1.01
3
Consistency in teacher education policy
2.56
1.02
4
Adequate supervision of staff and students
2.60
1.07
5
Recruitment of only professional teachers
2.59
1.03
6
Adopting reliable mechanism for dictating certificate forgery/racketeering
2.58
0.96
7
Improving on teachers/students welfare
2.54
0.98
  
Results in table 3 indicate that the strategies listed are effective for repositioning teacher training institutions. This is shown by each strategy scoring up to 2.5 adopted as decision score. Strategy number 1 scored the higher with 2.77 followed by strategy number 2 which scored 2.65. It then implies that use of relevant strategies can help in repositioning the institutions for effective service.

Discussion
            The finding of research question one reveals negative response about extent teacher training institutions deliver their services. Indeed, there is low or poor service delivery. The finding collaborates Anukam (2001) which noted that Nigerians had begun to doubt the performance of their teacher training, institutions. This is very unfortunate as there cannot be a strong educational system without effective teaching force. This also accounts for the reason Ijaiya (2008) maintained that only a virile and proactive teaching force through an equally vibrant and transformational teacher education with adequate support system can guarantee the much desired educational transformation in Nigeria.
            The study also reveals that teacher training institutions in Nigeria encounter some problems in trying to effectively discharge their duties. There are problems of poor funding, inadequate facilities, inadequate supervision of students, and unqualified teaching staff among others. This is in line with Ogunyemi (2005) which noted that teacher educational institutions were given second rate treatment against those associated with elite professions like medicine and law resulting to adverse effects on self image and occupational prestige of teachers in training as well as those who train them. There problems do not allow for proper service delivery in the institutions thereby eroding the achievement of the nation’s educational goals.
            The third finding reveals some strategies necessary for repositioning the institutions for effective service delivery. These strategies which include adequate funding and provision of adequate facilities among others would help the institutions provide the teachers with required professional training. This is urgently necessary as no institution ridden with pitfalls would effectively deliver required services. Ihebereme, et al (2009) argued that teacher education institutions devoid of inadequacies, short comings or deficiencies were needed if the nation was to succeed in producing quality teachers for our school system. The finding also tallied with Ezeuwa (2009) which, stated that teacher training institutions should adopt strategies that would help them to effectively perform their duties.
Conclusion
            The study established that teacher training institutions in Nigeria lack in effective service delivery in all the operational areas listed. It was discovered that this is aptly due to identified problems such as poor funding and inadequate facilities. The study favoured certain strategies as reliable yardsticks for addressing the problems with the view to repositioning the institutions for effective service delivery that will lead to the desired educational transformation in Nigeria.


Recommendations
            Based on the foregoing study, the following recommendations are herewith suggested to assist policy makers and administrators to develop effective guidelines that will assist teacher training institutions and relevant stakeholders to develop effective strategies that will impact positively on effective service delivery and by extension improve school academic performances.
(1)     Management of teacher training institutions should through further studies be exposed to the skills of effective school management.
(2)     Governments and affiliate institutions should come up with viable mechanisms for ensuring that curriculum implementation in the institutions are carried out according to regulatory guidelines.
(3)     Government should ensure adequate funding of teacher training institutions since fund is the nerve centre of any purposeful administration. There cannot be any meaningful progress in other areas of administration without adequate funding.
(4)     Relevant authorities should insist on recruitment of qualified staff to handle the nation’s teacher education institutions.
(5)     There is need for the government and all other stakeholders of teacher education to ensure that they improve on welfare of staff especially with regards to their training and re-training.

References
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Ijaiya, N.Y.S. (2008). The quality of teacher education in Nigeria. In A. Ejiogu and V. Onyene (eds). Emergent issues in Nigeria education Vol. 4, 230-250

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Odusina, M.O. (1990). The teachers of today are the instruments of future curricular reform. A focus on the language teacher. WCOTP international conference report. Kampala, 60-70

Ogunyemi, B. (2005). Mainstreaming sustainable development into Africa school curricular: Issues for Nigeria. Current issues in comparative education 7(2), 60-68

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