DESCRIPTION OF STAKEHOLDERS’ OPINIONS IN IMO STATE ON THE EFFECTIVE TEACHER PREPARATORY PROGRAMMES IN NIGERAN TEACHER EDUCATION
Ayorinde Agbonna Samuel Ph.D; Alatare Musa Sulieman & Ohato, Chioma
Abstract
This study finds out the opinions of stakeholders in Teacher Education (TE) on effectiveness of and justifications for using instructional coursework, mentoring and practical teaching programmes in Nigerian Teacher Education. It also finds out the variance in the opinion of the stakeholders on the basis of their statuses. The population for the study comprised three categories of stakeholders including administrators (lecturer and secondary school heads) and students undergoing teacher education programmes within Owerri metropolis, Imo state, Nigeria. From the population, simple random sampling technique was used to sample a total of 550 respondents comprising 300 students and 250 administrators of TE from randomly selected two Teacher Education institutions and four secondary schools within the metropolis. A researcher-made instrument titled Effective Teacher Preparation Programme Questionnaire (ETPPQ) was used to elicit needed data. Collected data were analyzed using percentages and chi-square statistics. Finding revealed that mentoring topped, (78%), as the most adjudged effective Teacher Preparatory Programmes (TPP). Following this is Classroom Coursework Programme (59%). Invariably, teaching practice was identified as the least, (37%), effective TPP in Nigerian Teacher Education. Among the indicated determinants of effective TPP are long-time exposure to practical experience indicated by 86.9% of the sample and rich source of theoretical knowledge indicated by 67.2% of the sample. However, at the level of hypothesis testing, these opinions of the stakeholders were found to significantly vary on the basis of their statuses. Based on these findings, it was recommended that enhancing mentoring practices and rich theoretical knowledge of teaching in Nigerian Teacher Education could ensure effective teacher preparation and teaching productivity.
