Some Selected Secondary School Students Perception of the Quality of PGDE Teachers Trained by National Teachers Institute
Joy Chinyere Ogbu1*, Morino Ganou2, Adetoun BE2, Odusanya JT3 and Ugoh SC2
1National Teachers Institute, Kaduna Nigeria
2University of Abuja, Nigeria
3Biocrops Biotechnology Company Limited, Abuja, Nigeria
*Corresponding author
Joy Chinyere Ogbu, National Teachers Institute, Kaduna Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This study samples the Perception of Secondary School Students on the quality of PGDE Teachers produced through National Teachers Institute (NTI) of Nigeria program. The study was guided by four hypothesis and three research questions. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting a sample of 100 Secondary School Students from National Mathematical Centre International Model Science Academy and Government Secondary School Hajj camp. Questionaire containing sixteen items was used to elicit information. The data collected was analysed. The findings were PGDE Teachers produced through NTI program are competent in the general studies aspect of education, competent in their area of specialisation and in the professional aspect of teacher education. Some gray areas were identified in the general studies aspect of education and recommendations were made on how to improve NTI program generally.
Keywords: NTI (National Teachers Institute), PGDE (Post Graduate Diploma in Education), Some Selected Student, Quality
Introduction
Teachers are the bedrock of any educational programme. The success or failure of any educational programme equally depends on teachers’ knowledge, understanding and commitment to its objectives. It is for this reason that the Federal Republic of Nigeria acknowledged in her National Policy on Education that “no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers” [1]. This implies that no education system is better than the quality of its teachers. With expanded educational opportunities for Nigerians occasioned by the introduction of the Universal Primary Education in 1976 and the launching of the Universal Basic Education in 1999, Nigerians have free access to education from primary to junior secondary level. This leverage has had concomitant unprecedented increase in school enrolment which has necessitated the expansion in the teacher training programme of the country. To this effect the Federal Republic of Nigeria has in addition to the institution-based training of teachers like the faculties of education, institutes of education and colleges of education, introduced the distance learning programme for the production of teachers known as National Teachers Institute (NTI) of Nigeria [2].
There has been mixed feelings from a cross section of the society on the quality of education in general and that provided by NTI in particular [3]. The programme has been variously described as “late planting school”, “adult school”, “afternoon school” etc. The programme is seen by many as an emergency or crash programme [4]. A great number of people tend to look at the programe with low esteem, while serving teachers tend to draw a dichotomy between teachers trained through regular school programme and those trained through NTI programme. Some head teachers tend to look at NTI products as not well-groomed. Beneficiaries of NTI programme talk glowingly of it and hold it in high esteem. It is this mixed reaction from the society through personal contact with the researchers that generated the desire for this investigation. This study seeks to provide answer to the question “How competent are PGDE teachers produced through NTI programme in general education, areas of specialization and the professional areas”? The perception of students will be used to answer the question This is so because students are in the best position to evaluate performances of their Teachers as they work directly under their supervision [5]. In general, this study evaluates the competence of PGDE teachers produced through NTI programme using the perception of Secondary School Students. In specific terms, the study will; using the perception of Secondary School Students, determine the competence of PGDE teachers produced by NTI.
Materials and Methods
The design for the study was a descriptive design in which the Perception Of 100 Head secondary school students of public and private secondary school in Gwagwalada, FCT-Abuja on the competence Of PGDE teachers produced through NTI distance learning program was samples. In each school visited, the Perception of the secondary school students was received through a questionnaire tagged 'Secondary School Students Quality Perception of NTI product (SSSQPNTIP) that was administered. This resulted in 50 respondents being used from each school, thus making a total of 100 respondents.
The instrument used for the study was a structured questionnaire tagged “Secondary School Students Quality Perception of NTI Products” (SSSQPNTIP). It comprised of two sections. Section 'A' and Section 'B' . Section 'A' sought information on personal data of respondents, example: name of school, class, sex and age of students. Section 'B' contained items for answering the research raised for the study.Section 'B' has 16 items from the four hypotheses and four research questions used for the study. The questionnaire was built on a 4-point modified Likert scale of very strongly agree (4), Agree (3), Disagree (2), and Strongly Disagree (1), for the four hypotheses. The items elicited information on the competence of the teachers in the field of general education, area of specialisation, professional competence and Performance during teaching-learning process.
The questionnaire was subjected to validity by experts in measurement and evaluation before it was administered. Drafted copies of the questionnaire to experts for validation on the basis of their experts inputs, observation and suggestions were considered in producing the sets of questionnaire as the final copy. The instrument consists of 16-item questionnaire. The respondents were asked to fill the instrument as appropriate. The instrument were produced for the purpose of testing it's reliability. To ascertain the reliability of the instrument,a pilot test was carried out in NMC International Model Science Academy (which was not a part of the main study. Four secondary school students were randomly selected for the pilot study. The responses to the item on the instrument were analysed using Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficient. The reliability coefficient (r) of the instrument was 0.81. This indicated that the instrument is reliable for the study because in Pearson's correlation, any coefficient above 0.5 means that the instrument is reliable.
Discussion
Table 1 above shows the 54(54%) of the respondents were female while 46(46%) of the respondents were male. This shows that there were more female participants than males in this study. Table 2 above indicates that the number of respondents aged between 9-12 years were 34 (34%), those between 13-15 years were 44(44%), while respondents aged 16-18 years were 22(22%). This shows that there are more participants aged 13-15 years in this study than those aged between 9-12 and 16-18 years. Table 3 above indicates that the number of respondents in JS 1-JS 3 were 40(40%), those in SS 1- SS 3 were 60(60%). This shows that there are more participants in this study within SS 1- SS 3 than those within JS 1-JS 3. In table 4, all the mean scores were 3.1 and above having an overall mean of 3.28, this means that the PGDE teachers produced by NTI are competent in the general knowledge of education. However item No. 1 and 2 had a better mean score of 3.50 and 3.46 respectively. From table 5 the above mean score is 3.42, however, item No 7 had the least mean score of 3.13, this tends to suggest that NTI PGDE trained teachers use effective teaching techniques, while item No 5 had a better mean score of 3.57 suggesting that NTI PGDE trained teachers have good knowledge of their subject area. From table 6, the overall mean is 3.56 this tends to state NTI PGDE trained teachers professional competence while item No 10 had a better mean score of 3.96 suggesting that NTI PGDE trained teachers have very good personality. From table 7, the overall mean is 3.46. This tends to state the general performance of NTI PGDE trained teachers during teaching-learning process.
Conclusions
This research revealed that PGDE teachers produced by NTI are competent in the general knowledge of education, professional areas of teacher education, area of specialisation, have good performance during teaching-learning process in both Gwagwalada and Kwali area council. It can be concluded that NTI is fufilling it's set objective by producing teachers who are not only highly motivated, conciencious and efficient, but teachers who are also committed to the teaching profession and national goals. There is however need for more effective organization of the program to make it more result oriented as this research has revealed some areas of deficiencies from the opinion of the students.
Supplementary Materials: Questionnaire
References
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