Abuja – Prof. Abdalla Adamu, the Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), has decried the total reliance of Nigerian teachers on old teaching methods and strategies.
Abdalla, who was represented by Prof. Patrick Eya, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, expressed the viewpoint at the first public lecture of NOUN’s Faculty of Education on Thursday in Abuja.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the lecture is “Re-tooling Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Nigeria’’.
Abdalla said that there was a consensus of opinion among Nigerians that the quality of education had plummeted.
“Greater part of the blame is attributed to the teacher’s inability to acquire new techniques and trends as they emerge in the global field of education.
“This can be attributed to the fact that the Nigerian teacher heavily relies on old methods, old pedagogical ideas and obsolete knowledge matter.
“Events of our time show that such knowledge and techniques of the past are no longer adequate for the fast-changing world today; relying on them is tantamount to living in the past,’’ he said
Abdalla stressed that for Nigeria to compete favourably with other nations, it must adopt innovative techniques in which the teacher could constantly learn and relearn new skills, new knowledge and new technology in teaching.
The lecturer, Prof. Gidado Tahir, said that Pre-service Training (PRESET) was an aspect of training that could facilitate fully qualified, licensed or credentialed teacher status within a national, regional or state system.
He said that In-service Teacher Education (INSET), on the other hand, was often used interchangeably with the concept of teacher professional development.
He said that it was an education and support provided to a trainee after PRESET preparation.
Tahir said that ODL was justified by resources efficiency, which implied that teaching staff, buildings and recurrent costs were eliminated in ODL-mediated teacher production.
He said that ODL tackled the problem of teacher demand and supply, as more teachers of high quality could be produced within a shorter time.
“ODL promotes access to education in the context of huge increase in the social demand for secondary and tertiary education and the limited capacity of conventional face-to-face institutions.
“It provides equal educational opportunities to all social groups, irrespective of their geographical location, gender, class, ethnicity, religion, among others.
“It meets the continuing professional development needs of diverse groups who, due to the exigencies of their full-time job commitment, cannot enrol for full-time studies in formal conventional institutions.
“It will address existing and projected shortfalls in teacher supply, following the launching of basic education scheme, to upgrade unqualified teachers,’’ he said.
Tahir said that ODL’s ability to reach a large number of student-teachers and other sets of learners at lesser costs had made it attractive to government in many sub-Saharan African countries.
He said that the coming of Information Communication Technology (ICT) had opened an array of possibilities in the way people communicated electronically, adding that this had also impacted immensely on education.
He urged trainers and trainees in ODL to identify the Open Education Resources (OERs), which were readily available on the web that suited their needs and contexts, and adopt them appropriately. (NAN)
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