Professionalization of Teaching and Teacher Education in Nigeria: Connections, Disconnections and Future Directions
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Teachers at the early and foundational stages of formal Western education that was ushered into Nigeria by the Christian Missionaries were neither trained nor had the prerequisites qualifications and experience for teaching. Most of the teachers engaged were converted evangelists and preachers whose primary aim was to teach the people how to read, write and calculate for the purpose of evangelism and commerce. At different times, teaching went by nomenclatures like a passion, hobby, call, vocation, job, occupation and described as an all comer's trade from predetermined mind sets and various perceptions. This act thus heralded the controversies surrounding teaching as a profession. To determine the current status of teaching and its transformation into a profession in Nigeria, this paper comparatively analyses, and examines factors from other climes to find out what is obtainable and accepted as Teaching Profession. It is observed that adopting a universal language for the definition of a profession within the context of teaching may be impossible, although characteristics are similar, yet differences abound due to peculiarities which determine the status in different countries. As part of the determinants, this paper establishes a strong correlation of a quality teacher education programme with the process of professionalism where four key and crucial inputs are identified and derived from this level of education for teacher preparation and training. The inputs are considered as the connections that drive the process of professionalization from training, recruitment, teacher development through retirement. The plethora of problems are identified as disconnections that impede the aspirations and performance as professional teachers. Finally, the paper posits strategic pathways for the future direction for sustainable professionalization of teaching in Nigeria.
Institution: Lagos State University of Education
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225639595