TDP DigestApril 2014 - Teacher Development Programme

TDP Digest
April 2014
Right:
TDP National Programme
Manager Nguyan Feese,
ESSPIN National
Programme Manager
Kayode Sanni and
Commissioner of
Education Jigawa State
Prof. Haruna Wakili
Brief Organisational
overview
TDP is a partnership
between the Nigerian and UK
governments to improve the
quality of education in Nigeria.
The six-year programme
(2013-2019) supports six
northern states of Nigeria
‑ Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano,
Katsina, Niger and Zamfara
- to improve the quality of
teaching in primary and junior
secondary schools and in
Colleges of Education.
In the first three years, the
programme will operate
in three states - Jigawa,
Katsina and Zamfara, and
after that will roll out to the
remaining states.
TDP is a programme funded
by UKaid and managed by
Mott MacDonald Limited.
Our Vision
Committed teachers with
the knowledge and skills to
improve the quality of learning
Our Mission
To collaborate with relevant
stakeholders to build
sustainable systems for
teacher development
TPD National Co-ordinating
Committee inaugurated
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwabiola
inaugurated the National Co-ordinating Committee (NCC) for Teacher Professional
Development (TPD) on the 7th March 2014 at the Federal Ministry of Education
conference hall. The role of the committee is to support the streamlining of all
stakeholders’ interventions and information sharing and provide overall political and
strategic leadership for teacher professional development activities. The membership
of the committee is made up of relevant stakeholders in the education sector and
is led by the Federal Minister of Education. Members of the committee include
representatives of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE),
Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), National Teachers Institute (NTI),
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), UK Department For International
Development (DFID), World Bank, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
British Council, Save the Children, Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA),
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Education Sector
Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), Teacher Development Programme (TDP),
Commissioners of Education from Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara States, the Nigerian
Union of Teachers, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) and
Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA).
The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director, Human Resource
Management of the Federal Ministry of Education, noted the very useful support
of International Development Partners (IDPs) to the efforts of the state and federal
governments to improve the quality of teachers in Nigeria. He highlighted the fact
Continued on page 3
News
Editorial
Reforming Pre-Service Teacher
Education In Nigeria: The Journey So Far
Teacher Education is in crisis. The
manifestations of this crisis include the
poor quality both of entrants into Teacher
Education Institutions and the graduates
that they produce. This is compounded by
the inappropriateness of the teacher education
curriculum and the lack of strong linkages
between colleges of education on the one
hand and schools and SUBEBs on the other,
particularly in matters relating to teacher
demand and supply and teaching and
learning in schools. This results in poor pupil
performance, particularly in primary schools
and in parents’ reluctance to send their
children to such poor schools. One response
to this crisis is the reform package developed
by the National Commission for Colleges
of Education (NCCE) that seeks to improve
the quality and restore the glory of teacher
education in Nigeria.
The NCCE’s reform package covers the
teacher education curriculum, the quality of
programme management and delivery, the
structure of the colleges and the effectiveness
of teaching practice supervision and support.
For example, the new NCE curriculum has
moved away from the subject-based, onesize-fits-all curriculum to one that will train
teachers in different areas of specialisation
- Early Childhood Care and Development
Education, Primary Education, Junior
Secondary Education, Special Education
and Adult & Non-formal Education.
TDP’s support will be crucial in the coming
months and years as the implementation
of the NCCE’s reform agenda gathers
momentum. For the NCCE, it is indeed a
welcome development. A lot has happened
since the commencement of TDP’s support
to the reform programme. This includes the
inauguration of co-ordinating committees at
national and state levels, the implementation
of capacity building and orientation
workshops on the reform agenda in five
Colleges of Education in Jigawa, Katsina
and Zamfara States, and on the new NCE
curriculum, the re-structuring of the colleges
and the new QA process among others.
For the teacher education sector, the
significance of TDP’s support lies not so
much in the number of states or colleges
involved, but in the immense potential for
replicating its teacher professional
development model across the entire sector,
including both pre-service and in-service
training. TDP’s engagement with its main
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partners the Federal Ministry of Education
(FMOE), NCCE and UBEC at federal level
and State ministries of education (SMOEs),
COEs and SUBEBs at the state level does
strongly suggest that the reform process
and its outcomes will be sustained in such
a way that the needs of the basic education
sector for relevant and good quality teachers
will be adequately addressed.
It is expected that the reform agenda will
enable student teachers to improve their
knowledge and pedagogy in ways that will
impact positively on the quality of teaching
and learning in the schools. The colleges of
education have not only welcomed TDP’s
support but have demonstrated strong
commitment to embracing the reform
agenda and partnering with NCCE and
TDP to achieve its goals. It is hoped that
the current strong partnership between
TDP and federal and state ministries and
agencies will continue to be sustained for
the transformation of teacher education
and the improvement of the quality of
learning in schools. With the
overwhelming support of the FMOE,
NCCE, UBEC, SMOEs, colleges of
education and SUBEBs, the complete
transformation of pre-service and
in-service training will be actualised.
Over the past three months, several
activities towards implementing the
reform agenda have been carried out by
NCCE supported by the TDP. Whilst
TDP is not solely concentrated on
pre-service teacher education, this third
edition of the TDP Digest is dedicated to
the work in which the NCCE and the
Federal and State colleges of education
in Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara States
have been engaged, and provides brief
descriptions of the reform processes in
the five pilot colleges.
Happy Reading
Professor Muhammed Ibn Junaid,
Executive Secretary NCCE
Continue from cover page
TPD National Co-ordinating Committee inaugurated
Above
Representative of Permanent
Secretary Federal Ministry of
Education Dr. M.D. Umar.
that for the various efforts to
yield results there needs to be
improved collaboration in the
planning and implementation of
teacher development programmes.
The Permanent Secretary advised
the Committee to provide the
much needed direction at the
federal level and also to the State
Co-ordinating Committees (SCCs)
in the three pilot states of Jigawa,
Katsina and Zamfara to increase
their efficiency and effectiveness.
The DFID representative at the
inauguration expressed happiness
over the federal government’s
desire to harmonise all teacher
development activities and said
DFID also conceived its support
through the Teacher Development
Programme to be the “glue” to
bind other DFID teacher training
supported programmes across
Nigeria to work together in a
coherent manner to achieve
a major global agenda of
improving learning outcomes
for school children.
The Commissioner of Education
Jigawa State commended the
inauguration of the Committee as
a step in the right direction and
noted the need to harmonise
government and donor activities
in teacher training.
Above
Representatives of
JICA and UNICEF at
the inauguration
The Commissioner pledged the
support of his state government
in ensuring that the Committee
achieves its aim of unified support
for teacher development. He
emphasised the need to ensure
that more teachers are trained to
be effective and also the need
to strengthen the links between
the demand for and supply of
teachers through closer
collaboration between the
colleges of education and State
Universal Basic Education
Boards (SUBEBs).
However, the Commissioner
lamented the low performance of,
and lack of interest among, the
teachers. He said his state is
working with relevant stakeholders
to develop a comprehensive teacher
development strategy for the state.
He emphasised the need to track
colleges of education graduates
to learn lessons on their quality of
output and to identify the number
of graduates who end up in the
teaching profession.
The meeting discussed the poor
quality of teachers, the low level
of teacher motivation and the
lack of clarity around the roles
and responsibilities of stakeholders
on the support for teacher
development. Following discussions,
it was agreed that the starting point
for collaboration of stakeholders
on teacher development must
necessarily be the Teacher
Development Policy in Nigeria.
The Federal Ministry of Education
was therefore requested to
provide copies of the policy
document for members to read
and internalise, after which
strategies can be developed. The
meeting also discussed the need
to have a robust and effective
secretariat for the Committee
housed within the FME. It was
agreed that the meeting should
be held every quarter.
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Features
Kick-starting the NCCE reform agenda
The NCCE is spearheading
the reform of NCE awarding
institutions, following the
outcry about the poor quality
of teachers across Nigeria.
The reform agenda is a
paradigm shift along the five
inter-dependent areas shown
in the diagram.
The new curriculum shifts from
the subject-based training of
teachers to a focus on pedagogy,
training teachers in areas of
specialisation within the basic
education sub-sector. This will
impact upon the structure of the
colleges and the quality of their
delivery. A further shift is
from teacher-centred to activitybased teaching.
The diagram of the reform
process demonstrates how
each of the five steps in the
reform process relates to
each other.
Below
Participants at the
Federal College of
Education Technical Gusau,
Zamfara State engage
in group activitivity.
Adopt New Curriculum
Clarify new curriculum
Clarify implication
on structure
Restructuring College
Agree structure
Conduct needs
assessment
Draw up action
plan
Build capacity to
implement
Restructure
College
Strengthen QA processes
Refine QA functions
Build capacity of QA
staff
Conduct
Self-assessment
Support Accreditation
Improve Pedagogy
Move to activity-based learning
Support micro teaching
Improve teaching practice
Inspire teaching and transform learning
More effective teacher educators
More effective teachers
To kick-start the reform agenda,
the NCCE, supported by the
TDP, organised several
awareness-raising workshops to
help clarify the objectives of the
reform and get stakeholders’
buy-in. Concerns over the new
Nigeria Certificate in Education
(NCE) curriculum and its
implications for re-structuring
the CoEs have been eased,
following workshops organised
in the five CoEs in Jigawa (6-7
February), Katsina (13-14
February) and Zamfara (10-11
February) States.
Better teaching and learning
These workshops were
organised to enhance
participants’ understanding of:
the new NCE curriculum, the
guidelines for the re-structuring
of the colleges based on the
new curriculum, the Quality
Assurance Tool Kit, and the
Teaching Practice Tool Kit.
There were 76 participants at
each workshop, made up of
academic and management staff
of the colleges of education in
each state. Representatives of the
State Universal Basic Education
Boards (SUBEBs) and Ministries
of Education (MoEs) also
participated in the workshops.
Staff of the NCCE led by the
Executive Secretary facilitated
the workshops.
The intended outcomes of the
workshops were to: enhance
the understanding of the goals
and objectives of the new
curriculum by academic staff
and management; understand
the structure and content of the
new curriculum; and improve
understanding of the implications
of the new NCE Curriculum for
the restructuring of the colleges
and staff development.
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All the participants supported
the new NCE curriculum because
it addresses directly the needs
of teachers across the basic
education sector. However,
they expressed concerns over
the relative weight given to the
theoretical and practical
components of the new
curriculum, expressing preference
for more credit units for practical
work. They also expressed
concerns over the paucity of
facilities and staff needed to
implement the new curriculum,
particularly in the areas of Early
Childhood Care and Development
Education (ECCDE) and
Special Education.
The workshops were delivered
in plenary and group sessions.
Participants were divided into
groups to provide opportunities to
explore in depth the key aspects
of the reform and the implications
of the new curriculum for college
re-structuring and staff development,
quality assurance and teaching
practice among others. The
groups were able to express
their concerns and draw up
practical proposals to improve
reform implementation.
Above, right
and below
Participants at a
Quality Assurance
meeting at the
Federal level
in Abuja.
Issues of quality assurance
and teaching practice dominated
much of the discussions in
each state.
Participants expressed concerns
over the weak capacity of the
existing Quality Assurance (QA)
Units and the need to make them
more effective. Similarly, there
was general consensus that the
ways that teaching practice was
being implemented were not very
effective because not enough
support was being given to the
student teachers and the quality
of supervision was generally poor.
There was an expectaion among
the participants that TDP would
support the efforts of the colleges
to improve their quality assurance
operations and also transform
the way that teaching practice is
organised and carried out.
5/12
Features
Colleges of Education Ready to Embark on
College Restructuring
This is one of the outcomes of
the workshops on college restructuring which were organised
in Jigawa. The colleges of
education in Jigawa, Katsina and
Zamfara States reviewed the need
for structural reform and related
capacity-building and made
proposals as to how this might
most effectively be carried out.
These workshops on restructuring
were held in Jigawa State on
24th February 2014, in Katsina
State on 25th and 26th February
2014, and on 3rd March 2014 in
Zamfara State. The primary focus
of the workshops was to assist
the colleges to articulate an
appropriate strategy for
re-structuring, based on their
specific needs and realities and
also produce an action plan
on how the re-structuring
process will unfold.
The colleges are now better
positioned to take the necessary
steps in order to make a smooth
transition from the old system,
where the colleges were organised
into schools based on the subjects/
disciplines like School of Arts
and Social sciences, School of
Languages, School of Science etc.
to new structures that re-organise
the colleges based on areas of
specialisation viz: School of Early
Childhood Care Development and
Education (ECCDE), School of
Primary Education (PE), School of
Junior Secondary Education (JSS),
School of Adult and Non-formal
Education (ANFE), and Special
Above
Participants break
into group discussions
during the Restructuring
workshop at the College
of Education Maru.
“This is the first time that NCCE
has tried to engage the colleges in
serious discussion about college
re-structuring. The workshop has
allayed the fears of academic staff
and has helped us think about
what we need to do if we are to restructure our colleges successfully
based on the new NCE curriculum.”
Provost COE Maru
Education (SE).
The intention of these changes
is that the new structures will
produce teachers who are equipped
to teach effectively at the appropriate
level within the basic education
sub-sector, with the necessary broad
subject knowledge and pedagogic
skills. In addition to colleges being
organised in areas of specialisation,
it is intended that the reforms will
promote more activity-based
6/12
teaching and learning.
All five colleges share a
common standpoint regarding
the re-structuring process. They
believe that it should be done in
phases over a period of 2-3 years.
The new schools (ECCDE, PE,
JSS, ANFE and SE) will be
introduced gradually as the old
subject-based schools are phased
out. The introduction of the new
schools will be based on each
college’s capacity in terms of staff
and teaching-learning facilities
and also the extent to which the
teacher supply needs of their
respective states create demand
for teachers in the various levels
of basic education. A further
common view across the colleges
is that the re-structuring process
will take a great deal of investment
in teaching and learning facilities
and in staff development.
Features
The Challenge of Improving the Quality of
Teacher Education
Restructuring the colleges is
an essential part of the reform
process – but it is only a part. The
quality of teaching and learning
in the colleges must also be
addressed. Towards this end,
staff of QA units from the five
colleges were trained on new
QA procedures. This was
followed by follow-up workshops
for 46 staff in each of the five
CoEs in April 2014.
The objectives of the training were
to promote clear understanding
of the aims, objectives, structure,
content and uses of the new
Quality Assurance Toolkit (QAT),
developed by NCCE for use in all
Nigeria’s colleges of education.
The workshop was also intended
to provide practical hands-on
experience on how the
instruments contained in the
QAT can be used for the selfassessment of the colleges
and for external accreditation.
The workshop was structured to
guide the participants to identify
the most effective strategies for
promoting a culture of quality
and mainstreaming the approved
standards for pre-service teacher
education in each college.
Practical hands-on experience
helped participants to identify
and use quality indicators,
calculate grades, to use
institutional self-assessment
forms and prepare final quality
assurance and to prepare
reports for college managers.
The results were overwhelmingly
positive, as expressed through
the post-workshop evaluations,
where participants noted an
increase in their knowledge and
understanding of the NCCE’s
Quality Assurance Toolkit, along
with increases in participants’
skills in applying the QAT to
institutional self-assessment.
At the end of the workshop,
participants expressed a hearty
appreciation to NCCE and TDP
and rated the training as good.
They asked for TDP support in
carrying out a pilot accreditation
of the two institutions using the
QAT, along with further TDP
support to enable them organise
similar training for other senior
staff (teacher educators) who
who had not from the workshop.
TDP help was also sought to
assist NCCE to publish an NCCE
Training Manual and Workbook
for future workshops.
Participants also recommended
internal reforms. They proposed
that each college should form a
Quality Assurance Committee with
the goal of achieving the vision
and mission of the Quality
Assurance Unit (QAU), as
recommended by NCCE. The
workshop reviewed and updated
functions for the QA departments
and further recommended the
establishment of Code of a Code
of conduct for the operation of QA
processes, and the development
of an Action Plan for QAU activities
to be approved by the College
Management Team.
Left
TDP Pre-Service
Lead Specialist Dr.
Abdurrahman Umar
engaging lecturers in
discussions at the
college restructuring
workshop at Federal
College of Education
Technical Gusau,
Zamfara State.
7/12
Features
Reform in Action in the Five Pilot Colleges of Education
Implementing the Reforms
Each of the five colleges of
education that NCCE and TDP
are working with is embarking
on a reform programme following
broadly similar lines, but tailored
to the particular needs of
students, schools and the state.
The following snapshots of their
plans demonstrate both their
commitment to reform and the
ways in which they are adapting
reform to match needs and
available resources.
The college profiles also point
to priority areas where external
help is requested by the colleges.
There are obvious concerns
about staff capacity, and the need
for effective staff training is
paramount. The shift away from
traditional subject-based training
has serious resource implications.
The colleges need to work
closely with schools and SUBEBs
in identifying the materials
needed for the reformed teaching
and learning approaches. Closer
links with the SUBEBs – already
in hand in the states – will also
enable colleges to have clearer
perceptions as to the numbers
of teachers required in the various
sub-sectors, and therefore the
employment prospects of those
students to be recruited to the
new College Schools and
Departments.
Above
A participants
stressing a point
at the occasion.
Jigawa State: College of
Education Gumel
The College was established in
April 1976 as Advanced Teachers’
College, situated temporarily
in Kano up to 1980 when it was
transferred to Gumel as its
permanent site. The creation of
Jigawa State out of Kano State
automatically converted the
College to Jigawa State College
of Education, Gumel on the 24th
December, 1991.
There are 6,242 students enrolled
in the college’s NCE and Pre-NCE
programmes made up of 600 PreNCE and 5,642 NCE students. The
college has 473 staff made up
of 225 academic staff and 248
non-academic staff.
The college currently has
five Schools and twenty-four
departments:
What Next? The Challenges for TDP, NCCE and the Colleges
The first steps in implementing
the five-step reform programme
have already been taken. There
is still a long way to go but
some colleges have now begun
to tackle issues of curriculum,
structural reform and quality
assurance. In all of these areas
further support for the colleges
has been requested. TDP and
NCCE will review these and
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examine in which areas this
support can be provided. The
route map gives some indication
of the area of travel that TDP
with DFID/UKAid support is
committed to following.
Outstanding questions still
surround the problems of microteaching and teaching practice.
The concerns expressed by
college staff and management
are very real and present
obstacles to the implementation
of the reforms. But these will be
addressed. The reassuring
message from the experience
of college reform to date is that
it is strongly supported, with
colleges solidly committed
to improving the quality of
teacher education.
• School of Education with six
departments: Psychology,
Educational Foundations,
Curriculum, General Studies,
Primary Education Studies
and Early Childhood Care
Development and Education.
To transform from this structure
to the new one it was agreed that
the college would introduce the
structural changes gradually. The
College will phase in a General
Education School, with a new
departmental structure with
additional ECCE, ANFE (now
• School of Arts and Social
renamed Community Education),
Sciences with five departments:
Technical and Vocational Education
Economics, Geography, History,
& Training (TVET) and Special
Islamic Studies and Social Studies. Needs Departments. However,
the college noted the lack of
• School of Languages with three
qualified staff to manage the new
departments: English, Arabic
departments. Nevertheless, the
and Hausa.
full restructuring advocated by
NCCE will be in place within the
• School of Sciences with seven
next four or five years’.
departments: Physical & Health
Education, Physics, Biology,
Most current materials used in
Chemistry, Computer Studies,
subject-based programmes are
Integrated Science
not relevant to the new curriculum,
and Mathematics
so an assessment to define the
scope of materials required –
• School of Vocational & Technical
Education with three departments: models, toys, videos, AV materials
and print fabrics - is needed.
Agricultural Education, Business
Matters to be resolved include the
Education, and Fine & Applied
need for materials in mother-tongue
Arts.
and local environment languages,
given the demand for local language
teaching in Primary Grades 1 to 3.
Below
A member of Jigawa
Work that is being done as a part
State Coordinating
of TDP on the development of
Committee stressing
material for in-service teacher
a point.
training will be helpful here.
In particular, the College plans
to become a Centre of Excellence
in ECCDE. Towards this end, it
will focus on the development
of appropriate materials with
support from TDP and the Girls’
Education Programme (GEP3) in
Zamfara and Katsina States. The
College can then prepare relevant
improvised materials for use in
ECCDE training.
Micro-teaching and teaching
practice are significant factors in
improving the calibre of student
teachers. Both were talked about
extensively at the initial orientation
workshop attended by Gumel
COE. There was general consensus
that the way that teaching practice
was being implemented by the
college did not provide sufficient
time for practice for student
teachers. The quality of supervision
was said to be generally poor and
the three-week observation period
did not offer sufficiently studentcentred practical experience.
TDP would explore with the college
ways in which these problems
might be addressed and review
with NCCE and other relevant
stakeholders how to positively
transform the ways that teaching
practice is organised and
implemented.
Katsina: Isa Kaita College
of Education, Dutsin Ma
The college was established in July
1991, as a College of Education
Technical. In 1994 it was converted
to a conventional College of
Education and in 1995 it was
renamed Isa Kaita College of
Education. The college has 6,352
students, made up of 3,947 NCE
and 2,405 Pre-NCE students. It
also has 544 staff (i.e. 210 academic
staff and 344 non-academic staff).
It currently has five Schools and
nineteen departments:
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• School of Arts and Islamic
Studies with three departments:
Islamic Studies, Christian
Religious Studies and Social
Studies
• School of Languages with three
departments: English, Arabic
and Hausa.
• School of Sciences with seven
departments: Physics, Chemistry,
Biology, Integrated Science ,
Mathematics, Physical and Health
Education, Computer Education
• School of Vocational & Technical
Education with three departments:
Agricultural Education, Home
Economics and Technical
Education
• School of Education with three
departments: ECCDE, Primary
Education, and ANFE.
The College has carefully
considered the new college
curriculum recommended by
NCCE and agreed to implement
the new structure to align with
the new curriculum as soon as
practicable. Four schools will be
set up with each school having
Directorates, divided into sections
and some parts will be split up
further into units.
One major organisational change
advocated during the workshop
was the establishment of a second
Deputy Provost post, so that a
Deputy Provost (Academic) would
supervise the work of the new
Schools and the Deputy Provost
(Administration) would continue
with the current DP duties.
Capacity-building is needed in
two linked categories: content
and methodology. The switch
from traditional lecturing to
learner-focused and action-based
educational activity and learning
is a major one for most College
lecturers. The College needs to
identify training strategies that
assist its lecturers in making this
transformation – a central task
arising from this workshop.
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The second capacity-building
need is for training in the ‘new’
curriculum areas of ECCDE,
ANFE, Special Needs and
Primary Education. Lecturers
will be required to become Basic
Education specialists as well as
subject specialists. Most current
materials are not relevant to the
new curriculum, but, as in Jigawa,
the scope of new materials required
needs to be identified through a
needs assessment, particularly of
the materials needed for mothertongue and local environment
language teaching and learning.
As in Jigawa, micro-teaching and
teaching practice were discussed
extensively at the initial orientation
workshop, where there was general
consensus that the way teaching
practice was being implemented by
the college did not offer sufficient
support to student teachers.
Katsina: Federal College
of Education Katsina
The college was established in
1976 as a conventional Federal
College of Education. Initially
supervised directly by the Federal
Ministry of Education, it was
placed under the supervision of
the National Commission for
Colleges of Education when it
was established in January 1990.
The college has 8,949 students,
comprising 3,608 NCE and 5,341
Pre-NCE students. It has 604 staff
(277 academic staff and 327 nonacademic staff). It currently has
five schools and twenty-eight
departments as indicated below:
• School of Arts and Social
Sciences with three departments:
Islamic Studies, Christian Religious
Studies and Social studies
In particular, the quality of
supervision was generally poor and
available resources insufficient.
Below
Cross session
of participants.
• School of Languages with six
departments: English, French,
Arabic, Hausa. Igbo and Yoruba.
• School of Sciences with
seven departments: Physics,
Chemistry, Biology, Integrated
Science , Mathematics, Physical
and Health Education, Computer
Education
• School of Vocational & Technical
education with five departments:
Agricultural Education, Home
Economics, Fine & Applied
Arts, Business Education and
Technical Education.
• School of Education with seven
departments: Educational
Foundations, Educational
Psychology & Counselling,
Curriculum and Instructional
Technology, Early Childhood
Care and Development, Primary
Education, General Studies and
Adult and Non-formal Education.
As part of the re-structuring
process, Early Childhood Care
Development and Education
(ECCDE), Primary Education (PE),
Junior Secondary School (JSS),
Adult and Non-formal Education
(ANFE) Schools will be established.
This will be done in phases, based
on the capacity of the college and
dependent on how many qualified
staff are available to kick-start the
formation of the new Schools,
how many will be trained, and the
teaching-learning facilities that are
available in the College.
Right
Deputy provost
opening remarks.
During the workshop on restructuring,
it was proposed that there should
be two Deputy Provosts - Deputy
Provost (Administration) and Deputy
Provost (Academic). It was argued
that if this was not done, the Deputy
Provost will be overwhelmed by
too many responsibilities that will
emerge as a result of the college
re-structuring. Also, it was agreed
that a capacity needs assessment
for the college should be carried
out in order to determine the staffing
needs and requirements of the
proposed new Schools.
As regards pedagogy, it was
agreed that college staff needed to
move away from teacher-centred
lecture-style approaches to activitybased learner-centred approaches.
To this end, academic staff will be
provided with relevant training.
Zamfara: College of
Education Maru
Following the phasing out of Grade II
awarding Teacher Training Colleges
in Nigeria, the former Sokoto
State from which Zamfara State
was carved out saw the need to
address the dearth of teachers for
the lower and middle levels of the
basic education programme. Hence,
it quickly upgraded the famous
Government Teachers’ College Maru
to a college of education in 2001.
The College continued as a
conventional comprehensive
College of Education offering
diversified courses in the Sciences,
Arts and technical fields, centrally
serviced by its five Schools: School
of Education, School of Arts
& Social Sciences, School of
Languages, School of Science,
and School of Vocational &
Technical Education. The Schools
have a total of twenty-three
departments. The current NCCE
reforms supported by TDP have
awakened the spirit of change in
all staff of the college.
The College has established a
Standing Committee on Restructuring
and the Implementation of the new
curriculum. The existing Schools
will be maintained for the time
being, with an additional School
of Primary Education, but the College
will gradually re-organise, based on
the new curriculum and beginning
with Schools of ECCDE, Primary
Education and JSS.
New Schools will be established
based on the availability of facilities
and staff. The College requested
TDP to support a systematic analysis
of the college’s capacity needs and
infrastructural requirements for
implementing the new curriculum.
The way teaching is conducted
in the college needs to be
transformed. It is currently too
teacher-centred, hence the
need to adopt activity-based
learner-centred methods. More
variety in teaching methodology
is essential; otherwise student
teachers will not be able to
teach at ECCDE, Primary and
JSS levels when they graduate
from the college.
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Schools of Primary Education
(which will have the Departments
of Primary Education and ECCE),
Special Education and ANFE will
be established. The School of
Education will continue to exist,
to service all the other departments.
As a first step, the College has this
academic session upgraded the
department of Primary Education
Studies (PES) to a fully-fledged
School of Primary Education. The
new school offers both PES and
Special Education courses.
Above
TDP Zamfara State
Team Leader Kalli Kori
with Provost College of
Education Maru
Muhammadu Kabir
Dankande during the
orientation workshop.
In terms of content, more
attention needs to be given
to the curricula of ECCDE,
Primary and JSS and
appropriate instructional
materials for teaching at
these levels should be readily
available to academic staff
and student teachers.
Zamfara: Federal
College of Education
(Technical) Gusau
The Federal Government of Nigeria,
in promoting the technical and
vocational empowerment of women,
approved the establishment of
FCET Gusau as a girls-only NCE
awarding institution in 1987 which
admitted its first set of students in
1989. The College has now
expanded its course offerings to
twenty-nine subject departments
within seven diversified Schools
of Arts and Social Sciences,
Languages, Natural Science,
General Education in addition
to Technical, Vocational and
Business Education Schools.
The College has agreed to
implement the new structure
as soon as practicable. The
formation of new Schools as
recommended by NCCE will
be executed in stages, based
on the availability of staff and
teaching-learning facilities.
Contact
Plot 7,
Kainji Crescent,
Maitama,
Abuja.
Website:
www.tdpnigeria.org
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@tdpnigeria
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@tdpnigeria
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A capacity needs assessment
should be carried out in
collaboration with TDP, to
determine the current and
projected needs of the College.
This will enable the College to
develop and implement an
appropriate staff development
strategy.
The changes that need to be
made in teaching methods
and content include the use of
learner-centred pedagogy in
place of the current dominance
of the lecture method and the
provision of teaching and learning
materials, particularly for teaching
technical and vocational education
subjects. There is a current
dearth of these materials, which
needs to be addressed
immediately, something that can
be done in conjunction with the
work TDP is steering for in-service
teacher training.

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