CHALLENGES FACING TEACHERS AND THE WAY FORWARD
WHO
IS A TEACHER:
Teachers are distinct occupational group of people specially equipped by
training to execute the task of educating students in institutions socially
assigned the responsibility for education. However, teacher Education as the
education given to would- be teacher in institutions such as teacher training
collages, National collage so that they will be in a position to acquire,
inculcate and impart knowledge to learners.
WHAT
IS EDUCATION:
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of
knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include
storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education
frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also
educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and
any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or
acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called
pedagogy. Education is commonly and formally divided into stages such as
preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then college,
university or apprenticeship. A right to education has been recognized by some
governments, including at the global level: Article 13 of the United Nations'
1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes
a universal right to education. In most regions education is compulsory up to a
certain age.
CHALLENGES
OF TEACHERS DEDICATION IN NIGERIA
Part of what makes teaching a
challenging career is the diversity of the students that you teach. Every
student is unique having their own background, needs, and learning styles.
Teachers in the United States cannot use a “cookie cutter” approach to
teaching. They have to adapt their instruction to each individual student’s
strengths and weaknesses. Being adept at making these changes and adjustments
is challenging to every teacher. Teaching would be a much simpler task if this
were not the case.
Increased
Curriculum Responsibility
In the early days of American
education teachers were only responsible for teaching the basics including
reading, writing, and arithmetic. Over the last century, those responsibilities
have increased significantly. It seems that every year teachers are asked to do
more and more. Author Jamie Vollmer highlights this phenomenon calling it the
“ever increasing burden on America’s public schools”. Things that were once
deemed a parent’s responsibility to teach their children at home are now the
school’s responsibility. All of these increased responsibilities have come
without a significant increase in the length of the school day or the school
year meaning that teachers are expected to do more with less.
Lack
of Parental Support
Nothing is more frustrating for a
teacher than parents who don’t support their efforts to educate their children.
Having parental support is invaluable, and the lack of parental support can be
paralyzing. When parents aren’t following through with their responsibilities
at home, it almost always has a negative impact in the class. Research has
proven that children whose parents make education a high priority and stay
consistently involved will be more successful academically. Even the best
teachers can’t do it all by themselves. It takes a total team effort from the
teachers, parents, and students. Parents are the most powerful link because
they are there throughout the child’s life while the teachers will change.
There are three essential keys to providing effective parental support. Those
include making sure your child knows that education is essential, communicating
effectively with the teacher, and ensuring that your child is successfully
completing their assignments. If any of these components is lacking, there will
be a negative academic impact on the student.
Lack
of Proper Funding
School finance has a significant
impact on a teacher’s ability to maximize their effectiveness. Factors such as
class size, instructional curriculum, supplemental curriculum, technology, and
various instructional programs are affected by funding. Most teachers
understand that this is completely out of their control, but it doesn’t make it
any less frustrating. School finance is driven by each individual state’s
budget. In lean times, schools are often forced to make cuts that can’t help
but have a negative impact. Most teachers will make due with the resources they
are given, but it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t do a better job with more
financial backing.
Over
Emphasis on Standardized Testing
Most teachers will tell you that
they don’t have a problem with the standardized tests themselves, but how the
results are interpreted and used. Many teachers will tell you that you can’t
get a true indicator of what any particular student is capable of on a single
test on any particular day. This becomes especially frustrating when many
students have nothing riding on these tests, but every teacher does. This
over-emphasis has caused many teachers to shift their overall approach to teaching
directly to these tests. This not only takes away from creativity, but it can
also quickly create teacher burnout. Standardized testing puts a lot of
pressure on a teacher to get their students to perform. One of the main issues
with standardized testing is that many authorities outside of education only
look at the bottom line of the results. The truth is that the bottom line
hardly ever tells the whole story. There is a lot more that should be looked at
than just the overall score. Take the following scenario for example:
There are two high school math
teachers. One teaches in an affluent suburban school with lots of resources,
and one teaches in an inner city school with minimal resources. The teacher in
the suburban school has 95% of their students score proficient, and the teacher
in the inner city school only has 55% of their students score proficient. It
appears that the teacher in the suburban school is the more effective teacher
if you are only comparing overall scores. However, a more in-depth look at the
data reveals that only 10% of students in the suburban school had significant
growth while 70% of the students in the inner city school had significant
growth.
So who is the better teacher? The
truth is that you can’t tell simply from standardized test scores, yet there is
a large majority that wants to use standardized test scores alone to judge both
student and teacher performances. This simply creates many issues for teachers.
They would be better served as a tool to help guide instruction and
instructional practices rather than as a tool that is the end all for teacher
and student success.
Poor
Public Perception
Teachers used to be highly regarded
and revered for the service that they provided. Today, teachers continue to be
in the public spotlight because of their direct impact on the nation’s youth.
Unfortunately, the media typically focuses on the negative stories dealing with
teachers. This has led to an overall poor public perception and stigma towards
all teachers. The truth is that most teachers are superb teachers who are in it
for the right reasons and are doing a solid job. This perception can have a
limiting effect on a teacher’s overall effectiveness, but it is a factor that
most teachers can overcome.
The
Revolving Door
Education is tremendously trendy.
What is deemed to be the “most effective” thing today will be deemed
“worthless” tomorrow. Many people believe that public education in the United
States is broken. This often drives school reform efforts, and it also drives
the revolving door of the “newest, greatest” trends. These constant changes
lead to inconsistency and frustration. It seems that as soon as a teacher
grasps something new, it changes again. The revolving door effect is not likely
to change. Educational research and advancements in technology will continue to
lead to new trends. It is a fact that teachers have to adapt too, but it
doesn’t make it less frustrating.
Funding;
Budget cuts have created huge
problems for most public schools in recent years. Less funding means smaller
staffs, fewer resources and a lower number of services for students. While some
argue that throwing more money at the education problems won’t make them go
away, others assert that lack of funding caused many of the problems in the
first place.
There are many problems in public
schools today, but identifying those issues is half the battle. With a laundry
list of challenges to face, now is the time for educators, parents and
lawmakers to come together and begin to find solutions – for the benefit of all
students in public schools today.
Classroom
Size
Many areas of the country are facing
classrooms that are literally busting out at the seams. A report at NEA Today
two years ago discussed how schools in Georgia, in the midst of major funding cuts
for schools, had no choice but to lift all class size limits to accommodate
students with the faculty the school system could still afford to keep. More
recently, Fairfax County in Virginia has been looking into a proposal to
increase classroom sizes in the face of significant budget cuts. The Board of
Education in South Carolina is also weighing their options in this area.
When money gets tight, classroom
numbers are often impacted. Yet, most teachers agree that they cannot
effectively teach every student in a classroom, if the class size exceeds about
30. Their statements are backed up by research. Class Size Matters cites a
study performed by the Tennessee Star that found classes of 15-17 students in
grades K-3 provided both long and short-term benefits to both the students and
the teachers in those classrooms. Minority students, those living in poverty
and male students appeared to benefit from smaller classroom sizes the most.
Family
Factors
Family factors also play a role in a
teacher’s ability to teach students. Principals and teachers agree that what is
going on at home will impact a student’s propensity to learn. Divorce, single
parents, poverty, violence and many other issues are all challenges a student
brings to school every day. While some teachers and administrators try to work
with children in less than ideal family environments, they can only do so much
– especially when parents are often not willing to partner with the schools to
provide for the children.
Technology
Kids Health Guide reports that
students are more technologically advanced than many teachers today, putting
instructors at a decided disadvantage in the classroom. However, a student’s
love of technology also tends to distract him from his schoolwork, according to
NEA Today. When teachers don’t have the techno-savvy to compete with those
devices, by bringing education and technology together, it can be difficult to
keep students’ interest and attention to properly teach new concepts.Technology
needs to come into the classroom to keep up with the learning demands of the
21st century. Schools that are already cash-strapped may find an unsurmountable
challenge in coming up with the funding to bring computers and other forms of
technology into their classes. Scholastic offers some tips for school districts
that want to fit the bill for technology, including everything from asking
individuals in the district for “big gifts” to going to Uncle Sam for the
funding. The website also suggests negotiating prices on technology when possible
and allowing student to bring their own from home.
Bullying
Bullying is not a new problem, but
it is one that has a profound impact on the learning aptitude of many students
today. Technology has given bullies even more avenues to torment their victims
– through social networking, texting and other virtual interactions.
Cyberbullying has become a major issue for schools, as evidenced by the number
of suicides that can be directly traced to bullying events. The fact that laws
are still fuzzy regarding cyberbullying adds to the challenge – since parents,
teachers and administrators are unsure of how to legally handle such issues.
Student
Attitudes and Behaviors
Many public school teachers also
cite student attitudes, such as apathy and disrespect for teachers, as a major
problem facing schools today. A poll from the National Center for Education
Statistics cited that problems like apathy, tardiness, disrespect and
absenteeism posed significant challenges for teachers. These issues were seen
more frequently at the secondary school level, rather than the primary grades
SOLUTION
TO THE CHALLENGES FACING TEACHERS DEDICATION IN NIGERIA
Having examined the problems
bedeviling the education sector in Nigeria, this paper would move on to examine
the solutions that is needed. However, it is the view of the Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) that the fundamental solution is to urgently put into power a
working people’s government that will mobilize the enormous resources of
Nigeria to provide free, functional and democratically-managed education at all
levels.
ADEQUATE
FUNDING OF EDUCATION
The abysmal low level of allocation
to education must be reversed. According to the United Nations Education and
Socio-Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 26 percent of the annual budgets should
be allocated to the education sector. However, education in Nigeria is
allocated less than 13 percent. ASUU fought a courageous struggle to force the
hands of the Federal Government to commit more resources to the university
system and the education sector. We need to build a powerful movement to force
the hands of governments at all levels to commit resources to fund education.
It is in this regard that the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) is set to launch
in the New Year a campaign for a one-day nationwide lecture boycott and mass
protest of Nigerian students to begin to demand that government commits more
money to the funding of public education.
AUTONOMY
AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
Autonomy and internal democracy are
essential to the University system. Unfortunately over the years government has
interpreted the demand for University autonomy to mean that universities will
also be responsible for their own funding. To make the University system
operate without bureaucratic bottleneck and administrative curtailment, full
autonomy must be granted to ensure that whilst Universities are funded by the
State, they have enough independence in the election of their principal
management officials and determination of other matters without undue
interference by the State. At the same time however, management of
Universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education, teacher training
institutes must be democratized in such a way that elected representatives of
students, workers, parents and communities are allowed in the decision making
organs instead of the current bureaucratic manner tertiary institutions are
run.
INFRASTRUCTURAL
REPAIR AND DEVELOPMENT
An urgent repair of critical
infrastructure is needed at all levels of the education sector. This would mean
providing latest facilities for learning based on latest technological
advancement. For instance, information technology devices are now being used
for primary and post-primary education and a serious programme of revamping
education must take into cognizance these advancements.
REMUNERATION
AND PENSIONS OF EDUCATION WORKERS
What has been the most recurring
crisis in the education sector has been the poor remuneration of both teaching
and non-teaching staff in the education sector. To retain the best brains and
attract new hands into the education sector, a comprehensive policy of improved
remuneration of the workers of the education sector and a genuine pension
scheme are urgently needed. The current contributory pension scheme is
exploitative. If ex-presidents most of whom looted the country’s finances have
a favorable pension scheme, those who work their hands stiff daily to build
this society deserves better. We demand a genuine pension scheme that ensures
that workers are able to live a fruitful, healthy and fulfilled life after
retirement.
POST
- UTME
The Post - Universal Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (UTME) was introduced few years ago by force by
universities against the background of the corruption and failure of
examination bodies like JAMB and WAEC. However the ERC feels that the
additional cost of the Post - UTME cannot continue to be borne by students and
parents. It is unfair! In many Universities, post - UTME has now become a means
of raising Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the detriment of students and
their poor parents. We suggest that the cost of post - UTME should be borne by
the Universities since it is a means by them to take care of the inadequacies
of other recognized examination bodies.
HND
AND B.Sc DICHOTOMY
The dichotomy between HND and B.Sc
certificates is a false and artificial dichotomy which is being maintained by
the government and private employers of labour in order to downgrade the skill
of a section of the population so they can pay cheaply for it. This explains
why HND certificates holders doing the same job as B.Sc holders are paid less
and have less chance of ascending to the top of their career. It is also a
reflection of a sick and imperialist-dominated economy that is focused on the
export of raw materials and without any serious plan for industrialization. The
ERC upholds the demand of Polytechnic workers and students for the elimination
of this dichotomy.
A NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON EDUCATION
The crisis in the education sector
is not only alarming, it is a disaster that will set back Nigeria’s human and
economic development for decades thus mortgaging the future of generations’
unborn if it is unchecked now. However the ERC is convinced that on the basis
of the material wealth of this country and the resourcefulness of its people
that within a ten-year period much of these problems can be resolved and the
education sector restored on a path of progress if clear people-centered
policies are propounded and a vigorous drive for their implementation is set
off.
This will require the implementation
of a free education policy and the mobilization of all resources of society to
accomplish this at all levels of education. To this end, the ERC supports the
call for the declaration of a state of emergency on education and the adoption
of the following steps to set the education sector on the path of
revitalization within a period of ten years:
(1) Immediate increase in the
allocation to education to 26% (with capital allocation taking nothing less
than 60% of this) of annual budget.
(2) Declaration of free education at
all levels. How will this be funded? We propose the following:
(a) For a drastic cut in the pay and
emolument of all political office holders. All political office holders must be
put on the same National Minimum Wage as the rest of the country’s workforce
with other legitimate expenses paid on the basis of proven need. Any political
office holder that cannot serve the country on the same pay package of civil
servants should be asked to vacate the post for those who can. Establishing the
principle that a politician is not more important than a school teacher is
vital in the process of rejuvenating our education system and attracting the
best to take up teaching appointments.
The amount recovered from this cost-saving exercise should be added
annually to the education budget.
(b) Tax the rich and wealthy
corporations to fund public education. The huge profit locked in the vaults of
multinational oil companies, telecommunication giants and industries if heavily
taxed by government will go a long way to provide much of the needed resources
to fund quality education. Much of this wealth is being wasted on
advertisements and often by individual CEOs and their friends and relatives to
finance obscene life styles anyway. The exponential growth of market for luxury
goods like jets, fast cars, yachts in Nigeria while over 10.5 million children
are out of school is the height of societal injustice. A first bold step in
this direction should be to review the Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETFUND)
from 5% of assessable profit of companies to a progressive education tax that
starts from 5% as a baseline for small and medium scale companies and then
rises progressively to as much as 25% depending on the assessable profits of
local and multinational companies. Any multinational company that cannot do
business in Nigeria on these terms should be nationalized and placed under
democratic worker control and management.
CONCLUSION
The government should fully
implement a comprehensive educational system that lays emphasis on skill,
values, scientific and technological training, apprentice and entrepreneurial
training. We should reduce the emphasis on certificates. We should set up
structures that will help the country establish skill and semi-skilled
workforce for the informal sector. This will help reduce the level of poverty
and reduce the high rate of unemployment. It is becoming increasingly
noticeable that the informal sector is the engine room of economic development
and emancipation. The parents and the society should also find a way of
encouraging students to cultivate a reading culture and the establishment of
community base libraries. In addition to training centres to cater for the
population, it also needs to encourage the private sectors to invest in
research and development. Let us try to get the foundation right and provide an
enabling environment for education to thrive and help the society. We may be
sitting on a time bomb if we do not act now. In addition, we should forget
about development if we do not get our human resource on the right path.
Mineral resource does not guarantee development.
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