AVAILABILITY OF QUALIFIED TEACHERS IN EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

1.1 Introduction

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) forms part of the basic national curriculum for Junior Secondary Schools this may be a surprising fact but it has come up to be the truth and nothing but the truth. Some individuals have linked religious with social habituation and they have also gone a long way to argue that it has no consign in either a working environment or a schools. At the same time, others believe CRS have to be about fostering students within a meticulous religious faith system.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Over the years, CRS has actively been known to be a strong promoter of the values of genuineness fairness, honesty, deference for all and care of the environment CRS consign specific emphasis on children appreciating themselves and others, it teaches us the real responsibility of family and the community in religious principle and action, the contentment of diversity in society through of acknowledgment of their similarities and differences, and individual custodianship on earth. CRS is also acquainted with shilling environment of the general public, including transformations in religious practice and appearance and the authority of religion in the neighborhood, homes, state and in the universal society. The importance of teachers in teaching CRS cannot be overstressed. This is because teachers play a number of roles. Specifically, teachers have been referred to by Oyedeji (1998) as agents of innovation. For meaningful innovations, adequate availability of teachers’ is very important. The complexity arises as a result of several factors which include determination of what effective teachers are: Teachers are expected to fulfill a variety of roles, some common to all teachers, others uniquely related to certain kinds of environment of students or subject matter. Added to this, is the fact that teacher education involves the training of professionals who will educate students in the future despite the complexity in the field of teacher education. One cannot overemphasize the importance of academic training of teachers of all categories. This is because the efficiency of any institution depends on the academic competence of the teaching staff since no educational system can- rise above the quality of its teacher (FGN, 1981 P.38). Teachers are important in any educational system. This is because the quality of teachers in any educational system determines to a great extent the quality of the system itself. Professional teachers in particular are crucial to the formulation and successful implementation to education policies in any country. This has explained why our National Policy on Education N.P.E. (2004) stressed the need to accord teacher education a prominent place in educational planning. The policy further maintained that among other things, the goal of teacher-education should be: To Peters (1977), quality is the basic and indispensable feature of a thing, which differentiates it from other things. The presence of that characteristic feature to a high degree marks it out as a “thing of high quality” on the other hand, the absence or the thing to a low quality status. For example, the characteristic of a high quality teacher relates to those attributes that enhance the fitness and efficiency of that teacher in performing the duties that are associated with teaching CRS. That is, a high quality CRS teacher is one who can competently achieve the objectives of teaching CRS in our schools. At this point it will be pertinent to state that a professional CRS teacher is a professionally prepared CRS teacher in contents and methods of teaching Christian Religious Studies, thereby acquiring a professional degree in education with special reference to any of the CRS subject. For example, a professional university degree teacher is expected to have B.Sc. (Rons) with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Religious Studies Any other teacher with qualifications outside the above one can be categorized as a non-professional CRS teacher. There is greater demand for highly creative and innovative teachers in Nigeria today who can lead students onto paths of meaningful learning. An effective and efficient teacher is also one of the necessary factors to effective instruction in all subjects including Christian religious studies. Adequate supply of effective and efficient teachers to teach on senior and junior secondary has been one of the major reoccurring problems in the Nigerian educational sector. Other problems include the outdated nature of the curriculum, controversial nature of the subjects and poor methods of instruction. Religious studies lay emphasis on factual examination oriented approach and religious dogmas. According to WesterHoff (1978), though the name Religious Studies has been used most frequently, there is no complete or consistent agreement on what the word mean or what it refers to. Today, there is less concurrence than ever before. Scott (1980) says that no consensus exists today on the nature, scope and role of Religious Studies. The above named scholar believe that current search to identify revolves around different usage of key terms like Religious Education, Religious Knowledge, Religious and Moral Instruction. Other problem is that since Religion deals with values, judgments and feelings, everyone in the society will agree with it. The implications of the above is that the controversial nature of the subject, lack of consistent linguistic discourse and the unstable pattern of conversation currently going on in the field have contributed to making the subject difficult and technical.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Availability of Qualified Teachers in Effective Teaching and Learning of Christian Religious Studies in Public Schools.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

Investigation revealed that been observed that the effect of non-availability of qualified teachers in the teaching of Christian Religious Studies in Schools has been of positive or negative impact to the teaching and learning process. Some problems has been identified to be the possible cause. It was revealed that there had been a serious reduction in the enrolment of students in the subject at secondary schools level and tertiary institution of learning due to the fact that some teachers acquired their certificate through various means. In most educational institutions, teachers that are not trained to teach subjects such as CRS are made to do so thereby not giving the students the required training and knowledge about that particular subject. Sofowora (2002) also states that not all media materials that are available are technically suitable for use in teaching. He emphasized the need for training teachers in the art and craft of design selection production and use of appropriate needs. The required skills in the area mentioned above can only be acquired through Educational Technology. One of the major concerns of Educational Technology is the quest for effective instruction which is reflected in its definition. The achievement of effective and efficient teaching and learning in schools has been one of the perennial problems in education. However, the problems facing the quality and adequacy of the availability of manpower for the effective teaching of Christian Religious Studies has generated a lot of concern among scholars such as Alaba (2008); and Adeyemi and Aviomoh (2003). In Nigeria, the shortage of qualified teachers has been reported (Adeyemi and Aviomoh, 2003). These shortages have been attributed to the low salaries and social prestige given to teachers (Aghenta, 2001).

Also, the free education policy of the Lagos State government tends to have compounded the problems in secondary schools perhaps as a result of insufficient funds to employ adequate teachers and to run the schools. This problem is believed to have effect on students’ performance in the subject. For instance, in spite of the acknowledgement of the importance of Christian Religious Studies to the society and laying of solid foundation for students, the performance of students in subject shows that this has not been properly achieved.

Based on the highlighted problems, this study will focus on the effect of non-availability of qualified teachers in the teaching anti learning of Christian religious studies in public schools.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Availability of Qualified Teachers in Effective Teaching and Learning of Christian Religious Studies in Public Schools. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the impact of non availability of qualified teachers in teaching of CRS
2. To ascertain the relationship between qualified teachers in CRS and academic performance of student
3. To ascertain the role play by the CRS in the life of a student

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does non availability of qualified teachers impact teaching of CRS?
• Is there any relationship between qualified teachers in CRS and academic performance of student?
• What are the roles played by the CRS in the life of a student?
• How does CRS teachers’ teaching experience has influence on teaching CRS in secondary school?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no relationship between qualified teachers in CRS and academic performance of student
• H1: There is a relationship between qualified teachers in CRS and academic performance of student

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no impact of non availability of qualified teachers in teaching of CRS.
• H1: There is impact of non availability of qualified teachers in teaching of CRS.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study would be beneficial to students, teachers, religious instructors, curriculum planners, educational administrators, researchers and textbook authors. To students, the study would help to improve their understanding of CRS and thus adjust properly in the society through active participation in the classroom leaning which stimulate their interest and change the negative perceptions they already have in learning CRS and this invariably help them to develop the affective domain of knowledge in secondary schools. They would equally perform better in internal and external examinations without depending on examination malpractice which have been the problem in the educational sectors. This is because the student stands a chance of becoming masters on their own through involvement in different roles in the classroom. The findings of the study would help teachers to have an insight into the meaning, application and problems of using role play method of teaching and thus change their method when the need arises for proper students’ achievement and interest in CRS in secondary schools.

The relevance of effective method in the implementation of Christian religious studies in secondary school would be made known to teachers as they are the chief implementer of planned curriculum of schools. This could be done by teachers observing the students performing their roles and equally identifies the individual’s problem in using the method in the teaching and learning of CRS in secondary schools

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of the Study

The scope of the study covers availability of qualified teachers in effective teaching and learning of Christian religious studies in public schools. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

1. Non-Availability: The state of not being available, free, or able to be used.
2. Qualified: Officially recognized as being trained to perform a particular job; certified.
3. Teacher: A person who teaches, especially in a school.
4. Teaching: The occupation, profession, or work of a teacher.
5. Learning: The acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.
6. Christian: Relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings.
7. Religious: Relating to or believing in a religion.

Studies: The devotion of time and attention to gaining knowledge of an academic subject, especially by means of books.