INFLUENCE OF TEACHING PRACTICES ON THE DELIVERY OF QUALITY INSTRUCTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

1.1 Introduction

Teaching practice as an important component of becoming a teacher, teaching practice grants student - teachers experience in the actual teaching and learning environment. Teaching practice is known to expose student-teachers to the actual practice of teaching (Ruairc, 2013). It is during this period that student- teachers are given the opportunity to try the art of teaching before actually getting into the real world of the teaching profession (Kiggundu and Nayimuli 2009). Teaching practices is the most important element in the professional training of teachers across the world. The importance of teaching practice in teacher education programme cannot be overemphasized. It is the crucial periods of the translating theory into practice.

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, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Teaching practice is a very important and compulsory component of the preparation of teachers for it represent the final steps in t5hde exercise it is a period in the education of the teacher aspirant when he is allowed, under expert supervision to experiment, in a real school environment with the things he has learnt in theory about teaching.

According to grim and Micheals (2006) teaching practice is an opportunity for teacher aspirant to9 gain practical classroom experiences under expert supervision Okorie (2005) emphasis that student teaching is not a trial period but a preparatory period and an opportunity for the student teacher to learn about the actual work of the teacher is the classroom as well as out of classroom experiences and good human relations”. In a recent study, Onwikwe (2008) found out that ideally student teachers should have the following characteristics to be effective. The student teacher is given thorough preparation in the subject he has to teach as well as in educational technology and special methodology of the subject matter.

The need for competent and well trained teachers, astute in both content knowledge and general pedagogical practices in their subject areas, is a very pertinent one if any nation is to succeed in developing the required human capital base to foster national development. This is because teachers are the main implementers of educational policies, organized into school programmes in the form of curriculum and syllabi. According to Eisner (as cited in Acquah, 2012, p. 29), the role of the teacher in curriculum implementation cannot be over emphasized. It is the teacher who will have a general guide of topics in a subject field, a sequence among topics, a general set of aims, textbooks, and other instructional resources, to effectively organize and plan the curriculum to suit that level and background of the learner in the classroom.

It is thus very important to ensure that the quality of teachers training institutions churn out year after year possess the professional competencies necessary for them to play their roles as teachers effectively. Teacher training is thus considered a major priority in Nigeria, with public universities, fully charged with the responsibility of meeting the nation’s need for qualified teachers from the primary school level, through the junior and senior high school levels, and even to the tertiary level. In addition to these public universities, there are over 38 colleges of education mandated to train teachers mostly for the primary and junior high schools. Because this study focuses on the training of senior high school some subject teachers, emphasis is laid on teacher training at the University of Cape Coast as a case.

The focus of the study was on the training of Some subject teachers for the senior high schools in Nigeria, because Some subject are considered a very important discipline that provides citizenship education for improved participation of the individual in matters bothering mostly on both the social and economic development of nations. The rationale for the study of Some subject at the senior high school level in Nigeria, as stated in the Teaching Syllabus for Some subject (2008), suggests that people as well as countries have the need for more and better quality goods and services such as better food, clothing, housing, schooling, hospital care and entertainment (Ministry of Education Science and Sport, 2008).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Influence of Teaching Practices on the Delivery of Quality Instruction in Secondary School.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that student teachers are placed in school away from campus may suggest that they do not have to do other courses during the practice teaching period. A closer look at the secondary school year vis- a- viz the university I college year point to the contrary, in most cases observed teaching practice periods interlope with university/college semester. As a result, teaching practice creates a mixture of anticipation, anxiety, excitement and apprehension in the student teachers as they commence their teaching practice (Manion et al., 2003; Perry, 2004:4).

Marais and Meier (2004:221) further argue that teaching practice is a challenging but important part of teacher training, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria, where the effectiveness of the teaching practice can be diminished or eroded by a range of challenges, such as geographical distance, low and uneven levels of teacher expertise, a wide-ranging lack of resources as well as a lack of discipline among a wide cross-section of learners and educators. The essence of this study is to appraise the Impact of Teaching Practices on the Productivity of Quality Teaching.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to appraise the Impact of Teaching Practice on the Productivity of Quality Teachers in Secondary School in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To investigate relationship between problem faced by student teacher during teaching practices and their performance;
2. To investigate the relationship between classroom management challenges facing student-teachers and their performance;
3. To investigate the relationship between the challenges faced by student-teachers form their supervisors and their performance;
4. To examine the role of teaching practice in the life and upliftment of a nation and individuals; and
5. To examine the recent experiences in the teaching practices among Undergraduates Education Students with a view to highlighting the methodologies adopted and proposing areas that need improvement.

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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 student teacher encounter problems during teaching practice?
• Does absence of personal qualities can hinder pupil or student progress in the learning process?
• Does student like to practice teaching as profession after graduation?
• What is the role of teaching practice in the life and upliftment of a nation and individuals?
• What are the recent experiences in the teaching practices among Undergraduates Education Students?

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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 significant relationship between problem faced by student teacher during teaching practices and their performance.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between problem faced by student teacher during teaching practices and their performance.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between teaching practice and the productivity of quality teachers.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between teaching practice and the productivity of quality teachers.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: The Student-teachers have a negative perception of teaching practice in tertiary institutions.
• H1: The Student-teachers have a positive perception of teaching practice in tertiary institutions.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study is of importance to a considerable number of people, prominent among which both in the university and college of education. 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 Study

The study focuses on the Influence of Teaching Practices on the Delivery of Quality Instruction in Secondary School in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State.

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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. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. 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

For the purpose of the study, the key concepts (words) used are operationally defined as follows;

Impact: The action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.

Practices: the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.

Productivity: the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.