TEACHING PRACTICE EXPERIENCE OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDENTS TEACHING CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE PANACEA

1.1 Introduction

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is one of the major subjects missionaries bequeathed to Nigerian education system on the establishment of schools by the 19th century missionaries. The aim was to train people who will be of immense help to the colonial trinity goals (God/Christianity, government/colonization and Gold/commerce). In other to achieve the above, the major curriculum contents of their educational system were Bible knowledge, Arithmetic and English language for communication. To implement fully the contents, adequate attention was given to the understanding of the place of God in man’s life (Nsongo, 2001). During the missionary era, bible knowledge otherwise known as CRS was the core subject. Subsequently, after independence, government took over schools; there was a clarion call for review of curriculum in 1983.

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 vital component of teacher education programme. It provides student teachers experience in the actual teaching and learning environment (Ngidi&Sibaya, 2003; Marais & Meier, 2004; Perry, 2004). In related literature it is common to find in use such terms as teaching practice, practice teaching and student teaching being used interchangeably. These terms refer to students’ field experiences while in training. Every student in a teacher education programme is expected to take part in teaching practice, which serves as an initiation into the real life world of school and teaching. In the same vein, Ogonor and Badmus (2006, p.1) define teaching practice as the period when student teachers are aided to put into practice theories and principles of education which they have learnt in the classroom as they teach students in the partnership schools.” Marais and Meier (2004) assert that teaching practice represents the range of experiences to which student teachers are exposed to when they work in classrooms and schools.

The high level of moral decadence and insurgencies in Nigerian nation is an indication that there is poor religious teaching in secondary school system. Christian religious studies (CRS) as one of the religious subjects taught in secondary school in Nigerian takes a central position in ensuring moral and spiritual wellbeing of individuals in the society. The key roles of CRS in equipping the individuals and ensuring high level of morality is made clear in the objectives of CRS at the senior secondary level which include; to provide more opportunities for Nigerian youths to learn more about god and thereby develop their faith in god; to enable the youths to accept Christ as their savior; to help the youths develop Christian attitude and moral values (such as humility, respect, love, and justice, etc.); to instill in the youth the spirit of tolerance , reconciliation ,peaceful co-existence and non-violence as well as to develop and foster in the youth the spirit of respect for all people and human life (Universal Basic Education Curriculum (UBA), (2013).

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is one of the major subjects missionaries bequeathed to Nigerian education system on the establishment of schools by the 19th century missionaries. The aim was to train people who will be of immense help to the colonial trinity goals (God/Christianity, government/colonization and Gold/commerce). In other to achieve the above, the major curriculum contents of their educational system were Bible Studies, Arithmetic and English language for communication. To implement fully the contents, adequate attention was given to the understanding of the place of God in man’s life (Nsongo, 2011). During the missionary era, bible studies otherwise known as CRS were the core subject. Subsequently, after independence, government took over schools; there was a clarion call for review of curriculum in 1983. The call was as a result of criticisms leveled against colonial education, which some scholars viewed as being too arts oriented and as such lacked relevance to Nigeria upliftment, political emancipation and infrastructural development (Ocho, 2015). Ocho further explained that the situation led to the modification of the curriculum with greater emphasis on sciences and technological subjects.

The teaching of CRS dates back to the 19th century with the pioneers of Nigerian education (Banjo, 2013). During the missionary administration because of the moral values it teaches the people. Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian, secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subjects. This shift affected the study and interest of students in CRS in school system leading to poor enrollment in CRS. Gbenda (2014) stresses that student’s enrollment and interest in CRS could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2015) equally adduced that poor enrollment of student in CRS could be attributed to teacher’s instructional delivery system and teachers’ personality. CRS is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject. The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African examination council (WAEC) and national examination council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. CRS is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugwu, 2011) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and reorientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the student.

Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2015) observed that, CRS is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of the students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, CRS is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the leaner with moral and spiritual transformation. This shows that CRS is the study of Christian lifestyles such as love, caring, patience, faith, forgiveness and hope in God as well as good relationship among men. Obanya in Njoku (2014) maintained that CRS like every other subjects has five features. These features are; a set of rational theoretical formulation, inherent capacity for growth, applicable solution to human problems, organized Body of the knowledge and a degree of uniformity with other area of academic activities. In the context of this study, CRS is defined as a social science subject that teaches students good moral behaviour, fearing of God, knowledge and skills that will make them to contribute their quota in socio-economic and moral development in senior secondary schools. The inclusion of sound religions and moral values in the life of students invariably could help in the development of spiritual and moral sound being of the students.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Teaching Practice Experience of Christian Religious Students Teaching Challenges and Possible Panacea.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

Investigation revealed that teaching and learning of Christian religious studies in Nigerian secondary schools has played a vital role in reinforcing interest and awareness for opportunities existing in Christian religious studies field and demonstrating that farming is a dignified and profitable occupation; and to expand the students knowledge on basic principles and practices in Agriculture, develop students understanding of the value of agriculture to the family and community with a view of promoting self-reliance, resourcefulness, poverty reduction, improved food security, problem solving abilities, an occupation opportunities in agriculture.

Regrettably, there has been total lack of Christian religious studies knowledge and skills by the student who are expected to make best use of the opportunity and the skills acquired through learning. Various reasons have been advanced for this seemingly low reflection of students. While some are of the opinion that students could be influenced by teaching effectiveness of the teachers during teaching practice, knowledge of the subject etc. This disagreement therefore gives rise to this study which seeks to investigate the influence of Teaching Practice Experience of Christian Religious Students Teaching Challenges and Possible Panacea in Nasarawa State College of Education.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Teaching Practice Experience of Christian Religious Students Teaching Challenges and Possible Panacea in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To determine the effect of poor utilization of instructional materials on teaching Practice in Christian religious studies;
2. To determine the effect student poor knowledge of Christian religious studies on teaching practice;
3. To determine the effect of poor students teacher attitude towards on teaching practice.
4. To examine the challenges to effective teaching practice of CRS students; and
5. To suggest ways of curbing the challenges affecting the teaching of CRS students.

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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:

• Are there ways of curbing the challenges affecting the teaching of CRS students?
• What is the effect student poor knowledge of Christian religious studies on teaching practice?
• What is the effect of poor students’ teacher attitude towards on teaching practice?
• What are the challenges to effective teaching of CRS students?
• What is the effect of poor utilization of instructional materials on teaching Practice in Christian religious studies?

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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 effect student poor knowledge of Christian religious studies on teaching practice.
• H1: There is a significant effect student poor knowledge of Christian religious studies on teaching practice.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant effect of poor students teacher attitude towards on teaching practice.
• H1: There is a significant effect of poor students teacher attitude towards on teaching practice.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: There is no significant effect of poor utilization of instructional materials on teaching Practice in Christian religious studies
• H1: There is a significant effect of poor utilization of instructional materials on teaching Practice in Christian religious studies

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study would be beneficial to students, teachers, religious instructors, curriculum planners, educational administrators, researchers, textbook authors and Ministry of Education.

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.

The ministry of Education may use the findings of this study to design pre service and in-service courses for student teachers and teachers of Christian religious studies.

Schools teaching Christian religious studies may use the findings in the attempts to make secondary agricultural education more relevant and effective for Christian religious studies student teacher during their teaching practice.

Religious instructors and bodies are not left out as they would understand the best way to educate children in the principles and practice of Christianity which invariably will promote peace and harmony as well as co-existence in the Nigerian society.

This study will also 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 impact of Teaching Practice Experience of Christian Religious Students Teaching Challenges and Possible Panacea in Nigeria using Nasarawa State College of Education, Nasarawa State as a case 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. 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

Christian: Relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings.

Religious Studies: Religious studies, alternately known as the study of religion, is an academic field devoted to research into religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.