By Geoffrey C Ogu
The unsatisfactory performances of pupils and students in Nigerian schools in important internal and external examinations in recent years have evoked a lot of concern and discussion. It is rightly observed that one of the acute factors responsible for this unfortunate trend seems to lie with the effectiveness of the teachers in the education sub-sector, especially at the primary and secondary school levels.
In attempting to analyse the above problem, two basic assumptions are made. The first is that change is desirable, necessary and indeed inevitable in the school system. Schools’ educational objectives, policies, programmes, personnel and methods of instruction must keep pace with changing times, hence the compelling need to equip and assist teachers to contend with the demands of these changes. The second assumption and perhaps more important, is that the teacher is the hub and main determinant of the quality and quantity of instruction in any educational system and as such his effectiveness must be guaranteed.
Pursuant to the above, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had rightly dedicated every October 5, as World Teacher’s Day, also known as International Teachers Day. Flowing from the above, it is the author’s humble submission that one of the prime functions of the school, indeed the chief function is to provide the right setting within which pupils and students can grow intellectually, physically and morally.
This can only be accomplished through the teacher’s association with knowledge, information and facts. Pursuant to this, books can help, so can laboratories and numerous other types of learning materials, but always at the front and centre of the stage stands the teacher. What he/she knows can make a tremendous difference and what he/she does not know can cause an irreparable loss. From the foregoing, it is clearly evident that the success of the school, as a place where the child is adequately prepared for adult responsibilities and nation-building depend to a large extent on the teacher effectiveness. Conceptually, teacher effectiveness refers to the teacher’s competence or ability to produce desired results in the course of his or her duties with minimum expenditure of time and other resources.
Presumably, teacher effectiveness refers to many professional indices such as, acquisition of appropriate teaching skills, good organisational and communication abilities, as well as teacher’s flexibility, self-confidence, resourcefulness, cheerfulness, sense of humour, modest dressing, mental alertness, ability to inspire students/pupils towards further learning and other leadership qualities.
Undoubtedly, the above listed criteria of teacher effectiveness are by no means exhaustive but suffice it to stress that the said attributes and many more may not be easily improved upon and/or sustained by teachers without purposeful assistance, control and co-ordination through systematic, effective and regular supervision of instruction in school.
In other words, if productive work is to be injected and integrated into the school system, the teachers who are charged with the responsibility of implementing the nation’s education policies and porgrammes must therefore be effectively supervised. This has become very imperative against the obvious fact that many teachers in Nigeria who used to leave the teaching profession in search of more lucrative jobs, which of course, are no longer available today, are miserably trapped in the school system, with the result that schools today harbour more and more dissatisfied and unmotivated teachers. Although, several reasons have been adduced for this discouraging trend, the supervisory, provisions and practices have become a point of focus.
In retrospect, from the inception of formal education in Nigeria in 1842, the colonial masters, indigenous educational planners and administrators recognised the need for effective supervision of instruction in any educational set-up. For example, the first step towards supervising education in Nigeria came with the promulgation of the 1887 Nigerian Ordinance of Education which established the position of an Assistant Inspector of Education for the West African Colony of Lagos and Rev Melcaff Sunter was the first commissioned Chief Inspector of Education.
Furthermore, in 1892, the first Inspector of School for Nigeria, Henry Carr, was appointed for the Colony of Lagos. Thereafter, the Nigeria Education Ordinance of 1926 was promulgated empowering voluntary agencies to appoint their own supervisory staff. Before Nigeria’s Independence in 1960, inspection and supervision of schools were carried out by categories of officers that went by different kind of titles like, Education Officers, Supervisors, Teacher-Supervisors, Inspectors, Visiting and Travelling Teachers. Since then, inspection of schools and supervision of instruction have gone through several changes, retaining its relevance till date.
Instructively too, the Ashby Commission of 1960 set up by the Federal Government to look into Nigeria’s educational manpower needs between 1960 – 1980 reported in its findings that Nigerian schools suffered immensely from inadequate supervision of instruction which today has sadly deteriorated to an unacceptable level.
Furthermore, in recognition of the prime importance of supervision of instruction, the National Policy on Education (1981) and its subsequent reversed editions specifically prescribed supervision of instruction as a means of achieving quality education and therefore charged the Federal Ministry of Education to “ensure quality control through inspection and continuous supervision of instruction and other education resource-inputs”. Sadly, this critical prescription appears to have been abandoned by the relevant enforcement authorities throughout the country.
Against this background, and to arrest the disturbing free-fall of the standard of education in the country, both the Federal and States’ Ministries of Education should as a matter of priority and urgency reinvent and resuscitate robust and functional Inspectorate and Supervisory Departments, as well as equip them with adequate qualified professionals and supporting logistics.
*Dr Ogu, Education/Sports Consultant and Executive Director of Optimal Brain and Skills Services Consult Ltd in Abuja, can be reached via docogu2006@yahoo.com