PHYSICS TEACHERS’ TEACHING PRACTICE EXPERIENCES – CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE PANACEA
Abstract
The study’s goal is to determine the obstacles that student instructors at the College of Science Education in Illorin face during their teaching practice exercises. The researcher developed four research questions to guide the study in pursuit of the study’s purpose. The survey design was used for the study, and the population consisted of 339 third-year students from five schools in the degree unit of the College of Science Education Illorin.
To obtain information from the respondents, a structured questionnaire with 31 items divided into five sections was used. The investigation’s data was structured in tables and assessed using a mean rating of 3.5 or higher as accepted and a mean rating of less than 3.5 as rejected.
The study’s data analysis indicated some of the obstacles that student instructors face throughout their teaching practice exercises, such as classroom management, environmental challenges, curriculum development and instruction, and supervisory challenges.
Based on the findings, the following recommendations are made: proper attention should be paid to class management to achieve the specific goal, students teachers should be provided with lodging accommodation by the practicing school, and competent and dedicated supervisors should be used in teaching practice supervision, adequate curriculum guidelines, facilities, reference materials such as textbooks, etc. should be made available, students should be sent to
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study Background
Education remains the most powerful tool man has devised, either for his ongoing advancement or his final downfall. Education is the sole viable tool for social reconstruction, and it is also the creator of excellence in schools.
Education is the only pillar of every nation, and it has long been a lucrative industry in Nigeria. Teachers, therefore, have a responsibility to play in the growth of a nation, particularly in the formation of tomorrow’s leaders and thinkers who will sustain the nation’s development.
Although Nigeria has been successful in preparing teachers with varied teaching degrees and possibilities for further training, this has not been reflected in the academic performance of elementary and secondary school students.
Teaching is a profession, just like law and medicine, and it is also one of the oldest in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it is the least developed in terms of training and practice standards. This is still a cause of concern for professionals and even governments. Moore (1989)
A profession, according to the advanced learners’ dictionary (2014), is an occupation and special training such as law, medical, and so on. A calling or vocation where performance needs the performer on an intricate exposure to an esoteric theoretical knowledge acquired after many years of endeavors and moral study is sometimes referred to as a profession.
A profession is analogous to a social club governed by a code of ethics, the most notable of which are expertise authority, responsibility, commitment, dedication, autonomy, and emotional maturity. According to the National Policy on Education (2004), the National Certificate in Education is the minimum teaching certification in Nigerian institutions of learning (N.C.E)
Because the nature of teaching has given teaching practice a substantial significance in its syllabus, faculties of education at universities are charged with the training of teachers under the supervision of lecturers, staff, and assessors.
Teaching practice is a required course that carries four credit obligatory course units in science-related education courses and two credit compulsory course units in other departments of the Faculty. It is a required course for all 400-level final year students at the University of Ilorin’s Faculty of Education. No student in a faculty of education program will be issued a degree certificate unless and until evidence of passing performance level in teaching practice is provided.
Teacher education is now primarily the responsibility of the faculty of education at the University of Ilorin. Students participate in six weeks of teaching practice and return with a variety of experiences. In other words, students have difficulties in their teaching practice.
As a result, it is necessary to identify these issues and propose potential remedies. Teaching practice is an important component of any teacher education program. It is an essential component of the teacher education curriculum, which is designed to prepare new teachers for the teaching profession.
Teaching practice exercises, according to Afolabi (1999), enable student teachers to become acquainted with the practical knowledge of the teaching and learning process, including lesson plan preparation, presentation, class management, communication skills, evaluation, and the required personality of professional teachers. According to Nwanekezi (2011), teaching practice is the name given to the process of preparing student-teachers for teaching through practical training.
According to the foregoing, teaching practices are a school-based internship program that introduces prospective teachers to teaching and its routine under the supervision of qualified professionals to improve skills, attitudes, and competence in the profession. The exercise allows trainees to practice numerous teaching strategies in real-world classroom settings under the constant supervision of competent and experienced teachers.
Several studies have also highlighted several issues that have plagued the teaching practice exercise. Ognor and Badmus (2006), for example, complained that teachers in partnership schools did not provide particular assistance to student teachers to develop their teaching abilities and tactics.
According to Nakpodia (2011), the six-week term is too short because it does not allow student-teachers enough time to obtain the experience that the exercise is designed to encourage. Some supervisors, according to the author, do not even have time to sit down and discuss their observations and comments with the student-teacher.
The brief dialogue between the supervisor and the student-teacher immediately following the class, which should allow the student-teacher to assess his strengths and flaws, is sometimes overlooked because the supervisor is often eager to move on to the next school.
1.2 Problem description
To reach the goal of teaching in Nigeria, student instructors confront certain challenges during teaching practice (budget, material). The ministry of education at all levels of government or faculties of education will be required to identify answers to the difficulty encountered by student teachers during the teaching practice exercise.
Such problems include a lack of instructional materials, incentives, accommodation, and office facilities for the student teachers, a heavy workload assigned to the student teachers, a lack of cooperation from their practicing schools, student attitudes toward the student teachers, and difficulty on the part of the student-teacher to managing his class effectively, among others. The extent to which these problems are addressed and recommendations made constitutes the study’s problem.
Every student-teacher in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ilorin must complete a teaching practicum before qualifying as a teacher. However, to determine some of the issues that affect student teachers during teaching practice, a detailed examination is required.
Most student-teachers are worried, particularly when they first arrive at their school of practice, and they are also agitated when they are monitored, evaluated, and accessed (Capel 1997). Some student teachers frequently remark that they have forgotten the material and are concerned when their lecturers sit at the back of the classroom to observe them (Bhargava 2000)
Furthermore, most student-teachers express concern that secondary school students’ lack of seriousness toward the exercise often results in them not obtaining the essential skills, confidence, and knowledge to deal with classroom issues (Adekunle 2000). Student instructors worry about transportation and housing issues, which hurt their teaching.
This investigation was conducted to identify some of these issues.
1.3 Study Objective
The goal of this study was to identify issues that student teachers at the University of Ilorin encountered during their teaching practice exercises in primary and secondary schools. The study also investigated the various problems encountered by student-teachers during teaching practice, such as:
lack of confidence, lack of access to instructional material, adjustment to the environment, the relationship between cooperating teachers and the student-teachers, student-teachers, and students, and student-teachers and students (learners),
The attitude of student teachers toward work, Supervisor’s attitude toward student instructors The study also sought to determine whether lecturers and students varied in their perceptions of challenges encountered by potential University of Ilorin professors during practice. Duration extension for student-teachers, subject matter expertise
1.3 Study Objectives
The primary goal of this research is to identify the obstacles that student instructors face during their teaching practice exercises. The study specifically intends to:
Determine the classroom management issues that student instructors face during the teaching practice activity.
Discover the environmental problems that student teachers face during the teaching practice exercise.
Learn about the curriculum creation and instruction problems that student teachers face during their teaching practice.
Discover the supervisory obstacles that student teachers face during the teaching practice activity.
1.4 Research Issues
To guide the investigation, the following research questions have been developed:
What are the classroom management problems that student instructors confront during teaching practice?
What environmental challenges do student instructors confront during classroom practice?
What curriculum developments and instructional problems do student instructors confront during the teaching practice exercise?
What are the supervisory challenges that student teachers experience during classroom practice?
1.5 Importance of the research
The study has the potential to significantly improve the standard of the teaching practice exercise in PHYSICS, integrated science, and other science subjects. The students become crucial because it exposes the issues that control student teachers in their teaching practice and how these issues might be resolved. The findings may be of considerable benefit to the government, students, and school administrators. For example, the government may be aware of the challenges that student teachers confront when they go on teaching practice, allowing them to offer adequate facilities to schools.
The study’s findings may also help student instructors recognize some of the challenges they are likely to face during the teaching practice exercise and prepare for them before they set out on the task. This work-study may assist supervisors and teaching practice organizers to comprehend the challenges student teachers confront during teaching practices. Concerning student-teachers, they may be certain that they have equipped a qualified teacher for society.
1.6 Field of research
The issues encountered by student instructors at the University of Ilorin throughout their teaching practice were the focus of this study.
The study was limited to final-year education students at the University of Ilorin in Ilorin. A random selection was made among the 10 departments of the Faculty of Education.
1.7 Term Clarification
Learning is the process of gaining knowledge. Learning is also the process of acquiring and retaining attitudes, information, understanding, skills, and capabilities.
Teaching: An activity aimed at promoting meaningful learning in an ethically and pedagogically appropriate way. Teaching is also the transmission of knowledge to students. Giving instructions on knowledge, abilities, and attitudes to someone with the idea that the individual would be able to know the information or do something or act in a particular way that is compatible with instruction is what teaching is.
A student-teacher is someone who teaches in a school for a limited time under supervision as part of a course to become a teacher. A student-teacher is also someone who is learning to be a teacher who undertakes carefully supervised teaching in an elementary or secondary school.
Education is the act or process of transmitting or acquiring knowledge, improving thinking and judgment skills, and generally cognitively preparing oneself or others for mature life. It is the act or practice of transmitting or learning specific knowledge or skills in the context of a profession.
Teaching Practice: This is a temporary period of teaching in a school under the supervision of a teacher-training student.
Profession: An occupation, activity, or vocation that necessitates the mastery of a complicated set of knowledge and abilities through formal education and/or practical experience. Every organized profession (accounting, law, medicine, and so on) is governed by a professional body.
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PHYSICS TEACHERS’ TEACHING PRACTICE EXPERIENCES – CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE PANACEA