Engaging graduates as teachers

The recent policy pronouncement by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government through the Hon. Minister of Education that 500, 000 unemployed University Graduates and holders of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) will be engaged as teachers has been received with mixed feelings by Teacher Educators and Professionals for obvious reasons of the concern for its possible […]

The recent policy pronouncement by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government through the Hon. Minister of Education that 500, 000 unemployed University Graduates and holders of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) will be engaged as teachers has been received with mixed feelings by Teacher Educators and Professionals for obvious reasons of the concern for its possible long term impact on an already heavily battered teaching profession. Going down memory lane, it will be recalled that teaching began to suffer professional dilution in the late 1970s when in the bid to meet teacher manpower requirements for the 1976 Universal Primary Education (UBE) Scheme, the Federal Government embarked on an Emergency Teachers Colleges (ETC) Programme. Primary school “drop outs” and just any one desirable of a job were mopped up across the country to start the ETCs which were designed to be some sort of one year “crash” training to massively produce those to teach in the UPE schools, particularly in far rural locations in the country. Realizing the danger posed to quality elementary education by quality of products of the ETCs, Government was to in 1977 transform the ETCs into Pivotal Teachers Colleges (PTCs) for the purpose of further re-grooming those already turned out into the field of teaching which had become an all-comers profession. Not even the establishment of teacher professional development and regulatory bodies like the National Teachers Institute (NTI); the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE); the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN); or even the development of a National Policy for Teacher Education (NPTE) in 2008 by the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) has really been able to address the deep-rooted and nagging challenges of Teacher Professionalism at all levels nationwide.
From the above, the lessons for the proposed engagement of 500, 000 unemployed university graduates and holders of the NCE by the present Government are instructive:  Quick fixes are hardly the solution for sustainable quality teacher professionalism; A pragmatic and dynamic Teacher Education Policy is critical to enthroning professionalism that is now so much required in Nigeria’s Education Sector; A practicable and equally proactive teacher professional regulatory framework to complement every effort aimed at addressing the challenges of teacher training, recruitment and practice; and above all, a complete overhaul of Teacher Education and Training Programmes as sine-qua-non to saving the teaching profession from eminent collapse. There is, therefore, a strong need for a well thought out Policy Framework for guiding the engagement of potential candidates.
Judging from the damage done to professionalism by the quick fixes approach of the ETCs and PTCs, as well as the inadequacy and non-responsiveness of existing policies to the fundamental challenges to teacher professionalism and Education, the following signposts are essential for a required Framework for the Engagement 500, 000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders.
One, resuscitation of the National Teacher Education Policy (NTEP) developed in 2008: The engagement of 500, 000 potential teachers must be guided by the Policy Provisions accordingly. This will add bite to initiatives already put in place by TRCN.
Two, development of an Initial Para-Professional Training Programme on the basis of the core components of  contemporary Teacher Education for Professionalism: Content Mastery of the current Basic Education Curriculum; Grooming in Contemporary Basic Education Pedagogy; Professional Teacher Internship and Mentorship (for which a reservoir of idle retired professional teaches exist across the country); and Teacher Professional Career Guidance. A one year training programme can be structured and utilized as the minimum benchmark. For both categories of potential candidates for engagement, there will be the need to separate the “trees” from the “woods” before their inclusion in the proposed training programme. This initial training is to be followed up in subsequent years with further structured Teacher Professional and Career Development Programmes.
Three, to enhance sustainability of excellence in Teacher Professionalism, it has become inevitable to overhaul the present curriculum of Teacher Education to conform to the current contents of Basic and Secondary Education. This was attempted after the development of the NPTE, but unfortunately vehemently resisted by Managers of the Colleges of Education for no apt reasons.
Four, there is the need to reconsider the proposed remuneration for those to be engaged in the Scheme for obvious reason of attracting the best candidates and minimizing attrition from the field after training. Of course, remunerations for professional teachers in Nigeria need upward review for the same reasons.
Above all, a university-based institutional network needs to be put in place to facilitate the Graduates Engagement Scheme. This is because ultimately, the university degree in education remains the minimum qualification for quality outcomes at the Basic Education level. For this purpose, there is still the need as suggested in my other submissions to reconsider the upgrading of selected Colleges of Education into Universities of Education.

Prof. Kolo is former VC of IBB University,  Lapai, Niger State.