TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMMES RE-ENGINEERING FOR FUNCTIONALITY, ETHICAL AND VALUES CENTERED EDUCATION IN TEACHERS’ TRAINING INSTITUTIONS IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study investigated teacher training programmes re-engineering for functionality, ethical and values centered education in teachers training institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study which adopted descriptive survey design was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. The population was the 920 lecturers in the faculties of education of the three public universities in Rivers State. A sample of 184 lecturers representing 20% of the population was drawn through stratified random sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire titled, “Teacher Training Programmes Re-engineering For Functionality, Ethical and Values Centered Education Questionnaire (TTPRFEVCEQ)”. The instrument which had 18 items was well validated and a reliability index of 0.82 was obtained through Cronbach Alpha method. Mean scores, standard deviation and mean set were used to answer the research questions, while z-test at 0.05 level of significance was used to test the hypotheses. Results of the study revealed that gaps existing in teachers training programmes in Rivers State include among others: outdated curriculum; inadequate practical teaching experience; poor development of essential skills for modern classrooms; and inadequate professionalization of teaching. The study also revealed that re-engineering teacher training programmes for functionality, ethical and values centered education will require among others; curriculum review; review of admission policies into teachers training institutions; adequate provision of facilities/infrastructures, and adequate implementation off policies and pogrammes for effective professionalization of teaching. Based on these findings, conclusion was drawn and the following recommendations among others were made; government should carry out a wholistic review of the curriculum/programmes of teacher training institutions in Rivers State; and teachers training institutions in Rivers State should lay great emphasis on teachers’ code of conduct, ethical behaviours and values education.