As Nigeria joins other countries to mark the 28th anniversary of World Teachers’ Day with the theme ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers’, Uchechukwu Nnaike and Funmi Ogundare examine teachers’ preparedness to lead the transformation. Hewlett Packard also held a virtual inaugural #NextGen educators forum to discuss strategies and opportunities to equip teachers with the necessary skills that will move education forward in Africa
Teachers’ swift response to the closure of schools worldwide in 2020, following the outbreak of COVID-19, and their continued efforts to ensure that students recover lost grounds through various media and methods have been commended and informed the theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day.
Due to the unprecedented pandemic and schools closure, most teachers and learners were ill-prepared for the swift transition to online learning. Teachers were quick to adapt and improvised to ensure that learning continued. However, learners in remote areas and those from poor backgrounds were initially denied access, but the introduction of education through radio and other offline sources helped to some extent.
As agents of education recovery and transformation post-COVID, most Nigerian teachers lack the skills and competence to drive recovery and transformation.
Though some states are making efforts to introduce e-learning, complemented with teacher training and re-training, there is no national policy to integrate e-learning into schools’ curricula for implementation across the country.
To ensure that teachers take up their responsibilities, Education International called for a new deal for teachers and support personnel as a prerequisite to any meaningful transformation in education.
As part of the new deal, it said governments must: Increase investment in quality public education systems; guarantee labour rights and decent working conditions; invest in quality teacher training and professional development; trust and respect teachers and their pedagogical expertise; and involve teacher unions in policy through social dialogue.
An educator, Mrs Yinka Awobo-Pearse, said Nigeria’s education system needs reform and regretted that teacher education is not tracking development in education and the latest information on child development.
“The curriculum used in education departments and colleges are dated and not based on real life,” said Awobo-Pearse, adding that transformation requires deep knowledge and understanding. “A well-trained teacher is central to the delivery of the curriculum. Teacher quality remains one of the highest drivers of learning outcomes in the classroom.”
Also, a team of scholars advised that to enable quick learning recovery, school systems must implement strategies that make instruction more effective, relevant and relational and ensure teachers can support the recovery process in the classrooms.
The scholars said ensuring education transformation requires countries to adopt new policies and financing for strengthened licensing and accreditation schemes and modernise pre-service teacher education curriculum to include supervised field teaching, induction and mentoring.
“Teachers will also need to have better opportunities for personalized continuous professional development on targeted instruction, tutoring, and digital and other 21st century skills. Effective and effcient compensatory systems, improved working conditions in schools, and teacher engagement through social dialogue in policy development can help enhance the profession and enable teachers to better serve their role in transforming education.”
The panellists at the HP event, including Chief Executive Officer at Junior Achievement Africa (Nigeria), Simi Nwogugu, former Superintendent General for Western Cape Education Department, Specialist Advisor (South Africa), Brian Schreuder, Chief Executive Officer at Teach For Nigeria, Folawe Omikunle and Brad Pulford, HP Africa Managing Director, emphasised the importance of ensuring that teachers are equipped with the soft skills they need in the 21st century, having a support system for them that would ensure that they are well motivated so that the youths can be encouraged to go into the teaching profession, ensuring an e-learning strategy, as well as having school leaders who have a mindset for change, among others.
In his remarks, Schreuder stressed the need to equip teachers with digital training that would enable them to succeed in the 21st century, adding that their schools must also be equipped with internet connectivity to allow students to do research.
He also emphasised teaching pupils foundational literacy and numeracy, saying that teachers have to be aware of the different learning styles of each learner and ensure that there is a short touch on that style through their teaching from time to time so that they do not lose them.
Nwogugu said teachers must be curious and equip themselves with the digital tools needed to teach learners.
She expressed delight about young Africans being entrepreneurial and solution-driven, but that government need to provide the enabling environment for them to thrive.
Omikunle said the sector must attract the best, highly motivated and equipped teachers to teach learners.
“We need to provide the necessary support system so as to produce mentally balanced teachers. We need to also improve the perception of people about the teaching profession so that they will not go into it as a last resort,” Omikunle explained. “More and more organisations need to show that they care for teachers. Teacher remuneration is also very important. We need to raise the bar that will allow young people to be attracted into the profession.”
