CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education is the bedrock of any national development either in the developed, developing or under-developed nation. Education is the instrument for individual, societal, national and international growth and development. It prepares an individual for the total development from birth through a life time for useful and happy membership of the society he belongs to. Education makes an individual to become an asset and not a liability to the society. The individual develops physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually from birth throughout a life time. Onocha (2013) claimed that, all human societies need the development of prerequisite skills, knowledge and experience for their growth and preservation. This is because education develops human resources of the nation. For an individual to develop physically, socially, morally, intellectually and becomes an asset or a useful member of his society, he needs education.
Aggarwal (2008) considered education as the ‘third eye’ which gives a man an insight into all affairs and teaches him how to act. Education nourishes, directs, comforts and makes an individual to be more cultured. With education, a man is able to realize the true value of life. An uneducated person is therefore considered blind. In the same vein, Ololube (2007) described education as an essential service that must be monitored, scrutinized and constantly evaluated. Education increases a man’s intelligence, power and efficiency. A child’s best is drawn but through education. This is because education makes him to be morally sound, physically strong, spiritually upright, culturally refined, emotionally stable, and intelligently self-sufficient. In fact, through education, a man develops a well-balanced personality. As education develops individual, the outcome is national development. Patel and Mohasina (2011) argued that education is the most important invention of mankind. Man invents tools, machines, crafts, medicine and language through education. Without education, man would have been living just like an animal.
Through the process of learning, a society’s values, habits, skills, knowledge, craft, language and trade are transmitted from one generation to another. Kumar (2008), Fayaz (2011) and Saxena and Khajanchee (2012) opined that a nation’s economic prosperity and her quality depend on the development of her human resources or manpower. To develop manpower resources means to produce competent human resources. The significant fact in the development of manpower resources refers to the competences and level on which these competences are imparted which depend largely on those who develop these competencies.
The people that impart knowledge are referred to as teachers. The teacher is someone that is trained and certificated to teach. He is regarded as the key player in the entire educational process, the mirror in the society and the father of knowledge. He is the converter of raw materials to finished products through a systematic procedure in the school which is considered as a human factory. According to Okoye (2007), a teacher does these in various capacities such as educator, adviser, instructor, lecturer, counselor, guidance, researcher, innovator and leader. Onocha (2013) observed that teachers are a critical factor in delivering qualitative education. Therefore, for this purpose, there is need for highly competent teachers for imparting those competences. As a result, teachers imparting the competences should have the capability to perform their tasks efficiently. In other to do this, teachers need to acquire requisite competencies themselves.
The term Student Teaching Practice (STP) is defined differently by many educationists. A few of these definitions are, however, worthy of note. Student Teaching Practice is a pre-service professional preparation for interested persons, aspiring to become teachers with a credible vision for sustainable human development (Oyekan, 2000). According to Salawu and Adeoye (2002), Student Teaching Practice is a practical teaching activity by which the student -teachers are given an opportunity in actual school situation to demonstrate and improve training in pedagogical skill over a period of time. Also, Student Teaching Practice is a kind of apprenticeship stage during which the students are sent out to school to gain practical and professional experience by translating all the educational theories they have acquired or learnt during training into practice (NOUN, 2010).
 This conceptualization and that of Adeoye (2002) are modified as: “a practical teaching activity by which the student-teacher (under the supervision of a teacher trainer) is given opportunity in actual school situation within a given period of time to demonstrate, gain practical knowledge and professional experience by translating educational theories into practice”. Whatever definition is given to STP, the most important thing is that it is a professional exercise which is focused on helping the student-teacher to bridge the gap between theory and practice in education.