CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
School effectiveness depends to a great extent on the personnel’s expertise and productivity couple with motivation strategies put in place by the government. According to Bayo (2001) the attainability of the educational goal is a product of interplay factors of the school and the teachers. In this regard, Development Programmes occupy a central place in a result oriented educational institution. Teaching services reforms indicated that emphasis has been placed on the Development programme of teachers (Bayo 2001). This constitutes a significant factor in the school setting drive toward teaching (Yusuf, 2002). Similarly a substantial amount of fund is supposed to be voted for Teachers’ development programme in the annual budget of educational system. To this end, teachers of different cadres will be opportuned to improve their proficiency through short or long term courses. Adeboye (2000) argued that in the federal or state education system, development programm personnel receive adequate attention of the Ministries or Parastatals with a view to inject necessary skills and knowledge prerequisite to meet the growing challenges at all times.
Brown (2000) and Ogunshola (2002) opined that teaching is dynamic and involve a lot of changes that required a well enlightened, knowledgeable skillful tactful, innovative and dynamic personnel. According to them, viable and result oriented teaching services must acknowledge: the essence of development programme and re-development programme of the teachers. It was thus emphasized that, development programmes is the “engine room” of any dynamic, effective and result oriented educational sector, stressing the importance of training and retraining of personnel in the public service, Adeoye (2002) posited that the amount spent on Teacher’s Development Programme is never a waste but necessary input for optimum productivity.
Teaching, like other service is a dynamic activity and a professionalized duty that requires constant and periodic exposure to current innovations in educating the young. According to Fafunwa (2002), teaching is a noble job that must be carried out by intelligent, knowledgeable, skillful, and dedicated personnel, to achieve ethical and moral transformation of Nigeria society. He stressed further that, what the teachers require for these transformations are adequate exposure to refresher courses that will enable them function effectively in this era of globalization. In this regard, priority is given to teachers development programme. Today, teachers benefit maximally from development programme facilities provided in the budget. Substantial numbers of secondary school teachers in Kwara State are not sponsored to attend different development programm e. g seminars, workshops, conferences, in- service courses ranging from three months to three years.
Teacher development programme is a process not an event. That involves change over time and is achieved in stages. The stages are related to teachers’ experience gained in instructional and management practice over their career. The stages are also related to the degree of service and support a country’s level of economic and political development allows it to provide.
Effective implementation of any programme, especially that of improving the performance of teachers, no doubt depends largely on continuous development and update of teachers’ knowledge. However, the broad goals of secondary education in Nigeria as stated by the federal government of Nigeria (2004) in the National policy on education are to prepare the individual for useful living within the society and for higher education. To achieve these goals therefore, some personnel, especially teachers, are required. This is because the success or otherwise of secondary education depends very much on the quality and caliber of the teachers. To achieve sustainable development in education, there should be an opportunity created for teachers to improve on the existing methods of teaching and learning by providing innovations that can be useful to the entire school system. Continous teachers’ development programme is required because the knowledge and skills that teachers acquired during their initial training are unlikely to last them through their entire career (Fafunwa 2002).
In recent years, a variety of teachers’ development programme have been fashioned out to upgrade the serving teachers in secondary schools. Some agencies such as ministry of education, Teaching service commission, state universal basic education Board and SUBEB, professional organizations, organized workshop, seminars, conference and computer training for practicing teachers. Many teachers across the country have seized this opportunity to embark on teachers’ development programmes to acquire more experiences and upgrade their teaching qualifications. During the development programme there were exchange of ideas among the teachers in which they acquire authentic learning experience which according to lave and Blenger (2001) allow students to genuinely engage in processes which can lead to meaningful and long lasting learning for sustainability. It was against these background that the researcher intends to investigate teachers development and school effectiveness in senior secondary schools in Kwara State.