Making teaching attractive again

In recent times, empirical evidence lends credence to the plummeting number of youths wishing to take to the teaching profession. Amid the looming qualified manpower crisis the country faces in the education sector, calls for the introduction of incentives to attract intelligent youths into the profession are gaining currency writes, ENO-ABASI SUNDAY.

DECADES ago, teachers were some of the most respected members of the Nigerian society. They were revered and, in a manner of speaking, worshipped by the society they helped to educate. Not only for their intellect, but also for their determination to spend the most productive parts of their lives toiling in a profession that is not known to produce millionaires. Even in retirement, their views were respected in the communities where they were lived.

Today, the profession has become less attractive, especially to the youthful population. This is reflected in the rapidly thinning number of youths interested in go into teaching.

Late last year, the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) while reeling out the statistics of freshmen offered provisional admission into Nigerian universities, lamented the dwindling number of youths registering to study education-related courses.

In recent times and across the country, teaching has endured immense battering from a wide spectrum of the society. While there are some highly qualified teachers doing their bid to further the country’s educational development, the Nigerian society is unrelenting in attempts to position the dishevelled, truant, unqualified, indiscipline teacher as the face of teaching in the country.

These, and the twin evil of poor welfare/remuneration packages, have joined forces to ensure that the apathy and disdain displayed towards the profession remains at an all-time high.

Now, while students loathe the idea of a career in teaching, most parents/guardians think their children/wards need serious re-orientation if they ever contemplate or voice their love for the teaching profession.

Growing apathy for teaching profession
Former Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Reverend Father George Ehusani, Sunday painted a silhouette of what obtains in the larger society, especially when it comes to how contemporary Nigerian youths view teaching as a profession.

While speaking on the topic, “Bringing the Good News to the Poor,” the prominent Catholic cleric touched several frontiers where the poor are left undone by the society.

It was in the course of drawing examples to buttress his submission that he recalled being recently invited to give a talk to over 120 Senior Secondary Two students, some of whom an Abuja-based school’s management has nominated to be named prefects.

Ehusani said he was thoroughly jolted when none of the over hundred students indicated interest in taking up teaching as a profession. All the kids preferred to go into “other big, well-paying professions.”

Flowing from that scenario, the cleric stressed that any society that does not accord teaching its pride of place was not just a dying society, but a dead society, stressing that in most cases when intelligent people abandon teaching for other professions, their children are almost, always “taught by never-do-wells. The most intelligent people in any organised society go in to teaching.”

Describing teaching as “about the best profession in the world” because of the capacity of the teacher to shape the minds of the pupils and the future of a country, Ehusani stressed that those that make their marks in the profession are those intelligent people, who went into it willingly, and without preparing to make millions out of it because “in history, teaching profession has never been a profession that parades millionaires, but yet the best brains were very happy to go into it.”

According to the Education Director, Mind Builders School, Lagos, Mrs. Bola Falore, there are a number of reasons why interest in the teaching profession among youths is waning at great speed.

“Teaching as a profession involves a heavy workload. It is both brain tasking and time-consuming. Twenty first century youths would rather prefer jobs, which allow them ample time for themselves rather than the teaching profession.

“Secondly, teaching demands that teachers should be life-long learners as this is the only way they can have a sound mastery of their subject matter and Nigerian youths would rather read to pass examinations than read as a way of life.

“Thirdly, teachers are known to be role models. They are known to “walk the talk.” Most Nigerian youths would prefer to choose professions where they will be free to express themselves,” she stated.

Importance of availability of high-quality teachers in the sector

Both Falore and another educationist and President, Performance Fact Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mutiu Fagbayi, are in sync regarding the impact that highly qualified teachers can make within an education system in particular, and the country in general.

“The importance of the availability of high-quality teachers to the advancement of Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised. High-quality teachers are known to, not only teach students to excel academically and apply the knowledge gained in class to every facet of life, but they are also known to be mind builders. They build students of impeccable characters and students who have strong moral values and principles that would help them change their world for the better. Albert Einstein once said, ‘The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.’ Without high quality teachers teaching in our schools, the positive change we clamor for in our nation building will remain elusive,” said Falore.

In agreeing with Falore’s views on the importance of high quality teachers to the education system in particular and the country in general, Fagbayi stressed that efforts must be upped to improve the lot of teachers and head teachers get better adding that, “If you study the research about those countries whose pupils perform best on international comparisons of students’ achievements, you will find that they place a high premium on teacher quality.

“Countries such as Finland, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are consistently at the top of the list, year after year. And none of those countries – except Finland – has a lot of natural resources like oil or gold. They recognise that their most valuable resources are their people, and that by training them well, the whole country thrives. The best way to tackle the poor performance of Nigerian pupils is to invest in improving the quality and effectiveness of instruction. We have smart children in Nigeria, and they can perform as well as their international counterparts if we invest in, and support our teachers and head teachers,” he said.

Fagbayi, who said his organisation has started a pilot project in literacy and language development for pupils in the Agege council area of Lagos State, added that management and leadership skills were also being taught to 50 head teachers and council managers who are expected to also train their peers. Steps like this, he said, helps in getting teachers to be in tune with the country’s developmental aspirations.

According to him, stakeholders in the education sector need to fix the achievement gap in the education sector in order to prepare pupils for the future.

“Many American pupils, especially pupils from poorer home, ethnic minorities, or pupils whose home language is not English, are not performing as well as their white counterparts. There is a persistent “achievement gap” that results in many pupils being ill-prepared for the university and career; in fact, a large percentage are required to complete remedial courses when they get to the university. Nigeria faces a similar challenge.

“Pupils from less affluent homes do not have access to the same quality schools that are available to the children of wealthier parents. We too do have an “achievement gap” here in Nigeria. However, in America, they seem to recognise the problem and have been working on it since 1983 when a report – A Nation at Risk – warned America to fix its schools or risk becoming a weaker country. The most important factor in educating all pupils at a high level is the quality and effectiveness of the teacher, no other factor is more important,” he submitted.

Poor conditions of service, biggest scare factor

Miss Vanessa Adunni Olayinka is a 300-level Geography Education student in a first generation university. She is studying the course because “that is what I was offered admission to study, not because I want to become a teacher. I applied to study geology, but when the admission list was published, I was granted admission to study this course. Upon graduation, I will enroll for a masters’ programme and move on from there.

Any plans to go to the classroom? “Never. Why would I end up in the classroom where the condition of service of teachers is getting worse by the day? In public schools, there are no instructional materials for the teachers to work with, they seldom get promoted and the government routinely owes them. For those in some private schools, their salaries are never commensurate to the efforts they are putting in, even when the school owners are charging neck-breaking school fees. This is not what I wish for my self and definitely not what my parents wish for me.”

Falore, a thorough-bred educationist who holds a National Certificate in Education (NCE), a BA (Ed), Educational Administration and Supervision, and a masters’ degree in education is strongly of the view that teachers’ poor condition of service is also a major deciding factor why intelligent, young persons are forsaking the profession in droves. She said, “There are mushroom schools that pay teachers as low as N5, 000 monthly. With the “get rich quick” mentality of most Nigerian youths, you can be rest assured that most of them will not opt for the teaching profession.

“Everybody wants to have the good things of life and youths are no exemption. The fact remains that the remuneration of most teachers cannot be compared to that of their contemporaries in the oil and gas sectors, or in the banking sector, and teachers are expected to put in more than their contemporaries in other sectors. Teachers are building minds and deserve the best condition of service to be able to perform optimally. Until the condition of service of teachers is reviewed and made to be as competitive as that of other sectors, the desire to attract the best brains to the teaching profession will remain a mirage.”

Unqualified teachers as a disincentive to national development

Knowledge is dynamic and 21st century learning, just like many other aspects of our national life relies tremendously on Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Most teachers in public and private schools are either ignorant or miles behind their counterparts from the developed world when it comes to keeping pace with developments in this direction. Consequently, they cannot maximally contribute their quota to raising students that can compete favourably with their peers.

A good number of them even need training to be fit enough to take up the task of educating others.

For Fagbayi, a one-time Chief Operating Officer (COO), National Centre on Education and Economy, a non-governmental organisation in Washington DC, United States, improving the quality of teachers through the introduction of the right incentives and training are the most important interventions for the education sector.

He lamented that the teaching methods employed by his teachers 40 years ago were still in use, and teachers in the country needed to be familiar with scientific teaching methods in order to develop the capacity of their pupils.

While commending the Federal Government on its decision to employ 500,000 teachers to boost manpower in the sector, the educationist however, said a long-term plan to retain individuals who are passionate about the teaching profession was more viable than recruiting volunteers.

For Falore, “If as a country, we are not able to attract our best brains to teaching as is obtainable in places like Finland, Singapore and some other countries, there will be a decline in the advancement of this country. If we keep having individuals who, are neither well-grounded in their subject areas nor have the ability to think critically, emerging as teachers in this country, then the quality of students they will produce will not be able to compete with their counterparts in the near future. Albert Einstein once said that, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” So, if we do not have “thinking teachers” to teach the future generation, then we will end up producing a generation that will not be able to think critically and this will adversely affect their skills in problem solving, creativity and decision making.”

On how the Federal Government’s planned employment of 500, 000 graduate teachers would play in reviving the fortunes of the sector, she said, the gesture can only positively affect the country’s education fortune if some other parameters are put in place.

“Firstly, these graduate teachers should be trained teachers. Those who are not education graduates should be mandated to have a minimum of postgraduate diploma in education. My submission is that those who take to teaching because there is no other job will soon dust their certificates and leave whenever another opportunity arises. The government should then equip these teachers by providing them with adequate instructional materials. The Quality Control Department of the Ministry of Education should also be at alert to ensure that these teachers as well as others employed before them comply with the right ethics of the teaching profession.

“Without constant training and retraining in form of seminars and workshops and proper monitoring of these teachers, employing 500,000 or more graduate teachers will not be able to positively affect the country’s education fortune but if these are put in place, it will transform these teachers to become 21st Century teachers and we will then be able to produce totally balanced students who are I.T. compliant and can think outside the box.

Rekindling interest in teaching through scholarships, incentives

Ehusani

For the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Monday Joshua, a conscious policy of the Federal Government, including the introduction of scholarship for students in colleges of education or those studying education courses is key.

“If the government will increase the motivation for students wishing to attend colleges of education or study education courses in the universities, the situation will change. If we attach such incentives, the colleges of education will attract as many students as the universities. When the quality of entrants increase, the quality of products will increase and the quality of education will improve,” he stated.

He lamented that, “When some applicants try for a long time without getting admission into universities, they apply for colleges of education. At the end of the day, students that come into the colleges of education do so with reluctance, ill-motivation and cannot be made good teachers under three years.’’

On her part, Falore said, “While I agree with you the school of thought that says that scholarship awards and improved conditions of service of teachers will attract youths to the teaching profession, I also wish to add that the provision of an enabling environment will also help achieve these objectives. These youths are digital natives and will prefer to work in an e-environment. Provision of e-libraries, uninterrupted Internet facilities in schools and facilities to make them 21st century teachers are some of the conditions that will make them take to teaching as a profession.

I also wish to add that teaching, as a profession is a calling. It demands sacrificial and selfless service from its practitioners. So, I’ll also advise that while the scholarship awards and provision of an enabling environment are given to our best brains to encourage them to come into the teaching profession, provisions should also be made for committed and seasoned teachers to mentor these new teachers.