Teachers’ Factors as Determinants of the Professional Competence of the Nigeria Certificate in Education Teachers

Abstract

The National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) has been involved in training teachers for the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) for over three decades through Distance Learning Programme.  The quality of these teachers has been queried particularly when compared with those who run full-time NCE Programme.  This study, therefore, determined the professional competencies of NCE teachers produced by NTI. The study further examined the extent to which NTI primary school teachers’ morale, motivation, attitude, and commitment accounted for their professional competencies. The study adopted a survey design. Forty NCE teachers produced by NTI Distance Learning Programme and 40 full-time NCE trained teachers were purposively selected from schools in eight local government areas of Ogun State.  The only instrument used for data collection was the Teachers’ Characteristic Questionnaire.  Three research questions were answered. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test and multiple regression.The profile of NTI NCE teachers and full-time NCE teachers were high and positive on commitment to teaching, motivation to work, morale and attitude to teaching.  The NTI NCE teachers were significantly committed to teaching more than the full-time teachers (t ₍₇₈₎ = 2.02, p<0.05). Attitude to teaching, motivation to work and teachers’ morale did not significantly influence professional competence. All the factors jointly accounted for 1.4% of the variance in the teachers’ professional competence.In view of the fact that teachers will continue to access professional training by NTI, there is, therefore, the need for NTI to ensure a favourable teaching environment in order to enhance the production of committed teachers. Therefore, the NTI Programme should be sustained because of its role in the training of teachers.

Keywords: Professional competence, Teachers characteristics, Distance learning programme, NTI NCE Programme.