Assessment of Attitude of Education Students towards Teaching -practice in Nasarawa State University Keffi, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper is a descriptive survey which sought to assess the attitude of student-teachers towards teaching practice. This study was conducted in the Faculty of Education, Nasarawa state University Keffi. The sample comprised of 150 students who were on teaching practice in 20010/2011 Session, 20 principals and 40 teachers of practicing schools were drawn by simple balloting. Four research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Two instruments (TPQ and TPAQPT were developed by the researchers and used for data collection. The instruments were validated and an internal consistency of 0.80 and 0.76 respectively were calculated using Cronbach Alpha techniques. Data was analyzed using means and z-Test statistics. The findings revealed that (i) students show a positive attitude towards teaching practice. (ii) female students showed more positive attitude to teaching practice than male students. Also, problems militating against effective teaching practice were determined. It was concluded that if all the strategies for improving students attitude towards teaching practice would be adopted the students’ attitude towards teaching practice, no doubt, will be affected positively. Based on the findings, recommendations were made among others that the Faculty should have a micro-teaching laboratory where the students will be well exposed to the rudiments of teaching before they should be sent to schools for actual practice.

Keywords: Attitude, Teaching practice, Micro-teaching laboratory, Actual practice