EVALUATION OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES FOR TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

Staff development programmes have been fully recognized as a dream in enhancing teachers‘ performance. It is therefore, to achieve teachers‘ performance and enhance credibility. Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) should emphasize the effective acquisition and utilization of human resources by investing in training or promotion on the jobs. The role of teachers in Primary school is multifaceted. They are always under great pressure to conduct research, teach, advise pupils, advise parents and serve on communities. Staff development has therefore, become the vehicle for meaningful change which play an integral part in developing the school philosophy, goals and expectation. It is through training and development programs which differ in breath in relation to the needs and resources of the school professionalism, productivity individual effectiveness and performance has been a contended issue in most countries due to poor work ethics.

This study rests on the human capital theory developed by Maicibi and Nkata (2005) which postulates that training involves both learning and teaching with improved employee job performance and productivity derived from short term and long term training. It argues that both knowledge and skill are a form of capital and that this capital is a production of deliberate investment acquisition of knowledge and skill is compared to acquiring the ―means of production‖ however, the concept of human capital implies a statement in people. Workers no longer have to be at the mercy of others. Instead, they

can be in control of increasing their own productivity and earning through education the performance among teachers had still been noted to be very low and unsatisfactory.

National development all over the world has continued to be intricately tied to educational development in which the teacher is the critical element. It is most likely that is for this reason that Jakeyinfa (2005) posited that the training and production of manpower needed for the attainment of national objectives should be framed on the quality and qualify of teachers. It is on this background that the federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2004) made specific policy provision of teacher education.

Primary education is the formal education given to children aged 6-11 years and above Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2004). The rest of the education system i.e. the secondary and tertiary are built upon it therefore Primary education is the bedrock to the success of otherwise of the whole system of education the task of teaching is dele gated to teachers, who constitute the most important factor in the learning process the FRC (2004) emphasizes the important of teacher in education development. And state that no education system can rise above the quality of its teacher similarly Ikeotonye (2003) state that no nation can develop beyond the condition of its teachers. The above statement indicate very clearly the importance of teachers in learning process it is, therefore, for any society that wants rapid development to prepare and invest a lots of its resources in the development of its teachers this will help them to acquire relevant experience to facilitate teaching and learning.

EVALUATION OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES FOR TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS