TEACHER’S PERCEPTION TOWARDS CHANGE AND INNOVATIONS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF NIGERIA IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
The Nigeria educational system presently is marked by both changes in programmes and by innovations that are creating totally new programmes and directions. Education is as essential to man as life itself on this planet, earth. Societies through ages have one form of education or the other, whether indigenous or western education. Education varies from place to place and from time to time. In fact it is a very important means of developing any nation. The term education has not lent itself to any strict consensual definition as it depends on the perspective from which one views it. It can be considered as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes, interest, abilities, competence and the cultural norms of a society by people to transmit this life to the coming generations so as to enhance perpetual development of the society.
Omolewa (1986), stated that the programme was conceived as an instrument of national unity, it was designed to inject functionality in to the Nigerian school system. The 6-3-3-4 was fashioned to produce graduates who would be able to make use of their hands, the head and the heart (the 3Hs of education). When it was finally introduced in 1982, there had been inputs by various sectors of Nigerian professional community. Then the 6-3-3-4 system of education was seen as a laudable programme capable of ushering in an educational revolution in Nigeria; hence step in the right direction, towards the technological development of the nation. However, the current situation on ground is far from this ideal. This system seems to be suffering from poor and shoddy implementation. This research work attempts to assess teachers’ perception towards innovations in the contemporary educational system of Nigeria.
Educational institutions, like all other organisations, require constant monitoring to identify areas for potential improvement. However, educational reforms are often not well implemented. This results in massive wastage of finances, human resources, and lost potential. Change may be described as the adoption of an innovation (Carlopio 1998, 2), where the ultimate goal is to improve outcomes through an alteration of practices. However, the process of change is complex, with many different types of change possible. Further, there are a number of differing strategies for implementing these changes, with the success of implementation being highly variable.
Factors that drive change may be internal or external to the environment (Yee, 1998), innovations may be initiated at any level in the organisational structure (Swenson 1997) and reforms may be systemic or local (Reigeluth 1994) in nature. Commercial enterprises, non-profit organisations, service industries, government instrumentalities and educational institutions all undergo change. As educational institutions have characteristics in common with each of the preceding, they may be considered as being typical of an organisation undergoing change.
Both internal and external forces (Yee, 1998) drive the need for change. Referring to “change drivers”, large scale forces that produce complex change, Swenson (1997) notes that “globalisation” of society has produced an imperative for continual reappraisal of practices in order to maintain a competitive edge. In educational terms, this may be interpreted as the need to update practices in keeping with the findings of international research, and to continually conform to national trends.
Internal to the school are the pressures brought to bear by curricular reform. Further, alterations in staff-student relationships from teacher-centered to student-centered create the need for modification of teaching practices, and policies and procedures to support more meaningful educational experiences. There is a lot of lip-service offered to both changes and innovations, and a general climate of opinion exists that one must keep abreast of modern developments. Whilst the teacher is a key figure in the final implementation of any innovation that has some direct bearing upon the teaching – learning process, at time their views are not sort when changes is to occur. The researcher is thus be motivated by the above circumstances to carry out a study into this phenomenon, that is (6-3-3-4, system, curriculum change and innovations).
Effective change to any organisational structure, philosophy or practice is not an easily obtainable goal. At each level of organisation, there are dynamics in operation which may resist the proposed change. However, organisational culture, the perceptions of stakeholders, a lack of holistic approach, absence of follow up or support, and even the process of change itself all present barriers to achieving effective change.
It should be noted that within the past two decades, Nigeria educational system has been undergoing some metamorphosis. This tempo of these changes in lively to increase in the coming years in view of the fact that the wind of educational change and in blowing rapidly in the area of schools curriculum change as well as the adaptation of a new system of education tagged the 6-3-3-4 system.
Teachers and the entire society now makes it a topic of discussion were comparisons are made between the old educational system and the current 6-3-34 system. Therefore, the problem of this study on Teachers perception towards change and innovation in the educational system of Nigeria in selected secondary schools in Uyo L. G. A. are especially the Nigeria’s 6-3-3-4 system and curriculum change and innovations. Also, this study will attempt to understand the problem that exist between change and innovations in the educational system in Nigeria and teachers attitude towards the successful implementation of intended change and innovations over the years which tends to be negative.
The purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’ perception towards change and innovations in the educational system of Nigeria in selected secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area. The areas of change to be investigated are the 6-3-3-4 system of educational and the school curriculum change and innovations.
The study also aims at achieving the following specific objectives;
- To determine the difference between male and female teachers’ perception towards change and innovations in schools.
- To determine the difference between public and private school teachers’ perception towards change and innovations in school.
- To determine the difference between urban and rural teachers’ level of dissatisfaction with change and innovations in schools.
