THE APPRAISAL OF THE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS CONFRONTING STUDENT TEACHERS ON TEACHING PRACTICE IN BENIN CITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The importance of Teaching Practice in teacher education programme cannot be over-emphasized. It is a period to test the student teacher ability in classroom teaching and learning situation. It is also referred to as a crucial period, where the student teachers put into practice all the theoretical concepts they have acquired in course of their programme. In translating theory into practices, student teachers encounter a lot of difficulties which they have to battle with for effective teaching and learning to take place. Many educationists believed that the teaching practice is the must vital part of teacher education programme – every year in colleges of education and universities in Nigeria thousands of students were sent into schools to practice the act of teaching after many years of studying in variety of institution, they find themselves as absolute beginners in the profession they have chosen and in which many of them spent a considerable part of their lives.

Many educator like Cohen and Gainer (1979), Afe (1990) and Khinzla (1990) believed that Teaching Practice is the most vital part of the teaching profession few would challenge the contention that the students practice in school should be a focal point of all the other training he receives. It is on this occasion that he has his first opportunity to put into application some of the psychology, method and principles he has learned theoretically in lecture method. Recently there has been a lot of concern about Teaching Practice on how to provide practical experience for teacher trainees in teacher education and helping teacher trainees to acquire, practice or refine their teaching skills, its effectiveness and purpose how far this has been achieved , these concern variously expressed by some educationist; student themselves and the mass media. The research work therefore attempts in bringing to light some of these problems and solutions.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

Teaching Practice is a period during which teachers to be are brought into the reality of what their professional field really look like and what it demands of them when it comes to teaching, there are remarkable dierence between theory and practice. Year in year out student teachers are confronted with manifold of problems which they can cope with or cannot cope with depending on the circumstance surrounding the problems. It is against this background that this study appraises some of the problems and solutions confronting teaching practice, and what solutions have been advanced toward resolving this problem.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

1. Would there by any significant difference between pre-service teachers in College of Education and that of the University of Benin in their appraisal of the problems associated with teaching practice? 2. Would there be any significant difference between pre-service teachers in College of Education and that of University of Benin in their appraisal of the solutions to the problems confronting students Teaching Practices?

1.4 HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses have been propounded in order to give guide to this research; 1. There are no significant differences between pre-service teacher in College of Education and that of the University of Benin in their appraisal of the problems associated with teaching practice. 2. There is no significant difference between pre-service teachers in college of education and that of university of Benin in their appraisal of the solution to the problems confronting Teaching Practice