The experience of working in the education sector has been very revealing. It is reflective of where the pain points lie in this very sector, which is indeed a rather broad and complex one especially today with the growing number of children of school age and the concern over the probability of access to quality education.
Notwithstanding the breadth and complexity of this sector, one common outcome across all tiers of schools is learning outcomes. This outcome is not far-fetched because we see the results in our daily experiences, even passively, not just based on our results in national and state examinations. For example, children of school age walking idly around the streets during school hours is essentially a learning outcome of 0; graduates who apply for jobs and are unable to write a coherent application letter or curriculum vitae is also a poor outcome of learning; employed people who lack critical thinking skills and basic ethical values. The intellectual quality of people around us is essentially a reflection of what they have learnt; and where do they learn from? Homes and schools. If some people are lucky enough to have come from decent homes and attend decent schools, we would see the results. Those who don’t and are able to overcome difficult circumstances and environmental conditions and excel are merely just outliers.
Nigeria has huge potential by sole virtue of the availability of human capital. However, where we struggle in this is ensuring that the quality of this human capital is at least “decent”. These days, it is common to hear employers say that many recruits that they come across are unemployable because they are limited in knowledge and skill set required to meet the demands of the jobs on offer. This is somewhat reflective of our education standards in the country. It is a narrative that has been going on for years and would continue if the right changes are not made.
As simple as the statement “ A school is only as good as its teachers” might be, sometimes it seems that we struggle to acknowledge and appreciate the value that quality teaching and learning provides to individuals. It even goes as far as some experienced educators saying that if they could they would try to get past all the bureaucracy that seems to be hindering movement and place their efforts on basic teaching and learning only.
It would be easy to assume that our teachers meet a certain minimum standard. Studies that have been carried out in various states in the country have, however, revealed that the quality of teachers is actually a dire problem in Nigeria. One carried out by the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) in 2019 brought forward concerns over the low numeracy and literacy skills in teachers in certain states. What was more shocking was that there was little disparity between the teachers who had graduated from teacher training colleges and universities and those who hadn’t. So this raises the question,
What is going on at the teacher training colleges and other institutions?
The role of teachers cannot be over-emphasised. It is actually critical to the delivery of quality education. If we don’t get this right, we should be very concerned about the quality of our citizens in the future, especially given the large and fast-growing active population in the country. This is why organisations such as Teach for Nigeria have been birthed and charged with the mission to educate the educators and reach areas that our current system cannot.
Bringing this to the point of view of parents: when selecting schools for our children, it is very important that we look out for the standards and quality of teaching at the schools we consider. This might be difficult to do if the parents have not had any initial interaction with the school, but they could take their scope of their search a little further by observing other children at the school, looking out for any published academic records or even getting referrals from parents at the school they may know. The focus should not be limited to the infrastructure, affordability of school fees or prestige of the school alone (even though some of these other factors are important), but also to the focus on safeguarding the character and values of the children in their systems.
Finally, taking this to the perspective of schools’ Management, it is imperative that they invest in their staff and teachers, ensuring that they are well equipped with the right skills and tools to improve the effectiveness of their teaching methods and delivery, through training, constructive feedback sessions and other capacity building initiatives. Schools could also go beyond this and provide additional incentives that would improve the wellbeing of their staff and teachers, including good welfare packages, awards and other things that would make them feel better appreciated and more empowered.
Quality education is really reflective of quality delivery. All stakeholders in the education sector should not take this for granted in their decision-making processes.
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