Submission Date: September 1, 2017 · 2018. 11. 21. · Submission Date: September 1, 2017 Contract...

Submission Date: September 1, 2017

Contract Number: AID-620-C-15-00002

October 26, 2015 – October 25, 2020

COR: Olawale Samuel

Submitted by: James M. Statman, Chief of Party

The Northern Education Initiative Plus

38 Mike Akhigbe Street, Jabi, Abuja, Nigeria

Email: [email protected]

Suggested Reference: Barnes, A. E., & Boyle, H. (2018). Baseline Assessment of Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs and Teacher Education Institutions in Bauchi and Sokoto States, Nigeria. Report prepared for USAID under the Northern Education Initiative Plus, USAID-Nigeria/Creative Associates International (2015-2020) Contract #186000-524-037853.

This document was produced for the United States Agency for International Development by Florida State University. The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

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Northern Education Initiative Plus

BASELINE ASSESSMENT OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND TEACHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN BAUCHI AND SOKOTO STATES, NIGERIA

A technical report produced by the Florida State University team for the Northern Education Initiative Plus (the initiative) Project, Creative Associates International: USAID-Nigeria 2017

Prepared by Adrienne E. Barnes, Ph.D. and Helen Boyle, Ph.D. within the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.

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PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Program Name Northern Education Initiative Plus

Activity Start Date and End Date October 26, 2015 – October 25, 2020

Name of Prime Implementing Partner Creative Associates International

Contract Number AID-620-C-15-00002

Name of Subcontractors Education Development Center (EDC), Flori-da State University (FSU), Overseas Strategic Consulting (OSC) and Value Minds

Major Counterpart Organizations FMOE, NERDC, NCCE, UBEC, NMEC, SMOE (Bauchi and Sokoto), SUBEB (Bauchi and Sokoto), SAME (Bauchi and Sokoto), LGEAs (Bauchi and Sokoto)

Geographic Coverage Bauchi and Sokoto State

Reporting Period October 15, 2016 to September 1, 2017

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CoE College of Education

ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education

EGR Early Grade Reading

EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment

FSU Florida State University

FMOE Federal Ministry of Education

LGEA Local Government Education Authorities

NEI Plus Northern Education Initiative Plus

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

NCE Nigeria Certificate of Education

NCCE National Commission for Colleges of Education

MT Master Trainer

RTWG Reading Technical Working Group

TEI Teacher Education Institution

USAID United States Agency for International Development

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Contents

PROGRAM OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

INTRODUCTION - PROJECT DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT TEACHING PRACTICES, PROGRAMS, AND RESOURCES FOCUSING ON READING INSTRUCTION FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AT TEACHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN BAUCHI AND SOKOTO STATES, NORTHERN NIGERIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ASSESSMENT DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

SITE-SPECIFIC FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ABUBAKAR TATARI ALI POLYTECHNIC (BAUCHI STATE) . . . . . . . 12

COE KANGERE (BAUCHI STATE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

AMINU SALEH COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, AZARE (BAUCHI STATE) . . . 22

SHEHU SHAGARI COE (SOKOTO STATE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

FINDINGS: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

ABOUT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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INTRODUCTION - PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Commencing in October 2015 under funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the five-year Northern Education Initiative Plus (the Initiative) project is strengthening the ability of Bauchi and Sokoto states to provide greater access to basic education—especially for girls and out-of-school-children (OOSC) —and to significantly improve reading outcomes for more than two million school-aged children and youth.

The Initiative employs a holistic approach addressing a broad range of critical factors that affect learning, teaching, education systems management, parent participation and communi-ty engagement in and support for their schools. The project strategy focuses on strengthening the technical and administrative capacity, commitment and accountability of federal, state and local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) to provide effective mother-tongue based early grade reading (EGR) teaching and learning to its pupils, and to delivery EGR, numeracy and life-skills to OOSCs and youth and whenever possible mainstreaming them into formal state education institutions. The Initiative is building LGEAs’ capacity to plan, budget for and administer their schools, support and supervise teachers, deliver high-quality teaching and learning materials, improve governance, transparency and accountability, and mobilize community involvement to bring more children into school and ensure that they can read. Whenever possible, the Initiative is bringing innovative, cost-effective Information Communication Technology (ICT) solutions to our government partners to improve efficien-cy and increase service delivery.

To do so, the project is training and equipping about 45,000 teachers and learning facilitators in formal schools and Non-Formal Learning Centers (NFLCs). And by working with state colleges of education to include EGR concepts, techniques, practice, and materials in their curriculum, the Initiative is building the states’ capacity to deliver effective reading instruc-tion and encourage parents to enroll their children in their local schools.

In addition to its partnership with key federal, state and local agencies and civil society organizations, the Initiative has built active partnerships with other programs to coordinate activities, build synergies and improve delivery and results. We also play a lead role with Nigerian partners within the education sector in promoting EGR policy, interventions and research.

An evidenced-based intervention, the Initiative continuously monitors our program activities and assesses its delivery and results against established targets and milestones to improve project outcomes. The Initiative is expected to demonstrate significant improvement in EGR for approximately 1.6 million children in first to third grades and for more than 500,000 out-of-school children and youth attending some 11,000 NFLCs, Adolescent Girls Learning Centers (AGLCs) and Youth Learning Centers (YLCs).

The Initiative is implemented by Creative Associates International in collaboration with three U.S.-based international organizations—Education Development Center (EDC), Florida State University (FSU), Overseas Strategic Consulting (OSC)—and four Nigerian organizations—Value Minds, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN) and the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN).

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A team composed of one FSU reading researcher, five the staff of the the initiative (the Cen-tral Teacher Education Officer, the Hausa Reading Officer, two state-level Teacher Education Officers, and one state-level Reading Officer), one Sokoto State University Head of Depart-ment, and four National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) staff (one Deputy Director, two Senior Program Officers, and one Chief Program Officer of Education) travelled to Bauchi and Sokoto states to conduct a rapid baseline assessment of pre-service teacher education programs at four Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) (three in Bauchi and one in Sokoto) which are target institutions for the initiative. This rapid assessment was completed with a main objective of familiarizing the team with the institutional context with regard to programs, physical resources, teaching practices, and procedures associated with pre-service teacher education in Northern Nigeria.

In October 2016, the visiting team conducted a one-day contextual analysis activity in each of three Bauchi state institutions (Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Kangere College of Educa-tion, and Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare) and one Sokoto state institution (Shehu Shagari College of Education) to assess the institutions’ existing capacity and needs related to the provision of adequate pre-service teacher education training in EGR and literacy instruc-tion. The team observed classroom instruction, conducted student-teacher and teacher-educa-tor focus groups, and individually interviewed teacher-educators and college administrators using pre-designed electronic surveys. All data were collected electronically via the use of tablets.

The instruments used during data collection evaluated: teacher-educator and student-teacher perspectives on the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programs offered at the institu-tions; existing courses that teach components of reading; materials, resources, and technology available to teacher-educators and student-teachers; perceived needs related to instruction of EGR and literacy skills; and teacher-education curriculum related to EGR and literacy skills instruction.

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

The following is a summary of what the team discovered through discussions and observa-tions at the four Teacher Education Institutions. These findings take into account what was learned from student-teacher focus groups, teacher-educator focus groups, class observations, and interviews with teacher-educators and institution administrators.

• NCE programs do not include methodology specifically related to teaching reading and literacy in early primary grades.

• Teacher-educators at TEIs in both Bauchi and Sokoto do not receive training specifi-cally related to either EGR or reading/literacy instruction in general.

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• There is a lack of resources for teaching EGR and literacy skills. Institutions that possess educational resources have either very few, or extremely outdated, reading education materials. There are currently no practical resources or primary materials to use as examples when instructing student-teachers on pedagogical methodology.

• The leveled orientation (i.e., Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Prima-ry Education programs) verses disciplinary orientation (i.e., Science, Language, Math, etc. programs) has only recently been introduced in 2012, and not all institutions adhere strongly to this organizational model.

• Admission procedures overlooking student academic requirements results in the enrollment of student-teachers lacking basic qualifications and in acute overcrowd-ing of classrooms. Class sizes of up to and more than 600 student-teachers severely limit (1) the teacher-educators’ ability to meet the needs of student-teachers; (2) the student-teachers’ ability to access the lesson in the classroom; and (3) the institutions’ ability to provide classroom resources to student-teachers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on information gathered from NCCE and TEIs in Bauchi and Sokoto states, the ini-tiative and its Partner FSU offer the following recommendations (details are found in the Conclusion and Recommendations section):

1. NCE programs should be revised to include methodology specifically related to the teaching of EGR skills and should develop course materials for the teaching of EGR skills to pre-service (student) teachers.

NCCE should engage the TEIs in the 2017 revision process of the NCE Minimum Standards such that courses solely dedicated to teaching EGR skills to children are included, and other courses which ostensibly teach reading skills are supplemented.

2. The initiative and its partner FSU should assist NCCE in revision of the NCE Minimum Standards and in the development of course materials for new EGR courses and supple-mental materials for identified courses to teach reading skills.

Under the guidance of NCCE, the initiative and its partner FSU should collaborate with experts and institutional teacher-educators to develop new materials for pre-services courses related to reading and literacy instruction.

3. At each TEI, the capacity of teacher-educators to teach EGR and reading/literacy cours-es to pre-service (student) teachers should be improved through training, collaboration, and practice.

This process may include the use of Master Trainers, the development of course and supple-mentary materials, and the support of institutional communities of practice.

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4. The institutions should create EGR resource rooms for teacher-educator use, communi-ties of practice, and professional development preparatory activities.

Each TEI should allocate a safe, well-conditioned room wherein resources for reading and literacy instruction can be stored. This room can be the place where college-level Reading Technical Working Groups (RTWG) can meet to engage in professional endeavors and to develop not only course materials but also professional development training materials for their staff.

5. NCCE should provide support and training at TEI.

Institutions receive updated and revised NCE Minimum Standards every five years. NCCE should provide sensitization training to the TEI that supports the institution in making necessary changes to the curriculum and/or organizational structure to the programs. This would ensure the establishment of newly developed EGR and supplemented reading/literacy courses as part of the formal institutional NCE programs for General, Primary, and Language Education programs.

6. Pre-service (student) teacher learning materials should be provided by the institutions.

Student-teacher course materials are not currently available at the institutions. Teacher-edu-cators provide notes for the student-teachers to copy and study for their tests and exams, but there are no learning resources to support the development of teaching skills. TEIs should have materials and time/personnel available to print and provide a set of materials to be checked out by the student-teachers for course study.

7. Institutions should reduce class size and instructor load.

NCCE should collaborate with TEIs to reform admissions and hiring procedures. Teacher-ed-ucator - student-teacher ratios should be kept below 1:50, as higher ratios in methodology courses severely limit the ability for the teacher-educator to engage student-teachers in par-ticipatory teaching and learning activities, assess student-teacher knowledge, and ensure that student-teachers are gaining the skills necessary to teach children.

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ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT TEACHING PRACTICES, PROGRAMS, AND RESOURCES FOCUSING ON READING INSTRUCTION FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AT TEIs IN BAUCHI AND SOKOTO STATES, NORTHERN NIGERIA

This report describes the activities carried out by the initiative and FSU in October 2016. It is centered on the assessment of four TEIs, three sites in Bauchi state and one site in Sokoto state, focusing on their teaching practices, programs, facilities, and resources related to EGR and reading/literacy instruction. Described below are (1) Purpose and Methodology of the assessment; (2) Institutional Findings; and (3) Conclusions and Recommendations.

PURPOSE

Within the overall scope of the initiative program, FSU has been tasked with working with NCCE and the TEIs to enhance the capacity for teacher-educators to provide effective, research-based EGR and reading/literacy instruction to pre-service (student) teachers in Bauchi and Sokoto states. Fulfilling this task requires a thorough understanding of the current policies, resources, and practices at the institutions which directly and indirectly influence the capacities to provide effective pre-service (student) teacher training in the areas of EGR and reading/literacy instruction. In order to better understand the context at each of the institutions, FSU in collaboration with the initiative and NCCE completed a one-day visit to a total of four TEIs from 19 to 24 October, 2016. The primary purpose of these visits was to conduct an analysis of existing capacities related to the provision of adequate pre-service (student) teacher training. The visiting team was led by a reading and literacy specialist from FSU and composed of representatives from the initiative (central and state-level reading officers) and NCCE.

Table 1. Institutional Visits

Institution State Date of Visit

Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi 19 October 2016

CoE Kangere Bauchi 20 October 2016

Aminu Saleh CoE Bauchi 21 October 2016

Shehu Shagari CoE Sokoto 24 October 2016

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ASSESSMENT DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Several methods of data collection were implemented at each institution the team visited. The day began with classroom observations wherein the team split into four approximately one-hour long lectures. Then, focus group discussions took place with student-teachers who had participated in the classes observed. Next, one-on-one interviews were conducted with several teacher-educators; meanwhile, an interview with an administrator (Provost, Deputy Provost, or Deputy Rector) was completed as well as a tour of the facilities (classrooms, learning labs, libraries, etc.). Finally, the day ended with teacher-educator focus group discussions and an administrative team debriefing.

A qualitative research model was used in the design, development, and administrations of the data collection tools. Questions focused on building an understanding of institutional resources, existing reading instruction (or lack thereof), and support systems in place (such as instructional resources and professional development). The data were examined and triangu-lated across data from the five collection tools to identify consistent patterns and to report the findings contained herein.

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

The NCCE, the initiative, and FSU collaborated to design and develop five instruments for collecting relevant data from administrators, teacher-educators, and student-teachers at the TEIs. These instruments were reviewed and adapted for digital collection by the ICT team. The contextual analysis team was trained by the initiative ICT team leader and the FSU reading specialist in the use of the data collection tools on the tablet. These tools included:

1. Classroom Observation Tool

The classroom observation tool assessed the teacher-educators’ instructional methodology, use of resources, style, interaction with the student-teachers, and use of participatory teaching and learning methods. Observers also had the opportunity to record student-teacher behav-iors and engagement in the lesson.

2. Pre-service (student) Teacher Focus Group Discussion Tool

The focus groups were gender-specific where possible and were limited to 10 student-teachers per focus group, with four to six focus groups per institution. The focus group discussion question list consisted of 15 unstructured and open-ended questions which addressed the available student-teacher resources and facilities, the amount of instruction per class each semester, the quality of teacher-educator-student-teacher relationships, and the methods for determining success in the courses.

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3. Teacher-educator Survey Tool

The survey was administered in a one-on-one setting with between 10 and 20 teacher-educa-tors at each institution. The survey contained 42 questions (both open-ended, multiple, single choice, and space for comments) addressing (1) demographic information (i.e., gender, age, experience, training, etc.); (2) available resources and professional development (i.e., resources for planning and lecturing); and (3) the availability of technology, training, and support systems.

4. Administrative Data Collection Tool

An oral interview was conducted with one administrator at each institution. The administra-tive data collection tool consisted of 15 items, which addressed enrollment, class size, number of teacher-educators, amenities and resources, and physical facilities on the campus. This tool also included questions regarding how many teacher-educators would be available to support the Northern Education Initiative Plus project and their projected availability in the coming four years.

5. Teacher-educator Focus Group Discussion Tool

The focus groups were gender-specific when possible and were limited to 13 teacher-educators per focus group, with three to four focus groups per institution. The focus group discus-sion question list consisted of 13 unstructured and open-ended questions which addressed resources and support systems available to teacher-educators, the quality of reading instruc-tion and education programs at the institution, opportunities for professional development, and interactions with student-teachers.

6. Institutional Needs Self-Assessment Report

After the site visits were completed, the technical working group identified at each institution were tasked with responding via a report to a set of 18 questions which evaluated the insti-tution’s strengths, weaknesses, resources, readiness for intervention, and needs for success. These reports were submitted in draft form during the month of November 2016 and in final form in December 2016 and January 2017.

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SITE-SPECIFIC FINDINGS

Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (Bauchi State)

Institutional Overview

The dean of the school of Vocational and Technical Edu-cation, Babayo Adamu Yakubu, provided information regarding student-teacher admission and institutional administration. The NCE programs currently taught in the institution include General Education, ECCE, and Language Education. A total of 50 teacher-educators are currently available for NCE program instruction, and instruction takes place across 27 classrooms with a reported approximate class size of 150. The data revealed that teacher-educators at this institution mostly believe that EGR skills instruction is minimally taught by one class about reading pedagogy. Six teacher-educators stated they have one or more of the following resources available for the teaching of reading skills: the institutional curriculum, textbooks, and internet-sourced materials; four teacher-educators stated they have no resources available for the teaching of reading. According to administration, teacher-educators have the follow-ing resources available at the institution: computers, projectors, internet access, audio/video equipment, NCE Minimum Standards, and office space. While reports regarding resources to support teaching and lecturing activities are varied, the (percentage of) teacher-educators reported the following are used to assist their instruction: computers (40%), projectors (60%), a photo copier (40%), printers (30%), mobile smartphones (40%), internet access (40%), audio/video equipment (30%), textbooks (60%), other print resources (40%), library (70%), NCE Min-imum Standards (80%), videos (20%), and handouts (40%).

The first and second semester start and end months are listed in Table 2, and months identi-fied as appropriate for materials development and staff training are listed in Table 3.

Table 2. ATAP Semester Beginning and Ending MonthsSemester Beginning Month Ending MonthFirst Semester January AprilSecond Semester June September

Table 3. ATAP Identified Months for NCE ActivitiesIdeal Months Identified by NCE Materials Development NCE program trainingAdministration May, June, Nov, Dec all monthsLecturers Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Nov, Dec Jan, Feb, Apr, May, Nov

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Facilities

This institution has many new buildings and is continuing construction. There are plentiful new classrooms. Observed classrooms were equipped with new white boards. Additionally, there is a well-stocked library with a large number of books on education (lacking reading resources and textbooks). The majority of resources at this institution focus on the polytech-nic/vocational instruction programs. After the site visit was complete, an EGR resource room has been established, and it currently contains: seating for 16 teacher-educators, a projector, a computer, and three large bookcases to house materials for early grade reading and profes-sional development (materials have not yet been obtained).

Teacher-educators

Demographics

A total of 10 teacher-educators were surveyed in one-on-one settings (two female), ranging in age between 32 and 54 years of age. Eight teacher-educators reported that they had received a Bachelor’s degree, and seven reported receiving a Master’s Degree. Three teacher-educators reported teaching in the Language Education program, and six reported teaching in the General Education program. Teacher-educators surveyed at this institution have between 13 and 28 years’ experience in education, with between two and 27 years as a teacher (6.5 years on average teaching primary grades in formal primary schools and 3.9 years on average teaching primary grades in non-formal learning centers) and 12.2 years on average supervising student-teach-ers. One teacher-educator identified as an initiative reading specialist, while two reported to have been involved with the initiative workshops. In addition, one teacher-educator had previously worked on the RANA project.

Teaching and Planning

Teacher-educators teach approximately three courses per semester with about nine hours of lecture per week. Most teacher-educators plan for their class instruction alone and spend approximately one hour of planning time per class. Sixty percent reported the use of a lesson plan. When asked how they plan for a course that has no content resources available, the majority of teacher-educators stated that they confer with colleagues and complete their own research before teaching the course to the best of their ability.

Teacher-educators reported (by percentage) that various types of assessment are used, includ-ing: individual, pair, and group work in the classroom (40%), observations of student-teachers (20%), in-class presentations (50%), peer/self-review (20%), quizzes/tests (60%), oral assessment (30%), project work (50%), and final exams (70%).

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All teacher-educators interviewed stated that they teach student-teachers with special needs. The accommodations reportedly used include the use of Braille for blind/visually impaired student-teachers, special lectures and additional time with materials, consideration of the student-teachers’ specific needs, and extra attention.

Four teacher-educators were observed in one hour classroom observations with between 38 and 51 student-teachers per class. All classes used predominantly English, although a mix of Hausa and English was also used for instruction in one of the classes. Teacher-educator instructional styles included lecture (100%), question and answer (75%), assigning group work (25%), and interactive lecture (75%). Resources used for lecturing included textbook(s) (25%) and handouts/worksheets (25%); two teacher-educators used no resources during their class instruction. In one class, a time period of more than five minutes of class time passed without any teacher-educator instruction or student-teacher activities occurring. In all four classes, student-teachers asked questions of the teacher-educator, and in some classes the student-teachers questioned one another (50%), engaged in group work (25%), and engaged in discussion (50%). Student-teachers did not have access to any resources in any of the four classes observed.

Professional Development and Training

Half of the teacher-educators reported having professional development in the last five years, with the average being within the past year. Of these, the last round of professional develop-ment experienced was training on assessment and/or pedagogical knowledge. All teacher-ed-ucators interviewed during the survey and during focus groups stated a desire to participate in materials development activities and to receive training in early grade reading instruction.

Early Grade Reading Knowledge

Some teacher-educators at this institution have participated in the initiative materials devel-opment workshops for the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula, and several teacher-educators are Master Trainers for NEI Plus. On a ten-item general evaluation of early literacy pedagog-ical practices, teacher-educators answered between three and nine questions correctly, with a mean of 5.6. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by 80-90% of participants were related to early grade reading, phonological awareness, grapho-phonemic awareness (pho-nics), and vocabulary instruction. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by less than 30% of participants were related to concepts of print, reading fluency, and writing instruction.

Teacher-educator Focus Group Findings

Teacher-educator focus groups ranged in size from one to seven individuals. Discussion questions probed the teacher-educators in three main areas: the teacher-educators’ knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction; the current state of instruction at the institution (courses in general and instruction in reading); and the teach-er-educators’ attitude toward student-teachers and programs at the TEI. Each is discussed separately below.

• Teacher-educators at ATAP are skilled in the areas of reading and have knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction. However, the teacher-educators’ ability to tie these skills into teacher education courses and provide

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pedagogical instruction appears to be weak. Teacher-educators may need support in understanding the bigger picture of how these reading skills fit into the scope and sequence of pre-service teacher education programs.

• The current state of instruction at ATAP reveals a complete lack of reading skills instruction, as this is not currently a requirement reflected in the minimum stan-dards. While some instructors are familiar with the efforts of the initiative in training in-service teachers, they are unable to adequately integrate this knowledge into coursework without additional support and adequate teaching and learning materials.

• The teacher-educators believe that even without specific instruction, their stu-dent-teachers will be able to teach reading in the primary school. Gaps in the TEI courses are well-known, and teacher-educators attempt to provide ongoing assistance to student-teachers both in and out of the classroom. Teacher-educators support the inclusion of more reading skills instruction as part of the program requirements.

• Overall, teacher-educators desire more mentoring and professional development activities so that they may continue their own learning. Teaching and learning materi-als as well as reduced class sizes would allow teacher-educators to adequately provide instruction to their student-teachers.

Student-teachers

Enrollment

Student-teacher enrollment in NCE education programs is approximately 2215, with 1500 student-teachers attending classes in General Education and ECCE program and the other 715 student-teachers attending classes in the Languages program.

Table 4. ATAP Student-teacher Enrollment by ProgramStudent Enrollment Total in Program Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

General Education 1500 1350 450 500

Early Childhood Care and Education

1500 n/a n/a n/a

Language Education 715 102 130 150

Institutional Needs Self-Analysis

ATAP believes their strengths lie in teacher-educator content knowledge and pedagogical skill, although class instruction is mostly teacher-centered. Some teacher-educators may not fully prepare for instruction or provide resources that facilitate student-teacher learning, but they have high degrees (MS or PhD) and many years of experience. Professional develop-ment, which is not common, includes conferences and seminars (which may or may not be

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related to education topics), and there is no step-down of these trainings. Student-teachers are often admitted with low reading skills, but teacher-educators see average performance by the time the student-teachers graduate. Training and material resources are needed in order for teacher-educators to be able to appropriately teach reading skills. Updated internet facilities and an E-library would benefit both student-teachers and teacher-educators. Currently, the library holds no books on teaching reading to primary student-teachers, although these books can be requested for purchase by department heads. All NCE programs are currently avail-able for student-teachers (ECCE and Primary programs are newly added), and the institution is able to align their implementation of these programs to the NCE minimum standards. Overall, the report indicates that ATAP receives appropriate fiscal and institutional support from both NCCE and the Bauchi State Government. A limited-enrollment pilot course on teaching early grade reading skills is welcomed for second semester of the 2017 academic year with the understanding that ATAP is only able to print resources for teacher-educators and a few copies of resources for student-teacher use in the library.

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CoE Kangere (Bauchi State)


The Provost, Dr. Garba Ibrahim, provided information regarding student-teacher admission and institutional administration. Kangere CoE is the newest TEI in Nigeria, upgraded to CoE level in October 2016. The NCE programs currently taught in the institution include General Education, ECCE, Primary Education, Language Education, and Adult and Non-Formal Edu-cation. Fifty-five teacher-educators are currently available for NCE program instruction, and instruction takes place across 18 classrooms with a reported approximate class size of 40. The data revealed that teacher-educators at this institution mostly believe that early grade reading skills instruction is minimally addressed by one class in reading pedagogy. Teacher-educators stated they have the following resources available for the teaching of reading skills: the institutional curriculum, textbooks, materials from other projects, and internet-sourced materials. One teacher-educator stated there are no resources available for the teaching of reading. According to administration, teacher-educators have a limited number of resources available at the institution, which currently only include a library and office space. While reports regarding resources to support teaching and lecturing activi-ties are varied, the (percentage of) teacher-educators reported the following are used to assist their instruction: computers (56%), projectors (25%), a photo copier (38%), printers (44%), mobile smartphones (50%), internet access (31%), audio/video equipment (19%), textbooks (88%), other print resources (38%), library (56%), NCE Minimum Standards (81%), videos (13%), and handouts (50%).

The first and second semester start and end months are listed in Table 5, and months iden-tified as appropriate for materials development and staff training are listed in Table 6. The academic calendar for CoE Kangere begins about two months earlier than the other three institutions. This will be relevant for planning course piloting as well as for implementing monitoring and evaluation activities.

Table 5. CoE Kangere Semester Beginning and Ending MonthsSemester Beginning Month Ending MonthFirst Semester November MarchSecond Semester April June

Table 6. CoE Kangere Identified Months for NCE ActivitiesIdeal Months Identified by NCE Materials

DevelopmentNCE program training

Administration Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct

all months

Lecturers Mar, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec Apr, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

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Facilities

This institution has many new buildings and is continuing construction. There are plentiful classrooms with covered walkways. Observed classrooms were equipped with white boards, and instructors used white chart paper for posting group work. Other facilities include a micro-teaching laboratory with seating for 50 student-teachers, a large but poorly-stocked library with a limited number of resources for education, an e-library with 5 computers, an up-to-date language laboratory with 54 student-teacher computers, and an educational tech-nology center with approximately 42 computers. After the site visit was complete, an Early Grade Reading resource room has been established, and it currently contains seating for 40 teacher-educators and four large bookshelves to house materials for early grade reading and professional development (materials have not yet been obtained).

Teacher-educators

Demographics

A total of 16 teacher-educators were surveyed in one-on-one settings (six female), ranging in age between 29 and 60 years of age. Thirteen teacher-educators reported that they had received a Bachelor’s degree, and five reported receiving a Master’s Degree. Three teacher-educators reported teaching in the ECCE program, zero teach-er-educators reported teaching in the Primary Education program, three reported teaching in the Language Edu-cation program, and nine reported teaching in the General Education program. Teacher-educators surveyed at this institution have between 8 and 28 years’ experience in education, with between zero and 19 years as a teacher (7.5 years on average teaching primary grades in formal primary schools and 5.2 years on average teaching primary grades in non-formal learning centers), and 5.3 years on average supervising student-teachers. Three teacher-educa-tors reported attendance of the initiative workshops.


Teacher-educators teach approximately 2 courses per semester with about 6 hours of lecture per week. Teacher-educators either plan for their class instruction alone or jointly with other colleagues, and spend approximately one hour of planning time per class. Fifty-six percent reported the use of a lesson plan. When asked how they plan for a course that has no content resources available, the majority of teacher-educators stated that they confer with colleagues and complete their own research before teaching the course to the best of their ability; thir-ty-one percent of teacher-educators stated they contact the dean for advice. The teacher-edu-cators are aware of the gaps in the existing NCE curriculum in regard to reading instruction.

Teacher-educators reported (by percentage) that various types of assessment used include: individual, pair, and group work in the classroom (56%); observations of student-teachers (25%); in-class presentations (63%); peer/self-review (13%); quizzes/tests (63%); oral assessment (31%); project work (31%); and final exams (69%).

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Seventy-five percent of teacher-educators interviewed stated that they teach student-teachers with special needs. The accommodations reportedly used include the use of Braille and audio recorders for blind/visually impaired student-teachers and the use of sign language and printed text for deaf/hearing impaired student-teachers. Another reported accommodation for disabled student-teachers is additional instructional time outside of class.

Four teacher-educators were observed in one-hour class observations with between 15 and 32 student-teachers per class. Three classes used predominantly English, and one class also used Hausa for instruction. Teacher-educator instructional styles included lecture (100%), question and answer (100%), assigning group work (100%), presentations (75%), and inter-active lecture (100%). Resources used for lecturing were handouts/worksheets (100%). Down time with more than five minutes of class time spent without teacher-educator instruction or student-teacher activity taking place was not observed in any of the four classes. In all four classes, student-teachers asked questions of the teacher-educator and engaged in group work, and in some classes the student-teachers questioned one another (50%) and engaged in dis-cussion (75%). Student-teachers did not have access to any resources in any of the four classes observed.


Sixty-nine percent of teacher-educators reported receiving professional development during their career, but only thirty-eight percent of the teacher-educators reported having received professional development in the last five years. The last round of professional development experienced was training on assessment, pedagogy, and content knowledge. All teacher-ed-ucators interviewed during the survey and during focus groups stated a desire to participate in materials development activities and receive training in early grade reading instruction. All staff expressed an interest in professional development activities, and many stated they had received step-down training form their colleagues who had participated in the initiative teacher training workshops.

EGR Knowledge

No teacher-educators have participated in the initiative materials development workshops for the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula. However, two teacher-educators attended the teacher training workshop and passed their knowledge on to many of the teacher-educators inter-viewed. On a ten-item general evaluation of early literacy pedagogical practices, teacher-edu-cators answered between two and eight questions correctly, with a mean of 5. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by 80-90% of participants were related to grapho-phonemic awareness (phonics) and the timeline for early literacy instruction. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by less than 30% of participants were related to emergent literacy practic-es, concepts of print, and writing instruction.

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Teacher-educator focus groups ranged in size from six to thirteen individuals. Discussion questions probed the teacher-educators in three main areas: the teacher-ed-ucators’ knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction; the current state of instruction at the institution (courses in general and instruction in Reading); and the teacher-educators’ attitude toward student-teachers and programs at the TEI. Each is discussed separately below.

• Teacher-educators at CoE Kangere exhibit an enthusiastic attitude for reading, yet they lack a strong foundational knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction. Teacher-educators have shared and discussed the limited EGR pedagogical training they have received and appear receptive to making major changes in their pedagogical approach to training student-teachers.

• The current state of instruction at CoE Kangere reveals a complete lack of reading skills instruction, as this is not currently a requirement reflected in the minimum standards. Teacher-educators have not received adequate training and lack teaching and learning materials related to reading instruction. CoE Kangere offers stu-dent-teachers a learner-friendly environment with a low teacher-student-teacher ratio; however, teacher-educators struggle with student-teacher-centered, active teaching and learning pedagogy.

• The teacher-educators believe that even without specific instruction, their stu-dent-teachers will be able to teach reading in the primary school. Gaps in the TEI courses are well-known, and teacher-educators are receptive to receiving training in order to address these gaps. The inclusion of more reading skills instruction as part of the program requirements is strongly supported.

• Overall, teacher-educators desire more mentoring and professional development activ-ities so that they may continue their own learning. Teaching and learning materials, teacher-educator training workshops, and an enhanced library collection would allow teacher-educators to improve their confidence and to provide adequate/appropriate instruction to their student-teachers.

Student-teachers

Enrollment

Student-teacher enrollment in NCE education programs is approximately 2733, with 1750 student-teachers attending classes in General Education, 50 student-teachers attending classes in the Early Childhood Care and Education program, 91 student-teachers attending classes in the Primary Education program, 828 student-teachers attending classes in the Languages program, and 14 student-teachers attending classes in the Adult and Non-Formal Education Program.

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Table 7. CoE Kangere Student-teacher Enrollment by ProgramStudent Enrollment Total in Program Year 1 Year 2 Year 3General Education 3004 2339 665 0Early Childhood Care and Education

170 120 50 0

Primary Education 148 111 37 0Language Education 1314 1001 313 0Adult & Non-Formal Education

36 20 16 0

Note: The TEI is new and has only had one complete year of classes


Kangere CoE believes their strengths lie in participatory teaching and learning techniques used in the classroom. However, many teacher-educators lack curricular content knowledge and even teaching qualifications. As a new institution, a professional development plan is not fully in place. One PD workshop was made available to some teacher-educators through the NCCE; and two teacher-educators attended training with the Northern Education Initiative, which was stepped-down to other teacher-educators. Step-down training is strongly encour-aged. Student-teachers are performing at an average level overall but are particularly low in reading skills. Library resources, language resources, and classroom resources are acutely needed for both student-teachers and teacher-educators. Currently, the library holds no books on teaching reading to primary student-teachers, although these books can be requested for purchase if resources are available. All NCE programs are currently available for stu-dent-teachers, and the institution is able to align their implementation of these programs to the NCE minimum standards. Overall, the report indicates that Kangere CoE receives appro-priate fiscal and institutional support from both NCCE and the Bauchi State Government. A limited-enrollment pilot course on teaching early grade reading skills is welcomed for second semester of the 2017 academic year with the understanding that Kangere CoE is only able to print two copies of any necessary resources.

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Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare (Bauchi State)


The Provost, Dr. A.M. Isyaku, provided information regard-ing student-teacher admission and institutional adminis-tration. This is the oldest TEI in the country of Nigeria. The NCE programs currently taught in the institution include General Education, ECCE and Primary Educa-tion (as a combined program), and Language Education. There are 487 teacher-educators currently available for NCE program instruction, and instruction takes place across 13 classrooms with a reported approximate class size of up to 600 or more. The data revealed that teach-er-educators at this institution mostly believe that EGR skills instruction is addressed reasonably well by one class in reading pedagogy. Teacher-educators stated they have the following resources available for the teaching of reading skills: the institutional curriculum; textbooks; materials from other projects; and internet-sourced materials. Six teacher-educators stated there are no resources available for the teaching of reading. According to administration, teacher-educa-tors have a limited number of resources available at the institution, which include computers, internet access, a library, and office space. While reports regarding resources to support teaching and lecturing activities are varied, the (percentage of) teacher-educators reported the following are used to assist their instruction: computers (65%), projectors (10%), a photo copier (40%), printers (25%), mobile smartphones (45%), internet access (80%), audio/video equipment (35%), textbooks (85%), other print resources (20%), library (60%), NCE Minimum Standards (95%), videos (0%), and handouts (20%).


Table 8. Aminu Saleh CoE Semester Beginning and Ending MonthsSemester Start Month End MonthFirst Semester January AprilSecond Semester May August

Table 9. Aminu Saleh CoE Identified Months for NCE ActivitiesIdeal Months Identified by NCE Materials


Administration May, June, Nov, Dec Apr, May, Nov, DecLecturers Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec all months

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Facilities

This institution has many buildings spread across the campus. Observed classrooms were equipped with well-maintained white boards and podiums. Other facil-ities include a micro-teaching laboratory with seating for approximately 36 student-teachers; a large library with many books (most of which may be outdated), resources, and educational journals; an e-library with 75 computers (although student-teachers report that most computers do not work or have virus problems); an up-to-date language laboratory with approximately 70 student-teacher computers; and a center for educational tech-nology center with seating for approximately 20 student-teach-ers. Five enlargers and projectors are available for teacher-educators to check out from a resource room. After the site visit was complete, an EGR resource room has been established, and it currently contains seating for 12 teacher-educators, a computer and printer, five large bookshelves to house materials for EGR and professional development, and 398 books and assorted literature related to reading skills and instructional methodology. A 20-capacity conference table has been contracted for construction and the provost has direct-ed the provision of internet service connectivity for the resource room.

Teacher-educators

Demographics

A total of 20 teacher-educators were surveyed in one-on-one settings (eight female), ranging in age between 30 and 65 years of age. Sixteen teacher-educators reported that they had received a Bachelor’s degree, and eleven reported receiving a Master’s Degree. Three teacher-ed-ucators reported teaching in the ECCE program, eight teacher-educators reported teaching in the Primary Education program, eleven reported teaching in the Language Education program, and three reported teaching in the General Education program. Teacher-educators sur-veyed at this institution have between 4 and 39 years’ experience in education, with between 2 and 20 years as a teacher (7.6 years on average teaching primary grades in formal primary schools and 1 year on average teaching primary grades in non-for-mal learning centers), and 12.5 years on average supervising student-teachers. Seven teach-er-educators identified as the initiative Reading specialists. Nine teacher-educators reported to have been involved with the initiative workshops, five reported participating in the initia-tive materials development, and seven reported participating in previous projects focused on literacy development.

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Teacher-educators teach approximately three courses per semester with about seven hours of lecture per week. Teacher-educators mostly plan for their class instruction with other colleagues; but some plan alone, and they spend approximately one to two hours of planning time per class. Sixty-five percent reported the use of a lesson plan. When asked how they plan for a course that has no content resources available, nearly all teacher-educators stated that they confer with colleagues and complete their own research before teaching the course to the best of their ability.

Teacher-educators reported (by percentage) that various types of assessment are used, includ-ing: individual, pair, and group work in the classroom (75%), observations of student-teachers (30%), in-class presentations (65%), peer/self-review (20%), quizzes/tests (70%), oral assessment (55%), project work (60%), and final exams (95%).

Eighty-five percent of teacher-educators interviewed stated that they teach student-teachers with special needs. The accommodations reportedly used include the use of Braille machines and audio recording devices (student-teacher-supplied) for blind/visually impaired stu-dent-teachers and the use of printed text and pairing with brighter/supportive student-teach-ers for deaf/hearing impaired student-teachers. Other reported accommodations for disabled student-teachers are demonstrations, extra attention and additional instructional time.

Four teacher-educators were observed in one-hour class observations with between 16 and 21 student-teachers per class. Three classes used predominantly English, and one class used predominantly Hausa (a Hausa language class). Teacher-educator instructional styles included lecture (100%), question and answer (100%), assigning group work (50%), presentations (25%), and interactive lecture (75%). Resources used for lecturing were handouts/worksheets (50%), and two teacher-educators used no resources during the class. Down time with more than five minutes of class time spent without teacher-educator instruction or student-teacher activity taking place was observed in one of the four classes (twice). In all four classes, student-teach-ers asked questions of the teacher-educator, and in some classes the student-teachers engaged in group work (75%) and engaged in discussion (75%). Student-teachers did not have access to any resources in any of the four classes observed.


Eighty percent of teacher-educators reported receiving professional development during their career, with the majority having received professional development in the last two years. The last round of professional development experienced was training on assessment, pedagogy, and content knowledge. All teacher-educators interviewed during the survey and during focus groups stated a desire to participate in materials development activities and receive training in EGR instruction.

EGR Knowledge

Several teacher-educators have participated in the initiative materials development workshops for the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula and are involved in the initiative workshop and training activities. On a ten-item general evaluation of early literacy pedagogical practices,

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teacher-educators answered between two and seven questions correctly, with a mean of five. The pedagogical question answered correctly by 80-90% of participants was related to phono-logical awareness. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by less than 30% of partici-pants were related to concepts of print, reading fluency, and writing instruction.


Teacher-educator focus groups ranged in size from three to eight individuals. Discussion questions probed the teacher-educators in three main areas: the teacher-educators’ knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction; the current state of instruction at the institution (courses in general and instruction in reading); and the teach-er-educators’ attitude toward student-teachers and programs at the TEI. Each is discussed separately below.

• Teacher-educators at Aminu Saleh CoE, Azare exhibit a low level of conceptualization for foundational knowledge, the importance of this knowledge, and skills associated with reading instruction; and they may actually over-estimate their knowledge and ability to teach EGR skills to student-teachers.

• The current state of instruction at Aminu Saleh CoE, Azare, reveals a complete lack of reading skills instruction, as this is not currently a requirement reflected in the mini-mum standards. Teacher-educators admit that even the brief references to reading in the minimum standards are ignored by both student-teachers and teacher-educators. Teacher-educators have not received adequate training and lack teaching and learning materials related to reading instruction. Teacher-educators believe that student-teach-ers receive the needed instruction despite exceedingly high teacher-educator-stu-dent-teacher ratios.

• The teacher-educators did not clearly state whether the student-teachers are able to teach EGR skills with the current program. Teacher-educators stated that with support student-teachers could be successful, and with support teacher-educators could also be successful in imparting this knowledge to student-teachers. Teacher-educators believe that the establishment of a reading program could be successful.

• Overall, teacher-educators desire more mentoring and professional development activ-ities so that they may continue their own learning. Teaching and learning materials, teacher-educator training workshops, various professional development opportunities, and reduced class size would allow teacher-educators to improve their knowledge and skills related to EGR pedagogy and to provide adequate/appropriate instruction to the student-teachers.

Student-teachers

Enrollment

Student-teacher enrollment in NCE education programs is approximately 10,040, with 7768 student-teachers attending classes in General Education, 876 student-teachers attending classes in the Early Childhood Care and Education/Primary Education combined program, and 1396 student-teachers attending classes in the Languages program.

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Table 10. Aminu Saleh CoE Student-teacher Enrollment by ProgramStudent Enrollment Total in Program Year 1 Year 2 Year 3General Education 7768 2528 2523 2717Early Childhood Care and Education & Primary Education (combined program)

876 283 286 307



Aminu Saleh CoEA believes that their strengths lie in highly qualified teacher-educators with excellent communication skills and teamwork, good rapport with student-teachers, enthusi-asm, and familiarity with the NCE Minimum Standards. However, many teacher-educators have overloaded schedules and too many student-teachers to teach in General Courses. Not all departments supported the development of an EGR Resource Room. A plan of professional development workshops has been regularly implemented in the past year with multiple events per semester, including sensitization workshops, technology training, content/pedagogical studies, and grant writing to support materials development and research. Student-teach-ers are performing at an average level, and growth has been documented in reading skills over the past several years. A number of student-teachers are being considered for Federal Scholarship from the College due to high scores, and many are becoming teacher-educators in the college and other TEIs. Teacher-educators are in need of training and resources to adequately teach reading skills to student-teachers. In addition, language resources, relevant reading materials, instructional materials related to reading practices, and a multi-media library would benefit both student-teachers and teacher-educators. Currently, the library holds approximately 398 textbooks on methodologies and practices of teaching reading, and new books can be requested for purchase if resources are available. All NCE programs are currently available for student-teachers, and the institution is able to align their implementa-tion of these programs to the NCE Minimum Standards. Some challenges for implementing NCE programs have included untimely sensitization and necessary orientation of NCE operators by NCCE on how to implement new Minimum Standards, lack of transitional period for implementing new Minimum Standards, and harmonization of new Minimum Standards with existing Minimum Standards. Overall, the report indicates that Aminu Saleh CoE receives appropriate fiscal and institutional support from both NCCE and the Bauchi State Government. A limited-enrollment pilot course on teaching early grade reading skills is welcomed for second semester of the 2017 academic year.

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Shehu Shagari CoE (Sokoto State)


The Deputy Provost, Dr Abubakar Garba Muhd Bodinga, provided information regarding student-teacher admission and institutional administration. The NCE programs currently taught in the institution include General Edu-cation, Early Childhood Care and Education, Primary Education, Language Education, and Non-Formal Edu-cation. Currently, 553 teacher-educators are available for NCE program instruction, and instruction takes place across 29 classrooms with a reported approximate class size ranging from 80 to more than 600. The data revealed that teacher-educators at this institution mostly believe that early grade reading skills instruction is addressed moderately well by more than one class in reading pedagogy. Teacher-educators stated they have the following resources available for the teaching of reading skills: the insti-tutional curriculum, textbooks, and internet-sourced materials. Four teacher-educators stated that there are no resources available for the teaching of reading. According to administration, teacher-educators have a limited number of resources available at the institution, which include audio/video equipment, NCE Minimum Standards, textbooks, and a library. Most teacher-educators do not have office space on campus. While reports regarding resources to support teaching and lecturing activities are varied, the (percentage of) teacher-educators reported the following are used to assist their instruction: computers (53%), projectors (20%), a photo copier (13%), printers (27%), mobile smartphones (20%), internet access (40%), audio/video equipment (13%), textbooks (87%), other print resources (27%), library (80%), NCE Minimum Standards (60%), videos (6%), and handouts (67%).


Table 11. Shehu Shagari CoE Semester Beginning and Ending MonthsSemester Beginning Month Ending MonthFirst Semester March JuneSecond Semester July November

Table 12. Shehu Shagari CoE Identified Months for NCE ActivitiesIdeal Months Identified by NCE Materials


Administration Jun, Nov, Dec Jun, Nov, DecLecturers Jan, Oct, Nov, Dec all months

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Facilities

This institution has many buildings spread across the campus. There several large lecture theaters (with student-teacher seating for 350 capacity) and some smaller classrooms (with student-teacher seating for 40 capacity). Other facilities include a large library with many educational books and a few which are directly related to reading instruction; a new e-library with approximately 40 new computers (the e-library has not opened as the institution is waiting for the Honorable Commissioner of Education for Sokoto State to declare the library open); and a language laboratory with limited seating for approximately 30 student-teachers and low technol-ogy learning equipment. The Primary Education program houses a Primary Instruction Resource Room for instruction in all subjects at the primary school level, including instructional materials for teaching reading. These resources have been created as student-teacher projects using locally-sourced materials. After the site visit was complete, an Early Grade Reading resource room has been established, which currently is connected to a generator for continuous power supply and contains wooden bookshelves to house materials for early grade reading and professional development (materials have not yet been obtained). Internet service is planned, and the college has allocated a multi-purpose hall to the RTWG to share for meetings, conferences, and seminars.

Teacher-educators

Demographics

A total of 15 teacher-educators were surveyed in one-on-one settings (six female), ranging in age between 38 and 63 years of age. Thirteen teacher-educators reported that they had received a Bachelor’s degree, and seven report-ed receiving a Master’s Degree. Zero teacher-educators reported teaching in the Early Childhood Care and Education program, zero teacher-educators report-ed teaching in the Primary Education program, six reported teaching in the Language Education program, and seven reported teaching in the General Education program. Teacher-educators surveyed at this institution have between 11 and 39 years’ experience in education, with between 4 and 38 years as a teacher (4.3 years on average teaching primary grades in formal primary schools and 7 years on average teaching primary grades in non-for-mal learning centers), and 17 years on average supervising student-teachers. Only one teach-er-educator reported to have been involved with the initiative workshops, and zero reported participating in previous projects focused on literacy skills development.

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Teacher-educators teach approximately 3 courses per semester with about 6 hours of lecture per week. Teacher-educators mostly plan for their class instruction alone, but some plan with other colleagues; they spend approximately one to two hours of planning time per class. Thirty-three percent reported the use of a lesson plan. When asked how they plan for a course that has no content resources available, the majority of teacher-educators stated that they confer with colleagues and complete their own research before teaching the course to the best of their ability.

Teacher-educators reported (by percentage) that types of assessment used are: individual, pair, and group work in the classroom (40%), observations of student-teachers (13%), in-class presentations (40%), peer/self-review (6%), quizzes/tests (87%), oral assessment (47%), project work (27%), and final exams (87%).

Sixty-seven percent of teacher-educators interviewed stated that they teach student-teachers with special needs. The accommodations reportedly used include the use of sign language, work written on the board, and interpreters for deaf/hearing impaired student-teachers. There was no mention of accommodations for blind/visually impaired student-teachers.

Four teacher-educators were observed in one-hour class observations with between 20 and 34 student-teachers per class. Three classes used predominantly English, and one class used predominately Hausa (a Hausa language class). Teacher-educator instructional styles included lecture (100%), question and answer (75%), assigning group work (25%), silent reading (25%), presentations (25%), hands-on activities (25%), and interactive lecture (75%). Resources used for lecturing were textbook(s) (50%) and handouts/worksheets (50%); one teacher-educator used no resources during the class. Down time with more than five minutes of class time spent without teacher-educator instruction or student-teacher activity taking place was observed in two of the four classes (once each). Student-teacher activities included asking questions of the teacher-educator (50%), asking questions of each other (25%), group work (25%) and engaging in discussion (75%). Student-teachers did not have access to any resources in any of the four classes observed.


Forty percent of teacher-educators reported receiving professional development during their career, with the majority having received professional development two to three years ago. The last round of professional development experienced was training on pedagogy and content knowledge. All teacher-educators interviewed during the survey and during focus groups stated a desire to participate in materials development activities and to receive training in EGR instruction.

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EGR Knowledge

Only one teacher-educator surveyed participated in the initiative materials development workshops for the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula or was involved in NEI Plus workshop and training activities. On a ten-item gen-eral evaluation of early literacy pedagogical practices, teacher-educators answered between one and seven questions correctly, with a mean of 4.2. The pedagogical question answered correctly by 80-90% of participants was related to vocabulary instruction. The pedagogical questions answered correctly by less than 30% of partici-pants were related to emergent literacy practices, concepts of print, reading fluency, and writing instruction.


Teacher-educator focus groups ranged in size from four to six individuals. Discussion ques-tions probed the teacher-educators in three main areas: the teacher-educators’ knowledge of the importance of (and skills associated with) reading instruction; the current state of instruction at the institution (courses in general and instruction in reading); and the teach-er-educators’ attitude toward student-teachers and programs at the college. Each is discussed separately below.

• Teacher-educators at Shehu Shagari CoE exhibit a low level of conceptualization for foundational knowledge and for the importance of and skills associated with reading instruction, and they may actually over-estimate their knowledge and ability to teach EGR skills to student-teachers. However, teacher-educators are receptive to change in EGR skills instruction.

• The current state of instruction at Shehu Shagari CoE reveals a complete lack of read-ing skills instruction, as this is not currently a requirement reflected in the minimum standards. Teacher-educators attempt to incorporate their own limited knowledge of reading instruction into the coursework; however, without adequate training and teaching and learning materials related to reading instruction, these attempts may be ineffective.

• The teacher-educators believe that, on average, student-teachers are able to teach read-ing skills with the current program. Teacher-educators believe that the establishment of a reading program could be successful. Teacher-educators feel that improvements to institutional organization, structure, and support would be beneficial for their ability to, in turn, provide support to student-teachers. Specifically, they mentioned that student-teacher population is too high for the number of teacher-educators, that stu-dent-teachers have a high rate of failure, and that admissions policies should require higher levels of performance.

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• Overall, teacher-educators desire more mentoring and professional development activ-ities so that they may continue their own learning. Teaching and learning materials, teacher-educator training workshops, various professional development opportunities, and reduced class size would allow teacher-educators to improve their knowledge and skills related to EGR pedagogy and to provide adequate, appropriate instruction to the student-teachers.

Student-teachers

Enrollment

Student-teacher enrollment in NCE education programs is approximately 10,759, with all stu-dent-teachers attending classes in General Education, 582 student-teachers attending classes in the Early Childhood Care and Education program, 2081 student-teachers attending classes in the Primary Education program, 1500 student-teachers attending classes in the Languages program, and 202 student-teachers attending classes in the Adult and Non-Formal Education Program.

Table 13. Shehu Shagari Student-teacher Enrollment by Program

Student Enrollment Total in Program Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

General Education 10759 n/a n/a n/a

Early Childhood Care and Education

582 116 288 178

Primary Education 2081 487 748 846


Adult & Non-Formal Education

202 44 40 118


Shehu Shagari CoE believes that their strengths lie in highly qualified teacher-educators’ long-term teaching experience. However, many of these teacher-educators lack adequate proficien-cies for instructing early grade reading skills. Professional development workshops offered at the institution over the past year include topics such as accreditation, leadership skills, and EGRA training. Student-teachers are performing at an average level, and reading skills are around the 50th percentile. Remedial and extra-mural lessons are provided to student-teach-ers with low reading and learning skills. Currently, student-teachers can communicate and teach at the basic education level. Teacher-educators are in need of training and resources to adequately teach reading skills to student-teachers. Textbook and journal resources as well as materials for reading and language development would benefit both student-teachers and

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teacher-educators. Currently, the library holds very few books on methodologies and practices of teaching reading, and those books have been added to the EGR resource room. All NCE programs are currently available for student-teachers, and the institution is able to align their implementation of these programs to the NCE Minimum Standards. Some challenges for implementing NCE programs have included overcrowded classrooms/lecture halls/theaters, inadequate structures, and high student-teacher-teacher ratio. Overall, the report indicates that Shehu Shagari CoE receives appropriate fiscal and institutional support from both NCCE and the Sokoto State Government. A limited-enrollment pilot course on teaching early grade reading skills is welcomed for second semester of the 2017 academic year with a notation that the institution has limited capacity to print classroom resources.

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FINDINGS: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS

The following is a list of the major findings across institutions in both Bauchi and Sokoto states considered relevant to the mission providing student-teachers with adequate instruction in EGR skills and pedagogy.

1. Pre-service student-teachers experience a complete lack of explicit training in early grades reading instruction.

A review of the NCE program materials revealed a lack of explicit, systematic, or general instruction in the teaching of reading skills to children in primary schools for pre-service (student) teachers. Teacher-educator focus group discussions confirmed this finding. Stu-dent-teachers are not provided with a single course that focuses on reading skills or reading skills instruction for any grade level. Courses such as English Studies and English Language in Primary Education are geared toward teaching the language of English, rather than the application of reading skills to the language. Therefore, pre-service (student) teachers are not equipped with the knowledge or skills necessary to teach young children to read in either Hausa or English.

The institutions do offer pedagogy courses, such as Educational Technology, Research Methods in Primary Education, and Primary School Planning, Administration, and Supervision in years 2 and 3 of the Primary Education Program. These types of courses focus on general methods of teaching, classroom and school management, or various content areas. Methods related to the teaching of reading are superficial and do not address specific early skills such as the relationship between letters and their sounds. Pre-service (student) teachers are expected to automatically know these methods of teaching basic reading skills and be able to apply those skills to classroom instruction immediately upon hire after college.

Both teacher-educators and administrators are aware of the gaps in the existing curriculum and are interested in not only contributing to the development of course materials to support instruction in the areas of early grade reading pedagogy, but also in providing feedback to NCCE as they complete the 2017 revision of the national NCE Minimum Standards. These findings emphasize the need for the initiative to engage both Teacher Education Institutions and NCCE in the development of a teacher training program which adequately addresses early grade reading skills and pedagogy.

2. Teacher-educators at the TEIs lack expertise in early grade reading instruction and pedagogy.

“We cannot give what we don’t have.” Teacher-educators expressed frustration, and they attributed the student-teachers’ lack of knowledge to their own lack of professional devel-opment and training in reading theory and pedagogy. Due to the fact that explicit EGR coursework is not part of the minimum standards for the NCE programs, teacher-educators have not learned these crucial methodologies. Many of the teacher-educators hold advanced degrees and training, but even language programs focus on the acquisition of the language rather than the application of reading theory. There are MTs at some institutions who have

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participated in the initiative development of P1-P3 curriculum materials and training of in-service teachers; however, these teacher-educators originate from various departments (such as the Language programs) and have not received enough training to be considered reading specialists for the purpose of training other teacher-educators in EGR skills and pedagogy.

At each TEI, the interviewed teacher-educators answered ten basic questions about early grade reading and literacy pedagogy, with one question in each component area; few teach-er-educators were able to answer more than half correctly. The majority of MTs working with the initiative are from ATAP, and this is reflected in their higher overall scores.

Table 14. Teacher-educator Correct Responses to Component Area Pedagogy Questions

Component Area ATAP CoE Kangere ASCoE SSCoE

Early Literacy 40% 25% 60% 27%

Early Grade Reading 80% 50% 75% 73%

Concepts of Print 20% 13% 0% 7%

Phonological Awareness 80% 56% 90% 53%

Phonics 90% 87% 65% 73%

Fluency 20% 50% 15% 7%

Vocabulary 80% 75% 85% 80%

Comprehension 60% 38% 60% 53%

Writing 30% 31% 20% 13%

Age of Instruction 60% 81% 45% 33%

Average Total 56% 50% 51% 42%

This limited knowledge of reading skills pedagogy and instruction is surprising, considering that many teacher-educators have experience in instructing primary student-teachers. In order to understand how to prepare pre-service (student) teachers for classroom instruction, teacher-educators must themselves have firm understanding of classroom management and instruction. The situation of limited or poor experience in primary classrooms may contribute to the limited knowledge and expertise that teacher-educators bring in to the pre-service classroom.

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Table 15. Average Years of Teacher-educators’ Experience

ATAP CoE Kangere ASCoE SSCoE

Total years as an educator

23.7 18.8 21.5 27.7

Years teaching primary students in formal schools or non-formal learning centers

10.4 12.6 8.6 10.8

Percentage of lecturers with NO experience teaching primary students

10% 13% 15% 27%

In addition to understanding classroom management, teacher-educators must model the types of behavior that is expected of teachers in the primary classrooms. Inquiries about lesson planning and the use of lesson plans were quite often met with comments such as, “I am a teacher-educator, not an instructor,” or “Lesson plans are for secondary school instruc-tors.” Only 60% of ATAP teacher-educators, 56% of CoE Kangere teacher-educators, 65% of Aminu Saleh CoE teacher-educators, and 33% of SSCoE teacher-educators reported the use of a lesson plan or lesson notes when instructing in the classroom. These findings underscore the need for NEI Plus to work with NCCE and the institutions in developing pilot courses specifically aimed to instruct pre-service (student) teachers on EGR skills and pedagogy. This process of development and training will build the capacity and skill of the NCE program teacher-educators in teaching EGR skills to student-teachers.

3. College classrooms have exceedingly high teacher-educator-student-teacher ratios and instruction exhibits a teacher-centered focus.

In all but one institution, class size was mentioned by teacher-educators and/or administra-tors as a detriment to appropriate instruction. Some class sizes are reportedly above a 1 to 500 teacher-educator-student-teacher ratio. This ratio not only limits the teacher-educator’s ability to address the needs of all student-teachers, but also requires a lecture-based format. Student-teachers learn best when actively participating in their learning through engaging classroom activities directly related to primary classroom instruction.

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Table 16. Instructional Styles Observed at TEIs

Instructional Style ATAP CoE Kangere ASCoE SSCoE

Lecture 100% 100% 100% 100%

Question & Answer 75% 100% 100% 75%

Group Work 25% 100% 50% 25%

Pair Work 0% 0% 0% 0%

Student Presentations 0% 75% 25% 25%

Hands-on Activities 0% 0% 0% 25%

Interactive Lecture 75% 100% 75% 75%

Mean Class Size 47 25 20 29

The observed classroom lectures were contrived for the activity due to student-teachers being either released from classes or in the midst of taking semester final examinations. Student-teachers who attended these contrived classes reported that mean class sizes were exceedingly lower than typical class sizes, particularly at ASCoE and SSCoE, and that they had never experienced instruction in a group anywhere near that small. Yet, even with these extremely small groups, teacher-educators continued to spend the majority of their time and energy lecturing, limiting participatory teaching and learning activities with the student-teachers. The teacher-educators observed at CoE Kangere exhibited the most skill in actively involving student-teachers in their own learning process. It should be noted that the group of CoE Kangere teacher-educators is the group with the highest average number of years teaching primary grade student-teachers.

TEIs must make changes to the teacher-educator-student-teacher ratio in order to allow teacher-educators to incorporate participatory teaching and learning methods. These findings support the need for the initiative to work with TEIs and NCCE to develop EGR skills and methodology courses that limit the teacher-educator-student-teacher ratio to more realistic numbers, such as 1:50. This cap on student-teacher enrollment is necessary for teacher-ed-ucators to be capable of providing student-teachers with collaborative classroom activities, corrective feedback, and an in-class practicum component related to the course instruction. This finding accentuates the need for NCCE to work with TEIs to find ways to reduce class sizes for methodological courses and underscores the need for the initiative to support the development of pilot courses with capped student-teacher enrollment.

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4. Pre-service student-teachers enrolled in NCE programs exhibit poor academic preparation.

In addition to poor instruction of reading pedagogy during NCE programs, focus group discussions with teacher-educators revealed other challenges related to the instruction of pre-service (student) teachers. Teacher-educators commonly mentioned that many stu-dent-teachers are admitted to the TEI lacking basic literacy skills and often experience failure. Admission policies in higher education that allow for low-performing student-teachers to be enrolled in teacher training programs force teacher-educators to attempt remediation efforts with academically deficient student-teachers.

Participants in all teacher-educator focus group discussions at all four TEIs reported reading and writing skill weaknesses in many of their student-teachers. The student-teacher focus group discussions held after classroom observations revealed that many student-teachers exhibited surprisingly low English communication skills, which at times impacted the team’s ability to collect data during discussions. Considering that English is the national language and the language of instruction for higher education, the student-teachers’ inability to com-municate with basic conversational fluency is quite alarming. Clearly, student-teachers who lack basic English competency are unable to deeply comprehend English texts, materials, and discussions. In fact, teacher-educators at all four TEIs self-reported on average that they use Hausa 50% to 75% of the time when instructing student-teachers. This finding highlights an ongoing issue regarding admission policies at the institutional level.

5. TEI classrooms lack appropriate teaching and learning materials.

The findings also reveal a severe lack of instructional materials related to the teaching of reading to support pre-service student-teachers’ learning of EGR pedagogy. Student-teachers experience instruction in a strictly theoretical manner without the materials to support their participation in active learning. During classroom observations at all four TEIs, the only teaching and learning resource observed to be used were handouts/worksheets which con-tained notes related to the lecture. Additionally, when reading materials were observed as part of the library, many of the books were outdated; and few if any were directly related to the instruction of reading skills. The lack of reading materials related to primary grade reading instruction not only hinders the student-teachers from learning, but this also impedes the teacher-educators’ abilities to a) continue their own professional development; b) provide appropriate reading and studying materials for the student-teachers; and c) plan lectures using research-based and participatory teaching and learning activities. This finding under-scores the need for the initiative to support TEIs by stocking recently created EGR resource rooms with copies of the newly released primary curriculum materials, research articles, and textbooks related to the teaching of EGR skills. Additionally, this stresses the need for TEIs to complete a full inventory of existing reading resources and to compile these materials in the resource rooms for teacher-educator use.

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The four TEIs visited in Bauchi and Sokoto states during the course of this baseline assess-ment face a number of obstacles in their path to fulfill the national need for qualified teachers capable of improving early grades reading instruction in Nigeria. Both administrators and teacher-educators are aware of these challenges and are eager to reform the system of reading instruction at the TEIs. This commitment to reformation, along with support from NCCE, FMOE, and the initiative, can become a catalyst of change which can impact generations of primary grade student-teachers to come.

These recommendations are limited to the initiative project and its specific scope of work under USAID and are not intended to guide a reform of the entire pre-service teacher educa-tion program in Nigeria. These recommendations are intended to guide the initiative project in supporting NCCE and the TEIs in Bauchi and Sokoto states to improve the capacity of teacher-educators in teacher education programs so that they may improve the quantity, qual-ity, effectiveness, and relevance of early grade reading and literacy instruction to pre-service (student) teachers.

1. NCE programs should be revised to include methodology specifically related to the teaching of EGR skills and should develop course materials for the teaching of EGR skills to student-teachers.

Using a process of incorporating feedback from the end users (TEIs), NCCE should use the opportunity of the 2017 revision process of the NCE Minimum Standards to reform the programs in such a way that specific courses related to early grade reading are included, as well as supplementations to existing courses to ensure that EGR skills are adequately taught to pre-service (student) teachers. The suggested method is that both the General Education and Primary Education Programs each include a course solely dedicated to teaching EGR skills to children. Other courses which ostensibly teach reading skills should be identified, and the skills in those courses should be clearly outlined and defined in the coursework. Based on the revised 2017 NCE Minimum Standards, NCCE should engage experts and teacher-educators in the development of course materials to support pre-service teacher education in the area of reading skills, including the individuals chosen to participate in the initiative supported materials development activities.

2. The initiative and its partner FSU should assist NCCE in revision of the NCE Minimum Standards and in the development of course materials for new EGR courses and supple-mental materials for identified courses meant to teach reading skills.

Under the guidance of NCCE, the initiative and its partner FSU should collaborate with experts and institutional teacher-educators to develop new materials for pre-services courses related to reading and literacy instruction. In order to carry out its role for this recommenda-tion, FSU anticipates assisting NCCE to do the following:

• Develop course syllabi for two new EGR courses (in the 2017 NCE Minimum Stan-dards), one in the General Education Program and one in the Primary Program;

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• Identify courses in General Education, Primary, and Language Programs (in the 2017 NCE Minimum Standards) which teach reading and reading/literacy skills; and

• Provide support in developing course and related training materials for identified EGR and reading/literacy methodological courses in the 2017 NCE Minimum Standards.

3. At each TEI, the capacity of teacher-educators to teach EGR and reading/literacy cours-es to pre-service (student) teachers should be improved through training, collaboration, and practice.

MTs

Primary grades reading instruction experts partnering with the initiative, in collaboration with NCCE, should train at least 10 teacher-educators per TEI during the piloting phase. Once the piloting phase is complete, the initiative and its partner FSU should facilitate the training of all teacher-educators who teach in the General, Primary, and Language Education Programs on the new course and supplemental materials, with the 10 MTs leading the train-ing at each TEI. This is critical, as the knowledge and skill of pre-service (student) teachers is inherently dependent upon the knowledge and skill of the teacher-educators from whom they receive their instruction.

Development of Course & Supplementary Materials

The initiative should support the development of materials for use in the NCE EGR and reading/literacy courses that integrate the new Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula. This will include providing technical assistance to institutional-level RTWGs as they design and devel-op the course and supplementary materials. The TEIs should be provided with the following resources:

• Multiple copies of the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula;• Research articles and other resources which address: EGR and reading/literacy skills;

foundations of how children learn to read; reading instruction and methodology; approaches to assessing reading and writing; the development and progression of reading and literacy skills; and

• A scaffolded support system from NCCE and the initiative throughout the materials development process. High levels of support and training at the beginning should be scaled back to lower levels of support as institutional reading technical working groups gain knowledge and skill in developing materials.

Communities of Practice

TEIs should develop communities of practice. Teacher-educators involved would share knowl-edge and train one another in newly acquired skills. This type of model could include:

• The sharing of electronic resources among TEIs; • Step-down training in which teacher-educators share the skills and content knowledge

they have received at conferences with teacher-educators at both their home institu-tion and other institutions (One institution is currently implementing this model and could serve as a facilitator to the other institutions.); and

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• Monthly college-level mini conferences wherein teacher-educators take turns present-ing on a topic they have been learning about for their own professional development (specific content or methodological knowledge).

4. The TEIs should create EGR resource rooms for teacher-educator use, communities of practice, and professional development preparatory activities.

Each TEI should allocate a safe, well-conditioned room wherein resources for reading and literacy instruction can be stored. This room can be the place where college-level RTWGs can meet to engage in professional endeavors and develop not only course materials but also professional development training for their staff. Resources which should be included in this room are:

• Research articles and other resources which address: EGR and reading/literacy skills; foundations of how children learn to read; reading instruction and methodology; approaches to assessing reading and writing; the development and progression of reading and literacy skills;

• Materials used for professional development of teacher-educators at the TEI;• Multiple copies of the Let’s Read! Mu Karanta! curricula for teacher-educators to use

in the classroom while training pre-service (student) teachers;• Newly developed course and supplemental materials for teacher-educator use; and• Newly developed course and supplemental materials for teacher-educators to take into

the classroom for pre-service (student) teachers to use during the semester.5. NCCE should provide support and training at teacher education institutions.

TEIs receive updated and revised NCE Minimum Standards every five years. NCCE should provide sensitization training to the TEIs that supports the institution in making necessary changes to the curriculum and/or organizational structure to the programs. This would ensure the establishment of newly developed EGR and supplemented reading/literacy courses as part of the formal institutional NCE programs for General, Primary, and Language Educa-tion programs.

6. Student-teacher learning materials should be provided by the TEIs.

Student-teacher course materials are currently not available at the TEIs. Teacher-educators provide notes for the student-teachers to copy and study for their tests and exams, but there are no learning resources to support the development of teaching skills. TEIs should print and provide a set of materials to be checked out by the student-teachers for course study or pro-cure materials using appropriate funding resources. These materials could be located in the EGR resource rooms and be checked out on a weekly, monthly, or semester basis.

7. TEIs should reduce class size and instructor load.

NCCE should collaborate with TEIs of teacher education to reform admissions and hiring procedures. TEIs currently enroll student-teachers far beyond the capacity of the institution to provide adequate classroom and lab space, teacher-educators, and learning resources.

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Teacher-educators report that many of the student-teachers enrolled have limited reading and writing ability and require remediation in order to perform at a basic literacy level. Reforming admission policies could limit the number of student-teachers with extremely low literacy and allow remedial programs to be more successful. Teacher-educators are overwhelmed and teach classes with enrollment of up to over 600 student-teachers in classes that are severely crowded. It is critical for pre-service (student) teachers to interact with teacher-educators, access learning materials, and engage in participatory teaching and learning methods if they are to learn how to teach EGR and reading/literacy skills to children. Teacher-educator - stu-dent-teacher ratios above 1:50 in methodology courses severely limit the ability for the teach-er-educator to engage student-teachers in participatory teaching and learning activities, assess student-teacher knowledge, and ensure pre-service teachers are gaining the skills necessary to teach children.

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ABOUT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

The Learning Systems Institute is one of the nation’s oldest and most productive univer-sity-based education research organizations. In its research, LSI strives to bridge the gap between theory and practice in education. Founded in 1969, LSI currently works primarily through its two centers: the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics the Center for International Studies in Educational Research & Development. In addition to is in-house research faculty, LSI also draws in expertise across the university, particularly from the Florida Center for Reading Research, and the Colleges of Education and Communication and Information to assist the initiative, NCCE, the FMOE, and the TEIs to develop and implement reading instruction curriculum for pre-service teacher education, in order to prepare primary school teachers to teach reading in the early grades.

Submission Date: September 1, 2017 · 2018. 11. 21. · Submission Date: September 1, 2017 Contract...

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