UKaid Teacher Devt Programme to Boost Learning Outcomes in 6 Pilot States

Damilola Oyedele The Teacher Development Programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) has been rolled out to boost learning outcomes in six pilot states: Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna and Kano.

The TDP is aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning at the basic education level. It is intended to improve the skills of teachers in the three core curriculum subjects of English, maths, science and technology, and produce better teachers through a combination of pre-service and in-service interventions.

It will deliver training to 62,000 school teachers, 4,000 student teachers and 816 teacher educators in the six states.

Speaking at the meeting of the National Joint Committee for the TDP in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala expressed hope that the findings and recommendations of the working groups would be used to refine and improve the process of implementing the set of reforms articulated by the NCCE.

Represented by the National Programme Manager, TDP, Dr. Nguyan Shaku Feese, the Permanent Secretary lamented that the provision of regular sustainable CPD opportunities for teacher educators only recently started to receive adequate attention.

“A key element of the reform of pre-service training is how to ensure that the teacher educators in our training institutions do have the regular opportunities for updating their subject content knowledge and pedagogical skills”, he said.

The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Prof. Muhammed Ibn Junaid in his address said the commission is committed to ensuring the production of quality teachers for the nation’s basic education sector.

He added that the NCCE would continue to work with the colleges and TDP to accomplish the necessary reforms in the sector.

“Our ultimate aim in implementing the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme is to engender a paradigm shift in the way lecturers teach, from traditional transmission model of teaching to constructivist gender sensitive pedagogy,” Junaid added.