CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The importance of science and technology as the most predictable significant tool for sustainable technological development has been fully acknowledged in Nigeria as substantive governments at all levels continue to assert their determination to achieve meaningful technological development at the shortest possible time, so as to be self reliant in manufacturing and harnessing our raw materials. The recognition of the invaluable role of science and technology by government as instrument per excellence for effecting national development is therefore not misplaced because development is associated with scientific and technological progress (Todaro and Smith 2003). It is scientific discoveries that lead to technological inventions and are the foundations of knowledge, the kind of knowledge that must precede development. Science and technology is contracting the world into a global village, and has made the provision of science education a responsibility that the government can no longer treat with levity. Hence, science and technology has become the life-blood for national existence, the antidote to poverty, ignorance, superstition and disease.

The National Science Education Standard as detailed in the National Policy on Education (2004.2) is premised on the conviction that all students deserve and must have the opportunity to become scientifically literate and it

spells out the vision of science education that will make scientific literacy for all a reality, as it reiterates:

·        Science education shall emphasize the teaching and learning of scientific processes and principles. This will lead to the study of fundamental and applied research in the sciences at all levels of education.

·        The goals of science education shall be:-

·        To cultivate inquiry, knowledge and rational mind for the conduct of good life and democracy.

·        To produce scientists for national development.

·        To provide service studies in technology and the cause of technological development.

·        To provide knowledge and understanding of the complexity of the physical world, the forms and conduct of life.

·        Special provision and incentives shall be made for the study of sciences at each level of national education system. For this purpose, the functions of all agencies involved in the promotion of the study of these sciences shall be adequately supported by government.

·        Government shall popularize the study of the sciences and production of an adequate number of scientists to inspire and support national development.

Furthermore, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) highlights, that the government shall promote science and technology by introducing the child to the understanding of nature. The Nigerian society shares a general belief with science educators that our students at whatever level of education ought to be literate in science and technology.

At the senior secondary school level for instance, the purpose is to prepare students to exit secondary school with necessary skills to find

employment and to prepare them to continue with careers in the sciences in higher institutions. The federal government has a policy of admission into tertiary education deliberately tilted in favour of science and technology, 60% science, and 40% other disciplines. Further, there are universities for science and technology, polytechnics, colleges of technologies, colleges of education technical, secondary technical schools, and like in Imo state senior secondary science schools. Besides, there is a Federal Government Policy establishing a third unity technical school in every state. Primary science is taught even at the lowest level of the educational system. It must be emphasized that the government must have put up these structures in place to aid the learning of science, for the production of qualified science teachers, to ensure that science teachers are always supplied on demand and to enable the nation to achieve the established goal that all students should be scientifically literate. As                            expanded                             by                            Klausner (2012.HP/Scholar.google.com/Scholar=Klaysner+Klai);

All of us have a stake as individuals, as a society in scientific literacy. An understanding of science makes it possible for everyone to share in the richness and excitement of comprehending the national world. Scientific literacy enables people to use scientific principles and processes in making personal decisions, and to participate in discussions of scientific issues that affect the society. A good grounding in science strengthens many of the skills that people use every day, like solving problems creatively, thinking critically, working cooperatively in terms of using technology effectively and valuing long-life learning.

The Phelps-Stroke Commission Reports (1924) had abhorred and criticized the irrelevant and poorly conceived curriculum that the western education missions were offering Africans, revealing that it was bereft of scientific content and was ill-suited to the needs, opportunities, and aspirations of the African people. The report also indicted the missions for concentrating on classical education, mainly literature and history, with colonial flavor, noting that such education could not be expected to be functional in Africa because the context was different. In some countries such as China, Japan, and even India, the science curriculum bases on their value systems (Brown, 2009). This consideration must be contributing to the very fast development of their technologies.

The UNESCO Conference of Ministers of Education and those responsible for Economic Planning in the African Member States, as reported by Fyle (1987, EDUCAFRICA pg.99), met in Harare. Perhaps as a way of incorporating the Phelps-Stroke and other commission’s reports, amongst other suggestions to government and training institutions advised on:

·        creating an awareness of the importance of science and technology for national development, and ensuring proper individual and attitudes towards science and technology, through the use of mass media, and teaching in formal and non-formal education;

·        organizing inter-disciplinary courses of study designed to train supervisory personnel capable of solving the practical problems of the community;

·        researching, creating, and introducing the technology needed to solve the problems of development, especially in rural setting;

·        establishing curricular and curriculum guidelines, methodologies and materials for science and technology education at all levels of education;

·        training especially supervisors and trainees of teachers, organizations of writing talents for the production of texts and educational materials in science and technology education;

·        taking effective measures to ensure a greatly expanded output of personnel trained in science and technology from the higher education institutions so as to ensure an adequate supply of such personnel for teaching research and industry;

·        establishing joint research development projects involving staff and students in community development with industry, agriculture and other areas of economic development; and

·        organizing training programs, the research designs, manufacture and distribution of science teaching equipment and materials for national use at low cost, using local resources as far as possible.

In an attempt to adhere to the Harare suggestions, and as part of a cooperative curriculum programme in education amongst scientists, mathematicians, school teachers and educators from Africa, to develop an indigenous science and a technological based education in the mid-seventies, the United Kingdom and the USA Educational Service Incorporation (ASPA), later renamed Science Education Program for Africa (SAPA), sought to bring

new ideas on the teaching of science at the basic level of education. The SAPA’s approach was used in the former Bendel State to develop the “Science is Discovery” materials for primary schools in the early eighties. This attempt failed to promote science teaching, as it remained clogged with a deluge of problems, such as lack of fund, lack of maintenance and renovation of equipment and buildings, lack of continuing teacher preparation, provision, supervision and retention. This eventually led to the erosion of the SAPA minded science teachers, and the inability to develop a sound science based education. A sound science based education, as opined by Kosamani (2005.151),

is expected to train the people’s ability to make incisive observations, to design ways of solving problems, choosing instruments to investigate the problems, ability to carry out investigations, ability to conceptualize and evaluate ourselves in our environment, based on experiences gained from experience.

This relates to the view of Dewey (1900 in WIDERDON/. Com.2005) when he talked about experience leading to further experience. A science-based education trains people to be able to adapt to the modern age of science and technological development, and as well raise a generation of people who can think scientifically for themselves, people who are able to respect the views of others. Teachers are expected to encourage parents and children to explore the world through simple, everyday science experiments, including measuring and cooking, planting and gardening, watching the weather, or reading science literature. Doing these everyday activities, families can spend

meaningful times together and children can develop positive attitudes towards science (Katz 1996, Kokoski and Downing-Leftler, 1995; Strong, Silver and Robinson, 1995, in Klausner, 2011).

Science students in many senior secondary schools in this State, from personal observation as a teacher, exhibit very poor attitudes towards the learning of science. This has a consequent negative effect on the production and supply of qualified science teachers. Science subjects should be taught in well-equipped and updated laboratories with technical knowledge that can only be impacted by qualified science teachers. A Sub-Committee set up by the Ministry of Education Asaba (2007), to study the situation of infrastructure in the schools in Delta State revealed that the existing laboratories were inadequate and insufficient for the senior secondary schools. The senior secondary schools in Delta state needed 1,393 laboratories in the selected science subject areas. 636 laboratories were found available. Out of this, 238 were dysfunctional while 747 were yet to be provided. In line with this finding, a study on the Evaluation of Science Teaching in Secondary Schools in Delta State, Ajaju (2009), also indicated that practical lessons were not conducted due to lack of properly equipped laboratories, and that the students were not assessed in all the domains of knowledge. This is an insinuation that the students were not properly assessed in the cognitive and psychomotor domains, which are most essential in the acquisition of scientific and technological principles and skills. The study concluded that poor state of

laboratories, and poorly trained teachers are among the causes of ineffective teaching of science subjects.

In a related study on Poor Laboratory Management and its influence on Science Education in Owerri Municipal Council (Nnebuchi and Obisogu, 2010), concluded that the students’ learning of science was hindered by shortage of laboratories, lack of facilities and equipments, lack of experienced and efficient laboratory assistants’ and poor learning environment. Uwadiae (2009) in Edukugho (2009.41), as Head of the National Office of WAEC, decrying the poor state of laboratories reported that major research findings in their archive confirm that the learning of science is hindered by the poor state of laboratories. One of such studies was on the Problems of Teaching and Examining Science Subjects in Nigeria (Majason 1989). Scientists are made in the laboratories. This is where science is discovered. When students are not adequately exposed to such explorative rudiments in learning science, they lose interest and remain under-achievers, as they become less scientific, less curious, having little or no ideas of what they are studying, just as teachers who are not adequately fortified and motivated to teach, loose scientific focus and may leave for more fulfilling and rewarding alternative employments. This could be a major cause of the shortage of science teachers.

Under-achievement in science prevents the recipients from pursuing a science course or a science based professional course at the tertiary education level. Professions such as engineering, medicine, pure and applied

sciences, and agriculture become out of reach to the underachiever. We must produce these professions in large numbers if we must advance scientifically and technologically. Decrying a continuously perceived low performance in the sciences, Ochcnogor and Umudhe (2007) traced underachievement in science to the colonial era, while Edukugho (2010) noted that failure is as a result of poor preparation, as most senior secondary science school teachers have not learned to apply the right ethics in teaching science. Uwadiae (2009) in Edukugho (2010.41) complained that no learning takes place in science classrooms as no effective teaching occurs because of the professional inadequacy of science teachers. They are found incompetent, unqualified, non-challant (Obisogu and Nnebuchi., 2010), poorly trained, (Ajaju 2009), and professionally inadequate (Majason 1989), lacking in quantity (Ochonogor and Umudhe, 2007).The destiny of this nation could be said to be shaped in the classroom, and the science teacher is a very important instrument in molding this destiny.

The teaching of science in the senior secondary schools in Delta State has been found to suffer from non-coverage of the science scheme of work, possibly due to the nature of the science curriculum content and science text books ( Ochonogor and Umudhe (2007), insufficient allocation of periods, persistent use of the lecture method, and teacher domination of teacher- student interaction during lessons (Ajaju, 2009). In Imo State Obisogu and Nnebuchi (2010) claimed that science teachers did not adhere to the scheme of work, and taught only theories. These findings are in line with research

claims that the science taught in schools is very abstract (Ochonogor and Umudhe 2007), “very pure, content laden, teacher centered and examination oriented” (Kosamani, 2005.152). It is important to note that the science curriculum for the senior secondary school is planned to achieve some perceived goals necessary to acquire a specific level of science education. When such ends are not achieved, it results in a truncated scientific belief, graduation of half-baked science teachers, and an obsolete technological development.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has continued to comment on the low percentage of application for science and science related courses, and a lower percentage that meets the requirement for admission. Contemporary education thought blame this trend on very low staffing of science classrooms with qualified science teachers. In Delta and Imo, low level of staffing is noticed, most particularly in the sciences. For instance in Delta, the 361 senior secondary schools have staff strength of 5,503, with a student population of 104,220. Biology for instance is a compulsory science subject with just 431 teachers. That is a Teacher Student Ratio of 1:242. In Nigeria, shortage of science teachers has been reported. Ivowi (1982) in Adeyemi (2011.315) examined the performance of Nigerian students in physics, chemistry and biology in WASC and found that the high failure rate was due to acute shortage of science teachers. For meaningful science learning, and for the goals of the curriculum to be achieved, science classrooms must be properly staffed. If candidates do not apply, or qualify to

read the sciences, scarcity of science teachers will continue to trail the senior secondary schools. This calls for a quick and necessary intervention.

The decline in science students’ enrolment appears to have a global trend. Research results report of low enrolment in many nations. White, (2006) reported of a chronic shortage of teachers in mathematics and physical sciences in the UK. Guriano, Stantibanez and Daley, (2006), examined the problem of teacher shortages in American schools and remarked that one of the most serious challenges facing American education is the dearth of science and mathematics teachers in secondary schools, and that majority of the new science teachers lacked sufficient training in the subject matter they taught. Other studies by Despora, (2002) in Greece; Rangahau, (2003) in New Zealand; Dibben and Shepard, (2001) Canada; Kwansah, (2002), Ghana; Ingersol,(2001), South Africa; and Tanzania and Lesotho (Lewin and Staut, 2003) also reported of overt shortages of science teachers.

It is expected that science teachers must be skillfully developed because they constitute an important aspect in students learning. Adesina (1981) described teachers as the key input of a highly-skilled labour force. Umeasiegbu (1991) argued that the level of performance in any school is intimately related to the quality of the teachers. Aghenta (2000) opined that they are the key factor in formal education, while Adeyemi (2011) stated that teachers are the hub of the education system (in Adeyemi, 2011.304). Science teachers therefore require vigorous, continuous training and retraining, because the quality and level of their training indisputably impact on

the student’s academic success. Teacher education ought to be able to provide the scientific skills and the professional training needed to develop these skills in learners for the labour market.

The rate at which the development of scientific skills is neglected in this country is found alarming by Adesulu, (2011) as he reported that in 1979, Malaysia came to Nigeria and picked our palm fruits. Today Malaysia is the world’s greatest producer of palm oil, with some other twenty different products from palm oil, including petrol fuel. Nigeria is blessed with abundant local raw materials which has played a major role in the industrial development of the nation. To properly harness and use these materials without having to import experts from abroad needs the expertise of skilled graduates (Osarenren-Osagie and Irabor, 2013).

The problem of lack of proper development f scientific skills is common in tertiary institutions, as the resultant unconducive environment created by inadequate availability of school resource, outdated and overused facilities explains the growing incidence of low quality graduates, and low enrolment in science disciplines. Students who cannot tolerate the excruciating effect either change to other disciplines or drop out of school. This is a major contribution to science teacher shortage. In line with this thought, Ogunsele (2010) reported of an engineer who complained that the same practical tools he used in the University of Ibadan in the 2005 to 2009 academic sessions were the same ones his mother used in the same department sixty years before.

From the foregoing, the typology portrays a product of our educational system, that are unable to adapt to the constant exposure of the workforce to new discoveries, and new scientific research in methods of production and services that are salient demands of modernization. The report of the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER, 2001) comes to life here, as it painted a grim picture of the average Nigerian science graduate who the report claimed lacked basic scientific and technological skill. In confirmation of this deplorable situation, the former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquyyatu Rufa’i, R. in an Educational Seminar/Workshop in Calabar lamented that fifty percent of the nation’s science teachers at the secondary school level lack requisite scientific, mathematical manipulative skills, and the capacity to impart scientific knowledge (Oluwole, 2010). This is possibly the reason some industries and oil firms, Shell Petroleum for instance, recruit Nigerian science graduates and subjects them to a one to two year rigorous retraining before the successful ones are deployed.

Furthermore, the subject of which retains more teachers between the urban, suburban and rural schools have been a debate. Large schools retain higher number of teachers for the mere fact that they have better economies of scale, program quality and caliber of staff (Omoifo, 2012 ). School managers and educational policy makers argue that rural and suburban schools are too costly. The public also believe that rural schools are inefficient because they produce poor result, and the students receive the kind of

education that is inferior to that of urban schools. It is therefore disturbing in a growing nation like ours whose society is predominantly rural

To adequately create a balance between the consequent neglect suffered; when the quality of science teachers are in doubt, due to lack of constant training, exposure and interaction with professional experts through seminars, symposia, workshops and conferences that will help to improve their competences, when they are not adequately equipped to teach, when they are not made available, and when students are not disposed to learn often translates into frustrations, disappointments and finger pointing. It is imperative therefore to address this issue of the need and availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools, as a milestone that this nation must pursue, if its high aspirations for economic development must be achieved.

Statement of the Problem

The world looks different after the learning of science hence; science is widely acclaimed as the fundamental principle and the powerhouse for scientific and technological development, and seems to be the only force that divides the `world into developed, developing and underdeveloped nations. Indications are; that this so much desired development appears to be still eluding this nation, as research findings have shown that science teachers are almost always in short supply in public senior secondary schools.

The employment of science teachers is a function of their need but their level of availability is complicated by subject specializations because of the

practical skills and competences that must be imparted. Shortage of science teachers at the senior secondary school level of education limits its access to, and prevents progression to the tertiary level, a formal requirement for most senior secondary school teaching positions. Teachers are trained, recruited and deployed for the derived need, and so they have vital obligations to contribute positively to the qualitative education of learners. The basic principle that drives the availability of teachers is that individuals will remain teachers if teaching represents the most attractive amongst activities available to them. The incidence of shortage of science teachers appear to have reached a crises level as stakeholders like the NUT and parents continue to agitate for an improved management of schools with an increased availability of science teachers. When teachers are in short supply the cohesion and effectiveness of school community suffer from the apparent disruption of educational programmes and professional relationships intended to improve learning. The problem of this study therefore is to comparatively analyze the need and availability of science teachers in the senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo States?

Research Questions

In the analysis of this problem, specifically the following research questions were raised:

1.             What is the Need for Science Teachers in the Public Senior Secondary schools in the urban, suburban and rural areas, from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years, in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

2.              What is the Availability of male and female science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in the urban, suburban and rural areas from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

3.                What is the rate of Availability of science teachers in public senior secondary schools in the urban, suburban and rural areas, from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

4.                What is the Need and Availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in the Senatorial Districts, from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

5.                What is the Availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools from the 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

6.                What are the constraints on the Need and Availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo states?

7.                Did Location influence the Need and Availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in selected subject areas from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

8.                What are the class sizes and teacher pupil ratios in the public senior secondary schools in the urban, suburban and rural areas, from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

9.                What are the sources of the science teachers in the public senior secondary schools, from 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years in Delta and Imo state of Nigeria?

10.            What is the Need and Availability of science teachers in public senior secondary schools, in the urban, suburban and rural areas, from 2006/07 to 10/11 academic years in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to comparatively analyze the need and availability of science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo states, from 2006/07 to 2010/11, and to determine their distribution in the urban, sub-urban and rural locations.

Specifically, the study aimed to:

·        Identify the need for science teachers in the public senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo states, within the 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years.

·        Determine the availability in the urban, rural and suburban localities.

·        Compare the need and availability in Senatorial districts

·        Determine the availability in Delta and Imo states.

·        Examine and identify the constraints to the need and availability of science teachers.

·        Determine whether location influences the need and availability of science teachers in specific science subject areas.

·        Determine the current science class sizes and teacher ratios.

·        Ascertain the source of the availability of science teachers in Delta and Imo states..

Significance of the Study

The success of any educational science based curriculum depends largely on the adequacy of the need and availability of its science teachers. The fact that this nation is plagued with science teacher shortage at the senior secondary level of education has generally reflected not only in the inability of

learners to acquire skills relative to science and technological advancement, but also in the non-achievement of the set national objective for science education. The senior secondary school is labor intensive, and this calls for a critical examination of the state of the existing approach for teacher development, their adequacy and effective management. The beneficiaries of this study includes teachers, science supervisors, curriculum developers, publishers, science centers, science educators, school administrators, educational planners, school board members, legislators, government at all levels, parents/guardians, students, scholars and researchers.

The study will draw the attention of the state ministries of education in Delta and Imo, and their relevant agencies to the pattern of distribution of science teachers between urban, sub-urban and rural schools, and hopefully identify areas that need science resource and manpower. The determination of current science teaching manpower position in the schools through this study will provide a base line for:

·        Immediate or short range needs for science teachers.

·        Planning, forecasting and projecting future requirements for science teachers.

·        Establishing a framework for making subsequent periodic inventories of science teacher through the provision of a dependable data base.

·        Comparison of science teacher staffing position within the six Senatorial Districts in Delta and Imo States.

Delta and Imo states are of comparative alternatives, as they belong to the group of states that produce the highest number of candidates for the Federal Common Entrance ,WAEC, NECO and JAMB Examinations, the states “with the highest literacy rates, the highest standard of living and the highest proportion of citizens with post secondary education in Nigeria” (Achebe, 2012.76) The study will therefore not only provide a useful guide as the analyses are verified and presented together but also will identify the emerging trends, the differences and similarities as regards the need and availability of science teachers in the two states. To this extent, it will no doubt provide useful information that will guide policy initiators and makers, relevant authorities and stakeholders to regulate the production of science teachers in the states, and to provide the right quantity and quality of science teachers as a measure to ensure their adequate need and availability.

Delimitation and Scope of the Study

The study was designed to comparatively analyze the need and availability of science teachers in public senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo states of Nigeria between the 2006/2007 and 2010/2011 academic years. The study was specifically concerned with the actual number of science teachers available as well as the actual number that were  needed for the effective running of the public senior secondary schools taking into consideration the number of students available, the national benchmark, the distribution of the science teachers across the urban, suburban and rural areas, across the senatorial districts, across the selected science subject areas and

across gender. Therefore, the study was restricted to sixty eight (68) – thirty six

(36)     from Delta state and thirty one (31) from Imo public senior secondary schools.

Limitations of the Study

The study was limited in scope to the principals of the selected schools and the science teachers that were available for the 2010/2011 academic year in the public senior secondary schools in Delta and Imo states, therefore, the result of the study cannot be generalized to the whole states bin Nigeria,

Basic Assumption for the Study

It is assumed that the relative school records such as class attendance register, time tables, WAEC and NECO registration broadsheets, nominal roll of science teachers in the specific science subject areas, and other relevant records from the state Ministries of Education were valid and reliable.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were operationally defined for the study: Availability of Science Teachers: The willingness and desire of capably trained and qualified individuals, to provide their services as teachers at an offered incentive such as salary and work conditions.

Need for Science Teachers: The number of appointed science teachers, and those needed to fill in vacant positions for an effective teaching of science subjects in the senior secondary schools.