INNOVATIONS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN NIGERIA by Ebele C. Okigbo, Nneka R. Nnorom, Ernest O. Onwukwe (the ebook reader .txt) 📖

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SECTION FOUR

 

 

MENTORING IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MENTORING AS AN AVENUE FOR ENHANCING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TEACHER RETENTION IN TEACHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (TEIs)

 

Dr. Marcellinus C. Anaekwe

 

Abstract

The primary goal of every establishment whether private or public is to ensure sustainability and attainment of organizational goals. The achievement of this goal is dependent on the extent to which the leadership directs and co-ordinates the organization and aligns their day-to-day activities towards the overall goal of the establishment. In other words, leadership provides the direction to which the subordinate staff would follow. In educational institutions, such as Universities, Polytechnics or Colleges of Education, the academic leadership role at Faculties and Departments fall on the Deans, Heads of Department, Professors, Chief lecturers and other senior ranking Staff, whose responsibility is, to mentor the subordinate staff in tandem with the goals of the institution. By following the guidance of the senior colleagues in an educational establishment, the subordinate staff grows professionally in his/her chosen field of endeavour.  Effective mentoring relation is a powerful tool towards professional development in Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs). This paper concludes by adducing a  number of strategies for mainstreaming mentoring relationships in Teacher Education Institutions as an avenue for retention of science and technology teachers in the system.

Keywords: Mentoring, Teacher, Teacher Education Institutions, Science and Technology.

 

Introduction

 

The word mentor has been variously defined. FGP (2015) defines a mentor as someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. The wikipedia defines mentoring as “employee training system under which a senior or more experienced individual (the mentor), is assigned to act as an adviser, counsellor, or guide to a junior or trainee. The mentor is responsible for providing support to, and feedback on, the individual in his/her charge. Furthermore, the concept of mentorship was looked at as a relationship in which a more experienced person or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but he/she must have a certain degree of expertise or skills which the mentee so much desires.  An educational institution like College of Education, School of Technical/ Teacher Education in some Polytechnics or a Faculty in a University charged with the responsibility of training professional teachers is referred to as a Teacher Education Institution (TEI). It is expected that effective mentoring relationship abound among  the superior and sub-ordinate staff and trainees of TEIs.

 

Various definitions of science abound. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1995) defined science as the knowledge of the world of nature.  Generally, science is regarded in three main ways as:

 

 

As a body of knowledge such as biology, chemistry, physics, etc;

A process of acquiring knowledge about nature through observing, defining problem, hypothesizing, etc;

An institution which comprises of numerous experts/scientists who cooperate among themselves  and engage in the study and development of human knowledge as we have in hospitals, industries, research and educational institutions.

Technology is the application of scientific knowledge and research in developing processes and products for the improvement of the living conditions of man in his environment. The word technology is characterized by activities, techniques, devices, procedures, processes and materials (NOUN, 2004).

 

Science and Technology (ST) education equips man with theoretical knowledge to explain how the world events and objects around us originate, develop, operate or function. They also enable man to predict how they will behave in future and thus enables him to control their behaviour using appropriate instruments for such control. ST education also provides man with practical knowledge in terms of the various ways, mechanisms and instruments so developed by man to control objects and phenomena. Considering the theoretical and practical knowledge dimensions inherent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), one can conclude that it is not only a source of knowledge but also a source of power. For instance, the categorization of countries of the world today, into developed and developing nations is purely based on the extent of ST–potentials which such countries have garnered and are capable of utilizing for their socio-economic and technological development. It is therefore, not surprising that developing countries of the world including Nigeria, strives to place emphases in ST education at all levels of her education system.  

 

Regrettably, most Nigerian ST teachers particularly in TEIs see the teaching career as a bird of passage which would be dropped as soon as an alternative job is secured. One then wonders how the lofty goals of ST education in the country would be attained in a situation where there is paucity and ill-motivated human power to drive the classroom instructional delivery.

 

Status of Science and Technology Teachers in TEIs:

The status of Science and Technology (ST) teachers in TEIs in Nigeria can be characterized as:

Inadequate in number: Human presence in ST disciplines in Nigeria has been limited by a number of socio-cultural constraints including gender stereotyping of careers, religious practices which allows limited access for women/girls to education, among others.

Paucity of Role Models and Mentorship Programmes: There are very few distinguished academics in ST education disciplines in proportion to the prospective trainees that are in need of mentoring.

Inappropriately trained: Possession of a good chunk of theoretical knowledge but deficient in practical skills as a result of little or no exposure to laboratory and workshop practices, coupled with paucity of requisite instructional materials, reagents and equipment.

Lacking in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills: Mostly ST teachers are trained as analogues and are reluctant to undergo ICT-capacity training to be up-dated in digital competence and skills.  This leaves a situation whereby the younger graduates and student-trainees are superior in possession of digital skills in comparison to most of their teachers.

Poorly remunerated: Teachers are poorly remunerated. They often embark on strike actions to press home their demand for payment of statutory salaries and allowances, especially in private TEIs.

Poorly motivated: They are often not-sponsored to conferences, no provision for social securities.

 

Paucity of ST teachers in TEIs is partly an outcome of inability of the education system to recruit and retain the available ones in the system. It is not just as if teacher trainees in Nigeria are highly aversive to ST education as much as that the unattractive working environment has made retention on the job practically difficult. A good percentage of the available ST education teachers in TEIs in Nigeria are there as birds of passage waiting for an opportunity to migrate to a greener pasture abroad or locally to a better–remunerated job. It is a commonplace for ST education graduates after waiting to no avail, for jobs in their trained vocation to drift to private business ventures or to further their career in Management and Business Studies via the Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) programme, all in a bid to land at a more readily rewarding career.

 

Corroborating the lack-luster working environment at which ST education teachers find themselves, Njoku (2018), asserted that teachers in most African countries complain about  their remuneration and other earned allowances which are not given to them when due. In several African countries, teachers have to embark on strike actions to press home their demands for their remunerations and allowances. Thus, teachers in general feel demotivated and they fail to do their jobs well. Consequently, many of them would readily drop the job at the slightest opportunity. Teaching is lowly rated among all professions hence, it does not attract and retain the best brains for training and induction. Furthermore, discussing the challenges of teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for self-reliance, Ezekannagha (2018), identified poor motivation