Rebuilding our education system (2)

By Charles Ogbulogo 22 hours 17 minutes ago

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Quality Assurance parameters in Basic Education: A Key ingredient that appears to be neglected in Nigeria's contemporary ...

educational system is inspection, especially at the basic level. We are conscious of the functions of the National Universities Commission and their equivalents for other levels of tertiary education in regulating higher education. One major strategy the commissions deploy in regulating tertiary education is the accreditation process.
Incidentally, the colonial administration bequeathed Nigeria a robust Inspectorate component of educational management. It used to be fashionable that school inspectors would visit schools to examine their records, facilities and the work of the teachers. The pupils and students were also inspected for hygiene and general compliance. The basis for Quality Assurance is that education, just like every other system operates the input – output process - in line with the systems theory. Zelvys characterises a system as comprising a sequence of interrelated and interdependent components which affect one another via their interactions. 
For the purpose of quality assurance in basic education, the input variables will include the experiential level of the learners, the content of learning as well as the physical and material resources available and which are actually used. The quality of the products measured in terms of the extent to which they fulfil pre-set objectives and expectations forms the output. In measuring the quality parameters across different input variables, and based on the experience of Thailand the focus could be as stated below.
(A) Learner Quality – with expectations of virtues, morality and desirable values. Learners would be expected to exhibit discipline, responsibility, honesty, gratitude, kindness, generosity, sacrifice, thriftiness, wisdom and loyalty. (B) Learners should also demonstrate enough consciousness in the development and preservation of the environment. It is expected that they should appreciate changes in the environment and participate in activities for its preservation. (C) The third standard relates to the acquisition of skills by the learners and their ability to work with others. They would have skills in managing and completing work with a sense of pride in the dignity of labour. They should also show positive attitudes to honest occupations with a desire to seek knowledge related to their occupations. (D) Learners should possess the ability for analytical and synthetic thinking with a high degree of sound judgement in creative ways. They should also have a sense of vision. There will be the need to predict future outcomes and to make sound decisions related to problem solving. (E) The fifth critical standard for evaluating learners is the extent to which they possess relevant knowledge and skills for communication with information technology. (F) Beneficiaries of Basic Education should be ready for self-learning and have the passion for continuous improvement. They must develop the love for reading, listening and asking question to seek new knowledge. (G) They must also develop healthy habits with good physical and mental health. They are expected to take care of their health through right eating and adequate exercises. They should have skills for protecting themselves from harmful substances.  It is expected that beneficiaries should maintain good human relationship and cultivate the habit for respect for others. (H) Learners within Basic Education must have a sense of aesthetics – to appreciate art, music and sports. They should be expected to participate in artistic activities and create artistic works.
There are standards for educational administration, the learning community, the government support systems and the quality of teaching. For our purpose, we shall focus on the role of the teacher in achieving the mission of Basic Education in Nigeria.
Quality Assurance for Teachers
For teachers to achieve the objectives of Basic Education, they are expected to posses relevant qualifications and the right competence for their responsibility. They should commit to steady self-development and be prepared to get along with the communities where the schools are located.
They should also have virtues and morality which will enable them to impact on their pupils and students. Teachers should also be able to manage effectively, the teaching-learning relationship bearing in mind the learner centred instruction. These expectations demand a higher degree of creativity in the teaching enterprise. For the remaining part of this presentation; we shall focus on the procedures for making teaching creative.

Creativity In Teaching And The Reality Of Basic Education
Teaching is the organization of learning to achieve authentic results.  Learning, on the other hand, is a permanent change in behaviour as a result of the introduction to new ideas, skills, processes and information.  For teaching to take place, there must be  a learner or a group of learners, facilities - a definite place, other resources and materials, a specific time frame - a lecture, a semester, a programme etc, an organized procedure-routine or regular, or even varied as well as a process of evaluating progress. There must also be an organizer who integrates all these elements. That organizer is the teacher.
As an organizer, the teacher should be fairly democratic - without abdicating his responsibility.  He should be a positive leader with a mind to achieve predetermined results.
The teachers expected to be instrumental to the success of the students to discover, formulate and clarify their own purposes. The teacher should be able to delegate and distribute responsibilities and at the same time ensure that the class is cohesive; the teacher should also encourage and value initiatives; build on the strengths, rather than emphasize the weaknesses of the students; foster self evaluation/criticism within the group; and maintain control of the class etc.
Maximizing Teaching – the place of knowledge
Since teaching and learning are concerned with a change in behaviour, the teacher is expected to have some knowledge of basic psychology. This basic knowledge relates to domains of learning – cognitive, psycho motor and affective.  
The Cognitive Domain
Many teachers dwell on this level. It is the first level with emphasis on understanding and some application. At the level of understanding, the learner is expected to: combine two or more concepts.  The aim is to describe, list, identify, define, compare, and contrast.  Within the level of application, the learner produces something new by putting two or more concepts together. The teacher guides the students to explain, analyse and apply.  Teaching is done by the lecture/presentation methods.  Evaluation may be subjective with occasional objective test items