TEACHER TRAINERS' DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AS DETERMINANTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL QUALITY IN PUBLIC COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Purpose: The issue of low instructional quality could be responsible for the incompetence of graduates from public colleges of education in Nigeria. This study investigated teacher trainers' demographic factors as determinants of instructional quality in public colleges of education in the Southwest region of Nigeria. Methodology: The population of the study consisted of 3402 teacher trainers in the eleven public colleges of education in Southwest Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 1358 respondents for the study. Two research questions were raised to guide the study. The instruments titled “teacher trainers' demographic variables questionnaire (TTDVQ) and instructional quality questionnaire (IQQ)” were used to gather relevant data for the study. Findings: The findings revealed that there was a significant contribution of teacher trainers' variables (teachers’ experience, gender, and academic qualification) to the instructional quality in colleges of education (F(3,1354) = 270064.277, p<0.05). It also revealed that females (β = 0.326; t = 5.456, p<0.05) contributed the most to instructional quality in colleges of education. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Teacher trainers should endeavour and be encouraged to advance their academic qualifications and put in their best to gather the requisite experience on the job for the improvement of instructional quality. There should be a policy from the regulatory agency (National Commission for Colleges of Education) instructing the management of teacher training institutions to take cognizance of teachers’ experience and academic qualifications when assigning responsibilities as regards courses to be taught. This study was premised on the systems theory and it establishes that the interrelationship between teachers’ experience, their gender, and academic qualification results in the requisite instructional quality in public colleges of education. This implies that the systems theory could be applied to similar studies in the future.