CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the
study
Education is indispensable for all
nations aspiring towards basic knowledge to achieve greatness. It is based on this premise that Ogbonnaya
(2003) asserted that a nation that considers compulsory education for citizens
sees it as an agent of sustainable growth and development. In recognition of the above, education in
Nigeria is an instrument “par excellence for effecting national development”
(Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRA, 2004: 49).
Education represents the totality of the institutional structures and
processes that determine both learning and teaching as the means for the transmission
and improvement of a society’s repertoire of knowledge, ideas, abilities,
beliefs, culture and morality from one generation to another (Ibrahim, 2004).
Okeke (2009) observed that the
functionality of Nigeria’s education is in doubt from his research findings on
the high rate of unemployment among educational output form primary to
university levels in Nigeria. According to Nnamani (2007) statistics shows that
up to 40% of graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria remain unemployed
after the National Youth Services Corps.
This ugly trend in educational output in Nigeria continues to grow
unabated with severe consequences to the educations rector. The nation’s
educational system has not provided enough job opportunities for its outputs or
graduates (Haris, 2010). In recognition
of the inability of the economy to absorb the teeming unemployed youths, the
Federal Government of Nigeria though the National Education Research
Development Council (NERDC) proposed the introduction of entrepreneurship
education in the entire school curriculum in the country.
An entrepreneur is a person who
takes risks, has initiative and creativity and makes things happen through the
skills bestowed on the person (Obosode, 2009).
An entrepreneur, therefore, applies creative and innovative talents to
start their own business or project or expand one that already exists. The skills that will enable individuals
operate their jobs or businesses have to be taught in schools by the teachers
so as to realize the self-reliant bid of the government. The necessary skills
needed to be impacted on the students are contained in the curriculum. The entrepreneurship education curriculum
offers subjects like basic technology education and basic business education to
enable individual students acquire the entrepreneurial skills which will
enhance self-employment opportunity.
Specifically the module of the entrepreneurship education curriculum
incorporates the following goals.
The development of
learners awareness of professional and entrepreneurial opportunities
The development of
pupils’ awareness of socially-responsible entrepreneurial behaviour.
Concept of business
and business organization
Entrepreneurial
thought and action
Creativity and idea
generation
Design thinking
opportunity
Evaluation and
business planning
Entrepreneurial
marketing, public policy and economic development
New venture creation
Human relation
management
Technology
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial
finance
The above goals are
to be attained with the teaching of entrepreneurship education in the
school. This will enable the products of
the school to acquire necessary skills to be successful entrepreneurs of their
business outfits.
Entrepreneurship
education generates innovative opportunities for students to be successful to
themselves and of great value to their communities (Peter, 2007). The attainment of this objective is critical
and requires teachers that are knowledgeable and competent to implement the
entrepreneurship education curriculum in secondary schools. This is realized through the acquisition of
certain levels of skills by the teacher.
Skills as used here
refer to the competencies required of the teachers for the implementation
process of the entrepreneurship education in the classroom situation. The skills may be managerial, accounting and
financial skills, marketing and sale skills and general business
competencies. The managerial skills deal
with communicative skills of the teacher which may be oral or written. The financial skill requires knowledge of
accounts in business outfits. The
marketing and general business skill competencies comprise the skill in the sale
of goods and the running of different types of business which one is exposed
to. The teachers are expected to be
armed with the above competencies in an effort to impart the skills on the
students so as to be functional members of the society.
According to UNESCO
(2010) entrepreneurship education emerged as a response to international call
and the need to curb the high rate of unemployment globally and to reduce the
reliance on government paid jobs which has manifested greatly in developing
countries like Nigeria. Hicks (2007)
asserts that a combination of lack of labour market opportunities and lack of
skills result in many young people being unable to secure a job in the formal
economy. Most of the schools in Nigeria
do not promote any entrepreneurship education that youth would need to either
start a business, join and increase the productivity of an existing business,
or more generally develop a more proactive and entrepreneurial attitude in
their professional career.
Entrepreneurship
education has a spiral effect of ensuring sustainable development and growth in
a country like Nigeria. Similarly,
entrepreneurship education enables secondary schools students to acquire life
long entrepreneurship skills. Through
entrepreneurship education, students including those with disabilities, learn
organizational skills including time management, leadership development and
entrepreneurial skills, all of which are highly transferable skills sought by
employers (Derio, 2008). Specially, the
curriculum content of entrepreneurship education meant for secondary schools
comprise concept of business and business organizations, management of business
organizations, human and capital formation and organization, job location
opportunities, vocational training procedures.
Other aspects of the curriculum include human relations management, international
trade, business capital and profit maximization and business cycle. The basic objective articulated from the
content of the entrepreneurship education is the organization of the skills to
enhance the business potentials of the person concern.
All these objectives
of studying entrepreneurship education in secondary schools hinge on the
potentialities of the teacher to impact the desired knowledge to the
learners. The potentialities of the
teacher otherwise known as the competences of the teacher are an essential
variable to consider in assessing the implementation of entrepreneurship
education in Nigeria. The centre of all
the implementation processes is the teacher who is in very close contact with
the students or learners in the classroom settings. On a general note, the disposition of teacher
is very essential in the implementation of any curriculum. Ogbonnaya (2003) asserted that:
The need to involve
teachers in all phases of curriculum planning can hardly be over
emphasized. To begin with, that a
curriculum has been designed to guarantee that corresponding educational
experiences which may result in the end will depend on teachers. It is on the efforts of teachers that a
curriculum which has been designed by planners in society depends, to a large
extent for its success in terms of ending to appropriate ends of education in
the society. Teachers are key factors in
the operation and for the success of curriculum, they are indispensable in the
educative process (P.40).
Behind every successful
implementation of any curriculum project or policy are highly trained,
motivated and efficient classroom teachers (Ibrahim, 2007). The National Policy on Education, (FRN, 2004)
state that no educational system or policy can rise above the quality of its
teachers (2004). The role of teachers in
achieving sustainable improvement in the implementation of entrepreneurship
education in secondary schools is a cardinal one. Mgbodile (2004) had noted that the importance
of the teacher in determining the tempo of curricular and methodology cannot be
underestimated. He noted that plans and
policies can be well laid on paper, the implementation strategies well
outlined, and the organizational structure well set, but it is the teacher
factor that stands as the deciding factor in terms of whether or not the
desired goals and objectives which have informed all the efforts can be
achieved.
Many researchers have reiterated
the fact that teachers disposition and characteristics, what teachers think,
believe and do, their experience, qualifications, sex and location of teaching
ultimately determine their level of performance and the quality of education
(Friedman, 2005; Kpolow, 2004). It has
also been revealed that teachers tend to perceive distinct needs according to
their personal factors such as qualification, teaching experience, and
knowledge of the subject matter, gender, school location and their area of
specialization Ola (2006). Studies
have revealed that qualification of teachers affect school achievement to the
extent that academically qualified teachers tend to succeed more than their
non-qualified counterparts. Okeke (2008)
affirmed that adequately qualified teachers have the confidence and courage to
use their initiative to impact experiences positively on the student for
improved performance.
The teacher is seen by Idris (2008)
as a significant component of the classroom, positing that male and female
teachers differ significantly in several ways.
Such differences they observed have relative effects on the classroom
environment such that students perceived classes taught by male and female
teachers differently. The instructional
behaviour of teachers during classroom interactions appears to exert the most
pervading influence on gender issues.
Gender inequality in achievement attitude and interest in many fields of
studies has remained a contentions issue (Hobson, 2009). Gender is a range of
characteristic used to distinguish between male and female, particularly in the
cases of men and women, masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them.
Gender is a social construct, it is not biologically determined but a concept
equivalent to race or class (Offorma, 2004). This definition suggests that
gender is socially or culturally constructed characteristics and role, which
are associated with males and females in society. It is different from sex
which is a biological distinction in appearance (morphology) and function
(physiology) as well as reproductive contributions of men and women. According to Lee (2001) gender is ascribed
attribute that differentiates feminine from masculine. The difference in
competence of male and female teachers in implementing secondary school curriculum
has been reported by researchers. Udeinya (2008) and Okafor (2006) reported
that male teachers are more competent than their female counterparts in
implementing geography and mathematics curriculum in secondary while Omoogun
(2009) reveals that gender significantly affects teachers competency needs of
environmental education concepts. Therefore, this study will investigated
gender differences in the teacher competence possess for the implementation of
entrepreneurship education in secondary school.
Similarly, there is age long
controversy on whether the school location has an impact on student’s
achievement. Location of school connotes an area where a school is suited. It
could be urban, rural or semi-urban. As schools play an important role in the
intellectual development of children, adequate programme of learning facilities
or lack of item may facilitate or hinder learning. The location of schools comes into play here
because it may determine some vital learning ingredients such as learning
facilities infrastructure, number of teachers and the class size. However
researcher reports on the achievement and competencies of students and teachers
have been associated with location. Omoogun (2009) reported that location
significantly affect teachers competency needs of environmental education
concept. This present study will examine whether location will influence the
methodology competence of teachers in implementing entrepreneurship education
in secondary school.
Competency needs involve the
identification of relevant knowledge and skills required in order to carry out
a particular operation. According to
Hobson (2008), competency involves having a sound knowledge of the subject
matter and of the methods of effectively imparting the facts and skills
relating to the subject. Adeniran (2007)
observed that in relation to classroom instruction a competent teacher is one
who carries out effective teaching. He
emphasized that competency involves knowledge, skills, attitudes and judgment
which are required for the successful performance of a task rather than all the
components comprising the tasks. As
Peter (209) affirmed that the objective of teaching would still not be achieved
if the teacher does not understand the subject matter he or she is
teaching. In recognition of the
importance attached to competency skills in teaching. Ogbonaya (2003) affirms
that the steps to identify competency needs of teachers are the capacity to:
Identify all
tasks/job to be learnt;
Determine what one
would need to know and do in order to perform the identified jobs/tasks,
Arrangement of tasks
and jobs into appropriate courses,
Organize knowledge
and skill for each task
Determine what one
needs to know for mastery of each knowledge and skills.
Basically,
entrepreneurship education has been developed by NERDC and the council has
appropriately identified the content area to include small enterprises,
methods, and materials for teaching entrepreneurship education, evaluation of
entrepreneurship education programs, design and content of entrepreneurship
development programs, entrepreneurship education for adults, small enterprises
development and seminar in entrepreneurship development. Each course contained classroom instruction
as well as practical activities that are related to entrepreneurship
development and implementation in secondary schools. Teachers are therefore expected to posses the
ability to articulate the contents of entrepreneurship education to enable them
implement it.
It is based on this premise that the present
study is designed to assess teachers’ competencies in the teaching of
entrepreneurship education in secondary schools in Enugu education zone.
Statement of the
Problem
Entrepreneurship education curricula
had been developed in Nigeria by the Nigeria Education Research Development
Council (NERDC, 2004) for the secondary schools. The reason is to ensure the realization of
the self-reliant bid of the Federal government.
This is articulated in the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) as
the programme was designed to enhance job creation by the graduates with less
realized as the unemployment rate remains high.
In this regard, the parents’ teachers, the government and the general
public are worried over this trend. The
teachers are expected to reverse this worrying ugly situation. Teachers play a key role in the realization
of self-reliance aspiration of the government through teaching and learning of
entrepreneurship education curriculum.
The problem may therefore, lie in the level of teacher’s competencies in
the implementation of the programme in secondary schools. Therefore, the problem of the study posed as
a question is; what are the competencies of teachers in the teaching of
entrepreneurship education in secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone.
Purpose of the study
The specific purpose of this study
is based on the assessment of teacher’s competencies in the teaching of
entrepreneurship education in secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone.
Specifically, the study seeks to:
Determine the entrepreneurial skills possessed
by teachers in the teaching of the entrepreneurship education in secondary
school.
Find out the teaching
methods used by the teachers in teaching the content of entrepreneurship
education in secondary school.
Determine the
teacher’s qualification in the teaching of the entrepreneurship education in
secondary schools.
Ascertain the
influence of teacher gender on the skills possessed by teachers in the teaching
of entrepreneurship education in secondary school
Find out the
influence of location on the method used by the teachers in teaching the
content of entrepreneurship education in secondary school
Determine the
problems encountered in the teaching of the entrepreneurship education in
secondary schools.
Significance of the
study
The findings of this study would be
beneficial to the curriculum planners, Ministry of Education and supervisors,
teachers and the students. The findings
of the study identified the competency needs which the teachers possessed and
the ones needed for the implementation of the entrepreneurship education
curriculum in secondary schools.
The findings of this study would
benefit the curriculum planners as it will draw their attention to the need to
actualize the implementation of entrepreneurship education to curb the high
unemployment rate in Nigeria. this
awareness will enhance the designing of pre-service and in-service programme
that will include appropriate knowledge and skills needed for implementation of
entrepreneurship education. Furthermore,
the findings would provide information that will stimulate the organization of
workshops, conferences and seminars for entrepreneurship educators in
curriculum planning and implementation as well as the review of curriculum at
the various subject levels of reflects some key areas of entrepreneurship
education especially as it relates to the competency needs of teachers.
The findings of the study would be
of immense benefit to the Ministry of Education and supervisors as they
appreciate the importance of promoting entrepreneurship education in schools
with the necessary competency needed for implementation.
Teachers would also benefit from
the results of this study. Teachers
would become aware of the competencies needed for their effective participation
in the implementation of entrepreneurship education curriculum. It would also enable the teachers to apply
the identified competencies in the improvement of individual classroom
instruction to ensure the permanent change in the behaviour of learners. The teachers would also benefit through
seminar and conferences organized for them by the principals of the schools on
the need to develop the competence through in-service training such as sandwich
programme and similar related programmes, in other tertiary institutions in
Nigeria.
Students would also benefit from
the findings of this study. Improved
competency needs would enhance teacher’s effectiveness in the teaching of
entrepreneurship education that will provide a forum for the students to become
self-reliant through the acquired skills.
Generally, as teachers become more committed to the issues concerning
entrepreneurship education curriculum, the schools will produce students who
are well informed about entrepreneurship education and the skills required for
its acquisition to be self-reliant citizens of Nigeria.
Textbook authors would find the
results of the study relevant in the selection of curriculum contents and
materials that will enhance the implementation (teaching and learning) of
entrepreneurship education curriculum in secondary schools.
Finally, the results of the study
would be a significant addition to the literature base in teacher competency in
implementing entrepreneurship education in schools and the role played by
qualification, experience and gender in the implementation of entrepreneurship
education in secondary schools. This
would form the basis for further research.
This study has theoretical significance as it is anchored on competency
based approach, Marsharllian and Max Webers theories on entrepreneurship. These theories best explains the teachers’
characteristics which influence learning such as qualification, personal
characteristics and the general pedagogy involved in teaching and learning
processes.
Scope of the Study
The geographical scope of this
study will involve all the secondary schools in Enugu State which comprises
secondary schools in the six zones namely, Enugu, Nsukka, Obollo, Awgu, Udi and
Agbani areas of the state. The content
scope will focus in the assessment of the competency of teachers’ in the
teaching of entrepreneurship education in secondary schools in Enugu Education
Zone.
Research Questions
The following
research question guided the study;
What are the entrepreneurial skills teachers’
posses in the teaching of the entrepreneurship education secondary schools?
What are the teaching
methods used by the teachers in teaching the content of entrepreneurship
education in schools.
What is the
qualification of teachers’ teaching entrepreneurship education in schools?
To what extent do
teaches gender influence the skills possessed by teachers in the teaching of
entrepreneurship education in secondary schools?
To what extent do
location influence the teaching methods used by teachers in teaching the
content of entrepreneurship education in secondary schools?
What are the problems
encountered by teachers in teaching entrepreneurship education in secondary
schools in Enugu state.
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses was
formulated for this study and tested at 0.05 level of significance.