LECTURER QUALIFICATIONS AS DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN OYO AND OSUN STATES, NIGERIA

Abstract

Quality of teachers holding the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) has been observed by scholars to be deteriorating. The low quality of NCE teachers which has been traced to quality of instruction in the Colleges of Education (CoEs) is a major bottleneck to the effectiveness of basic education in Nigeria. Most studies on quality of instruction in the CoEs placed little emphasis on lecturers’ education qualifications. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which the lecturers’ professional and academic qualifications determine the quality of instruction in the public CoEs in Oyo and Osun States, Nigeria.  Descriptive survey design of “ex-post facto” was used.  The population for this study consisted of 721 lecturers. The sample size for the study was 124 academic staff. Multi-stage sampling frame was used for the selection. One research question and two hypotheses were used as guide for the study. Interview was conducted on ten Deans in the Colleges of Education. Quality of Instruction Rating Scale (r=0.86) and a Structured Interview Schedule used for data collection. Content analysis, Multiple regression and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient were used to analyse the data at 0.05 level of significance. The lecturers’ education qualifications significantly determined quality of instruction (F _{(5, 2231)} = 66.92; R² =.129) and explained 12.9% of its total variance. Lecturers’ Professional qualification (? = .27; t= 9.52) and academic qualification (? = .23; t= 8.22) determined quality of instruction positively. Lecturers that combine NCE and Bachelor of education had better quality of instruction. Professional qualification had the higher determinant. The minimum professional qualification of lecturers in colleges of education should be reviewed to enhance quality of instruction.