Teacher educators’ conception of teaching and learning in teacher education institutions

Abstract

Effectiveness of teaching reflects interplay among a number of teacher-variables prominent among which is the teacher’s conceptions of teaching and learning. In educational institutions where teachers are educated, the influence of these conceptions on effectiveness is geometric. This is because teacher educators are teachers of teachers and most teachers teach the way they were taught. Two major conceptions of teaching (traditionalist/transmissive and contemporary/constructivist) have been delineated. The purpose of this study was to determine if a majority of teacher educators in Colleges of Education, Delta State Nigeria have contemporary/constructivist conceptions of teaching, and if teacher variables (qualification, discipline and experience) would influence their conceptions. A customized instrument was administered to 179 teacher educators selected through the use of cluster sampling technique. Results indicated that; a majority of the teacher educators had traditionalist /transmissive conceptions of teaching and learning, qualification and discipline did not influence their conceptions, inexperienced teacher educators had conceptions that were more inclined to contemporary/constructivist conceptions than the experienced teacher educators. Implications of these results for improvement of teacher education programs and for further research have been drawn.