Before the demise of the late Dr. Samuel Oluranti Adeyegbe, Head of the National Office, West African Examination Council, Lagos, last Saturday in London, he was at the Lead City niversity, Ibadan on May 12, 2006 for a training workshop on textbook development. At the event, the late Dr. Adeyegbe gave his last contribution to education development through a paper he delivered on textbook production. Excerpts:
The secondary school level of education, as enshrined in the National Policy on Education, is a level where students are meant to be grounded in what it takes in not just to fit into their mmediate environment, but to also be a positive tool of change for the better. It is therefore pertinent to make this level of education functional and effective in all ramifications in order to cope with the global trend of the 21st century. However, Professor Obemiata has observed that the secondary school level of education in Nigeria is in jumble, this to him is because of the acute shortage in instructional materials and other related indices of school quality.
A major message of the World Conference on “Education For All” was that education systems must have a systematic way of monitoring quality of education. Both textbook development and educational evaluation are potent tools that can be used for this purpose. They can serve as a source of information/accountability in providing sound knowledge and quantitative and qualitative data to students, teachers, principals as well as educational planners, administrators and policy makers. With regards to textbooks, it has been found that many of the textbooks currently in use are outdated, unattractively designed, and printed on poor quality paper, thus reducing both learning achievement and physical durability. Therefore, publishers should aim at improving the quality, durability and availability of textbooks and other instructional materials. Specifically, they should embark on the following:
Strengthening textbook publishing and printing capacity by upgrading equipment for publishing and printing, providing high quality paper and cover board for more durable textbooks and generally reviewing and strengthening the textbook production system. Providing better designs more durable textbooks with modern pedagogy and content in key subjects as well as teachers’ guides, library books and technical aids. Publishing textbooks that reflect changing knowledge and skills needed in the Nigerian labour force.
Survey new trends and practices in education aimed at pedagogical improvement/effectiveness by promoting student centred methods in the textbook, and training classroom teachers in the use of student-centred teaching methods. Organise productive and widely publicized book fair. Engage in constant evaluations and reviews that will guide textbook development in the future.Educational evaluators should realize; that they are dealing with easily damaged goods - the intellectual emotional! and physical well being of thousands of learners. Consequently, evaluation should be done with the primary aim of improving the programme with regards to the ffectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the input, process and the output.
Evaluation should not stop at measurement or assessment, it should strengthen and empower the various stakeholders particularly the learner and the teacher’ and foster learning; Each of the processes involved in evaluation should be meticulously handled so that the data obtained will be valid and reliable; and “Evaluators should encourage and support a new round of curriculum development focused on creating a coherent picture of key ideas for specific topics, using a research-based development and testing process to ensure that the instructional strategies promote learning the key ideas.
source: www.tribune.com.ng |
