A Critical Examination of Early Childhood Education Programmes in Nigeria and their Minimum Operational Requirements

Abstract

Teacher Education in Nigeria, as part of Tertiary Education is regulated by various bodies, depending on the awarding institutions of the certificate in question. Early Childhood Teacher Education on the other hand is an integral part of Teacher Education. There is a need to take a critical look at the basic guidelines set for running these programmes. This paper reveals that there are three types of institutions running approved programmes in Early Childhood Teacher Education in Nigeria. The guidelines stipulated for operating the three variants of higher institutions in Nigeria offering approved Early Childhood Teacher Education courses. The guidelines set by the National Universities Commission, National Commission for Colleges of Education and the National Board for Technical Education were examined. This was with a view to exploring the basic requirements for setting up the programmes, making criticism of same and offering necessary input in the form of recommendation for the improvement of Teacher Education in general and Early Childhood Teacher Education specifically. It was therefore recommended that Innovation Enterprises should be further modified or upgraded to award National Certificates in Education; Colleges of Education should restructure to allow for more flexibility in admission requirements; allow for more input and flexibility by the individual institution by allowing for greater inputs as regards choice of courses to add teach and examine. Universities are also recommended to jettison the practice of fusing the course content and pedagogies of Early Childhood Education and Primary Education Studies.