Contents
ToggleThis chapter contains ten sections as follows: Background to the study, Problem statement, Conceptual framework, Research aim, Overall objective, Specific Objectives, Hypothesis, Significance of the study, Definition of key concepts, and Organisation of the study.
School inspection is a vital service in all schools, which can be used to ensure improvement of academic achievement in schools. The impact of the school inspection however, depends on how it is done, and whether the recommendations by school inspectors are used as a tool to impel improvement of school performance. If observation during school inspection is not effectively communicated to all stakeholders and if feedback and follow up is lacking and there is no implementation of inspectors’ recommendations then school inspection will be a waste of time and resources. There are established performance indicators for quality education (see Appendix D) which are checked by both school inspectors and school supervisors. The schools where most of the performance indicators are attained are the schools which also perform well academically. School inspectors use the inspection findings to grade schools and to improve performance by providing guidance and support to teachers. In Nigeria school inspectors perform both functions (inspection and supervision) but school authorities dwell mainly on supervision.
School supervision is a continuous process of providing guidance and support to teachers in order to improve the provision of education. In Nigeria supervision in secondary schools is conducted by heads of schools, deputy heads of schools, academic coordinators and heads of departments. In secondary schools, school inspection is provided by the zonal inspectorate office.
Inspection and supervision are sometimes used interchangeably; however they have slightly different interpretations. According to Colin (2001), inspection involves observing work in schools, collecting evidence from a variety of other sources and reporting judgement. For him, inspection therefore involves making judgement about the significance and worth of what is observed, collected and reported. However, Aiyepeku (1987) argues that inspection, is not so much on judging teachers but on assessing teaching and identifying educational problems with teachers in order to help them to find solutions to the problems.
Supervision may also be described as the exercise of general superintendence over the activities of functionaries in an establishment. This involves a system of mobilizing staff through the provision of guidance, advice, encouragement and motivation, in the discharge of their duties (Whawo, 1995; Institute of Education
University of Ibadan, 1981). Supervision involves an in-house helping relationship in which the supervisor constantly and continuously guides and assists the teachers to meet set targets while school inspection involves a cooperative relationship whereby the school inspector comes into the school from outside to check and ensure that set targets are being met by both teachers and in-house supervisors (Olagboye 2004). The schools of thought on supervision and inspection by Aiyepeku (1987), (Whawo 1995) and Olagboye (2004) show that both activities focus on the schools’ areas of weaknesses and provide solutions or recommend on possible remedies to the weaknesses.
Both school inspection and school supervision identify the shortcomings in the school setting and either passes judgement or provides remedial guidance and support to stakeholders. All stakeholders (school authorities, parents, students, school supervisors and school inspectors) support quality education. School inspectors and school supervisors work towards reducing the shortcomings in the school setting. Where the shortcomings are kept to a minimum, academic achievement and performance will be enhanced
School inspection aims to produce graduates who are self reliant and who will contribute to national development and the economic welfare of the people in line with the roles of Nigerian school inspectors as per MOEVT (2014) requirements which are:
School inspection is a vital means for monitoring the delivery of education according to stipulated curriculum and set standards. It also ensures efficiency and quality delivery in education. The efficiency and effective delivery of education under the decentralized and liberalized education system as stipulated in the Education and Training Policy document requires closer monitoring of schools as well as having adequate feed-back mechanisms between school inspectors and education agencies, managers and administrators at zonal, regional and district levels MOEC, 1995).
The School Inspectorate is a department within the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training headed by the Chief Inspector of Schools (CIS) who is also the director of the department. The C I S directly reports to the Commissioner of Education. The CIS is supported by four sections in the department, namely Management, Basic Education, Secondary Education and Teacher Education. Each of these four sections is headed by a head of section. In this context, the focus will be inspection in secondary schools. The duties and responsibilities of school inspectorate at secondary and teacher education at zonal level are
Based on the roles and expectations of the society on the importance of school inspection and its impact on academic achievement, the government of Nigeria spends some of taxpayers’ money to support school inspection processes. One way to justify the taxpayers’ money expenditures is to measure the impact of school inspection. Under this circumstance it was important to investigate the impact of school inspection on the level of academic achievement whereby this situation is still a challenge because lots of the government schools are still operating below standard by measuring the student’s academic performance.
The overall objective of this study was to investigate the Effect of school inspection on education standard in Taraba state public secondary schools”
The specific objectives are;
This study will enable the Ministry of Education to become aware of the impact of school inspection on education standard . The study will motivate school inspectors to perform their duties more diligently. Teachers and heads of schools will see the advantages of their schools being inspected.
In carrying out this study the following key concepts are defined in the context of the study as follows:
Inspect: To examine something carefully in order to judge its quality or correctness. (Microsoft Encarta, 2009). In the context of this study is to examine and evaluate all activities in a school setting.
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Early childhood education is a starting point for a child’s development and the key foundation of the Nigerian Educational System. This type of education is recognized by the Nigeria National Policy on Education (FRN 2012). In the National Policy provisions were made stating the objectives and guidelines taken by the government to achieve meet early childhood education goals. This policy encourages and endorses private participation in the provision of pre-primary education. This article examines the implementation of the policy, pointing out the purposes of early childhood education, achievements made so far, current problems, and recommendations to address these problems.
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The Parents Teachers Association, like the name indicates, is an association, comprising Teachers and Parents. It is obvious from the name, that such an association is formed for the welfare of children/students in mind and the welfare of the school in general. National Congress of Parents and Teachers, also National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), a child and youth advocacy volunteer group, the largest of its type in the United States, founded in 1897 in Washington D.C. (Microsoft Encarta 2007).
Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) is a voluntary and welfare organization that brings together the major stakeholders in education, which are the parents, guardians and teachers of pupils in a particular school. They help in fund-raising, maintenance of discipline, seeing to the welfare of the school, and creating a bound between the school, the home, and the community, between the parents and the teachers and building parent involvement at school and other activities relating to the welfare of the school, rather than the progress of individual pupils. Eze, (2008) defined P.T.A as “a membership organization for parents of students/pupils and teachers of schools. The associations are groups made up of parents, teachers and sometimes others within the school community. They provide a range of opportunities for parents or care givers to be actively involved
in supporting schools, for the overall benefits of their children. The importance of PTA cannot be over emphasized, especially now that it is clear that government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of providing qualitative education for every citizen.”
After the government takeover of schools, the then East Central State Government saw the need for the involvement of the community especially the Parents Teachers Association in the administration of Schools. It saw that it was obvious that government alone cannot cater for the education of the children, and that there is the need to involve the Parents Teachers Association. The children, belong to the Parents who are the PTA, therefore, the education of the children is important to them too. It is a collective responsibility. Government plays its role, and parents including teachers, play their own role in the education of the children. Ezeocha, (1990), saw the Parents Teachers Association as a voluntary and welfare association of parents/ guardians of children of a particular school with the teachers who teach in that school as members. Parents Teachers Association also helps to promote an understanding between the home and the school, which is between the teachers, the parents and the student. Ukeje, (1992), sees Parents Teachers Association as a formal establishment that comprises parents whose children are currently registered as students in a school with teachers in that school. From the definitions we see that though parents sometimes are not really the official teachers of their children, they play an important role in the training of their children both at home and in the school; because they serve as a link between what happens at home and what happens in
the school environment. This relationship between the school and the home helps to instill discipline in children, since a child would know that his activities both at home and in school can be monitored and communicated to either the school or the home. To Ohuche and Ali, (1989), the purpose of the Parents Teachers Association is to bring the home and the school close to each other, to study the problem of the children and if possible find solutions that are mutually beneficial.
The association was first started in the United States of America by a group of parents (mothers) who were concerned about the welfare of the children. “Charity kindergartens or so called free kindergartens for children of the poor became one of the main instruments of the progressive women’s and social movements of the late 1880s and 1890s. Some of these schools were parts of settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, established by American social reformer Jane Addams. The teachers from these charity kindergartens often made home visits and taught songs and games to mothers to use with their children. These meetings between parents and kindergarten teachers eventually helped lead to the founding of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, also known as the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)”. Microsoft Encarta (2007)
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