STRENGTHENING TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS INSECURITY EDUCATION FOR REORIENTATION OF PUPILS IN ORUMBAS OUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDUCATION AUTHORITY, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Nigeria like many nations is faced with a plethora of security challenges. In response to this socio political challenge, the Basic Education curriculum was reformed to include Security Education. This paper, examines ways of strengthening teacher effectiveness in security education for reorientation of pupils in Orumba South Local Government Education Authority of Anambra State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Two research questions guided the study. The population of the study comprised 516 teachers in the 42 public primary schools in Orumba South Local Government Education Authority. The sample size was 112 teachers selected using Multi-stage sampling technique.. The instrument for data collection was a 21 item questionnaire structured by the researcher titled “Strengthening Teacher Effectiveness in Security Education for Reorientation” (STESER).The instrument was validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.75, and 0.78 for the two clusters with an overall reliability coefficient of 0.76. Data collected were analyzed using mean. Findings from the study revealed that factors that hindered teachers’ effectiveness in security education instruction in Orumba South Local Government Education Authority of Anambra State include inadequate teacher qualification, insufficient knowledge of up-to-date information to use in illustrations during instruction, excessive teaching loads, and insufficient learning resources for the subject and inappropriate learning environment among others. Also findings revealed that teachers should relate content with real life examples when teaching the subject, set aside a safety day to rekindle pupils interest in security education, improvise appropriate learning materials for Security education, bring in resource persons to give pupils talks on security precautions and should organize safety clubs for awareness of security education among others. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the State government should provide conducive environment and learning materials for effective teaching and learning of security education in schools. Also, teachers should avail themselves the opportunities to regularly attend workshops/conferences to upgrade themselves with the recent innovations to strengthen effectiveness in security education among others.