The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism
ABSTRACT
In a broader spectrum, the TRCN was meant to enunciate tremendous transformation in the teaching profession with particular attention to the quality of teacher education programmes, registration and licensing, mandatory continuing professional development, professional conduct and overall social status of teachers at 6 all strata of the education system.
Introduction
The teacher is the pivot on which the educational process rests. In fact, the importance and place of teacher in the education process is highly priced by all nations of the world. Little wanders why the Federal Government of Nigeria clearly stated that no education system can rise above the quality of its teachers.
Nigeria needs teachers who will meet the expectations of the nation; teachers who will help the nation raise a generation of citizens whose performance will meet the international standards; a generation that will be prosperous, vibrant and peaceful. This notion cannot achieve the expected quality education without competent teachers and school administrators who are well equipped with the desirable 2 knowledge, skills and effective operations of the education system (Wokoha, 2014).
The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN, 2010), advocates that teaching just like other professions now requires that only those who are adequately prepared and regulated should be entrusted with the teaching- learning process
Teachers Professionalism
Professionalism is a social process by which any trade or occupation transforms itself into a true profession of the highest integrity and competence. This process tends to involve establishing acceptable qualifications, a professional body or association to oversee the conduct of members of the profession and some degree of demarcation of those qualified from unqualified, popularly called amateurs (Cower 2007).
Professionalism is further explained by Cower (2007) as a process that transforms a vocation from the traditional, generalized mode of operations to a highly technical knowledge and specialized field.
TRCN (2005), attests that professionalism guarantees that ethics are imbibed, the rules of the game exist and are obeyed by all, clients get value for their money and efforts, public interest is protected, priority is given to nation building, and above all that the professionals are regarded with dignity and awe. The profession of law, medicine, Engineering, pharmacy, among others realized these secrets early enough and fully exploited them. The above definitions of the term profession are descriptive of the following traits as outlined by Okeke (2004).
(a) The nature of service provided,
(b) The nature of the procedures used,
(c) The kinds of control exercised over the quality of membership, and
(d) The type of organizational life developed by the membership.
The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism.
The continuous need to raise teaching to the status of full profession (like law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering among others), has been an issue of concern to all 5 those interested in the business of quality education in Nigeria, especially the government. Realizing that for teaching to be recognized as a profession it must to a reasonable extent satisfy the criteria or characteristics set for an occupation to attain a professional status.
One of such criteria demands for the establishment of a professional body or association to regulate entrance into the teaching profession and to control ethical conducts of members and eliminate quacks. The TRCN is an agency of the federal ministry of education that was established to regulate and control the teaching profession in all ramifications.
This, as already noted was established by Act 31 of 1993. In a broader spectrum, the TRCN was meant to enunciate tremendous transformation in the teaching profession with particular attention to the quality of teacher education programmes, registration and licensing, mandatory continuing professional development, professional conduct and overall social status of teachers at 6 all strata of the education system.
THE REGULATION OF TEACHING PROFESSION IN NIGERIA: MANDATE OF
TRCN
In section 1 (1) of TRCN Act 31 of 1993, the council was charged with the following responsibilities;
- Determine who are teachers for the purpose of the Act.
- Determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as teachers under this Act and raising those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit.
- Securing in accordance with the provisions of this Act the establishment and maintenance of a register of teachers and the publication from time to time of the list of those persons.
- Regulating and controlling the teaching profession in all its aspects and ramifications.
- Classifying from time to time members of the teaching profession according to their level of training and qualification.
- Performing through the council established under this Act the functions conferred on it by this Act.
The implication of this mandate is that the content of TRCN Act is one and the same with the contents of the Acts establishing the council for regulating and controlling of the noble profession of medicine, Engineering, Architecture, Pharmacy, Law among other professions in Nigeria.
The stand now is that teachers will henceforth undergo all those required intellectual, professional, moral, social and even psychological rigors inherent in the other professions and which has distinctively distanced them from quacks and lay people.
PROGRAMMES OF TRCN FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM
In fulfilling the legal provisions required of every noble profession, the TRCN has set out to implement the under mentioned programmes and activities as outlined by TRCN (2010).
- Registration and licensing of qualified teachers
- Accreditation, monitoring and supervision of the courses and programmes of teacher training institutions in Nigeria to ensure that they meet national and international standards. The institutions include the colleges of Education, Faculties and institute of Education in Nigerian Universities, Schools of Education in the Polytechnics and the National Teachers Institute.
- Organization of internship schemes and induction programmes for fresh Education graduates to equip them with the necessary professional skills before licensing them for full professional practice.
- Conduct of professional examinations and interviews to determine teachers suitable for registration. v. Establishment of national minimum standards for and execution of mandatory continuing professional development (MCPD) to guarantee that teachers keep abreast of developments in the theory and practice of the profession.
- Organisation of annul conference for registered teachers
- Publication of a register of qualified and licensed teachers in Nigeria in hard copies and available through the World Wide Web.
- Enforcement of professional ethics among teachers using the teachers investigating panel (TIP) and the teachers’ tribunal.
- Prosecution in the law court of unqualified persons performing the job of teachers in contravention of the TRCN Act section 17 (2).
- Acting as the voice of the voiceless teachers and continuously initiating/driving public policies and practices that could reposition the 10 teaching profession in Nigeria in order to compete favourable in the global world.
Conclusion
This paper has indeed established the tremendous role of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in the increasingly globalizing world. In order to achieve teacher professionalism in Nigeria, TRCN has set machinery in motion to register and license qualified teachers, and made provision for teachers’ continuous professional development.
In fact, TRCN sees maintaining teachers’ professional standards as a task that must be done. The council set out to achieve this by ensuring that all criteria for guiding an occupation as a profession are fully considered and attained.
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References
Abodunrin, G.O. & Ogundare, F. (1996). The teacher factor in the Nigerian education system. Andrain forum 9 (1), 57-62.
Ciwar, D.C. (2007). Code of professional ethics Buwa Books, Lagos.
Federal Ministry of Education, (1990). Nigeria teachers, service manual-Lagos. Federal ministry of education.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2009). National policy on education. Lagos NERDC press.
Godson, I. (2003). Professional knowledge, professional lives: Studies in education. Maidenhead, Open University press.
The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism
The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism
The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism
The Role of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in Teacher Professionalism
