TEACHING PRACTICE ATTITUDE AND BELIEF AMONG TEACHERS’ TRAINEES IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The effective conduct of teaching practice exercise enhances the quality of teacher education programme and build pre-service teacher confidence in the teaching profession. Thus, the study examines teachers’ beliefs about the teaching profession and the attitudes gained by pre-service teachers during the teaching practice exercise that will enhance their career growth. The study used a descriptive survey with structured and unstructured questionnaires to collect data from 125 respondents who were pre-service teachers in teacher education institutions. Data were analysed using descriptive. The findings showed that pre-service teacher participation in the teaching practice exercise provides them with the opportunity for professional growth and development in their career. The findings further revealed that students should be given the opportunity to provide answers to practical problems because it will enhance their thinking and reasoning processes rather than the teacher showing them how to solve the problems. Also, that instructions on what must be done should be built around problems and must have clear and correct answers so that students can quickly grasp them. The study concluded that teaching subjects should be used to allocate students to schools and these schools must be close to the abode of the student as this would remove fear and absenteeism and this would go a long way to achieve the objectives of the teaching practice exercise.