The Teaching of Health Education as a Secondary School Subject in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Health education (HED) as a subject in the secondary school curriculum has been made a compulsory subject in West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) examinations for any candidate wanting to study any course in the medical and health-related disciplines in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This study seeks to find out the extent of the teaching of HED as a school subject in secondary schools in Bayelsa State; not as components of other subjects like health science, biology, and physical and health education. The proposed approach of the study was a State-wide survey of the teaching of HED as a school subject in secondary schools. This was done by involving 114 schools out of the 192 schools in the State. Findings revealed that out of the 114 schools visited, 38 schools only teach Physical and Health Education (PHE) as a subject in the Junior Secondary School level. During interviews with heads of schools that teaches PHE; it was gathered that the teachers who teach PHE also doubles as teachers of HED at the Senior Secondary (SSS) level. Implying that only 38 schools out of the 114 sampled schools teach (HED) as a school subject; this reveals an abysmal absence of the teaching of Health Education as a school subject in Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The none-teaching of HED underscores its importance to healthful-living It is therefore recommended that health education as a subject be encouraged and taught in all SSS in the State

The Revolving Door of Education: Teacher Turnover and Retention amongst the Graduates of a Liberal Arts Teacher Education Program

In the United States, elementary and secondary education teachers comprise 4% of the entire civilian workforce (Ingersoll, 2001). The composition of that 4% is changing because of teacher turnover. According to recent statistics, 46% of teachers leave the classroom within the first five years of teaching and 9.5% of teachers leave the classroom within their first year (Rinke, 2014; Riggs, 2013; Zheng & Zeller, 2016). This study is designed to examine the teaching experiences of graduates of one teacher education program and the potential differences between graduates who stay in teaching and those who leave. Throughout this study, the guiding questions were: How many Gettysburg College Teacher Education Program Alumni, 1985 - 2008, are still teaching in the classroom at a primary or secondary level? Why did some alumni leave the classroom at a primary or secondary level and why did some alumni never teach? How does the data from the Gettysburg College Teacher Education Program alumni correspond with the previous scholarship on teacher turnover and retention? When looked at from the perspective of an individual post-secondary institution, the individual stories of the alumni emerge and so does the complexity of teacher turnover and retention in America, which is not always reflected in studies conducting on a state or national level

Teachers and teaching in upper secondary education: a comparison of systems in place across secondary and FE sectors

The training of teachers in upper secondary education varies considerably dependent on whether training is undertaken as a secondary school teacher or as a teacher within the Further Education (FE) system. Indeed, until the late 1990s, the training of teachers in FE had been the focus of little regulation by Government. Differences also occur across the UK with different pathways in place in the home countries. Regardless of the pathway taken to teaching in upper secondary education there are concerns that the teaching in schools and FE is still not good enough. The Coalition Government has proposed many reforms to the training of teachers in schools and a consultation exercise has been undertaken on the training of teachers in the FE sector. This article will review current approaches to the training of teachers in the home countries of the UK. Attention will be given to the proposed reforms in order to consider how these might contribute to raising the standard of teacher training and hence the quality of teaching in schools and FE. © 2011 Institute of Education, University of London

The CASE Programme Implemented Across the Primary and Secondary School Transition in Ireland

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.In the Irish education system, there is little continuity between the primary and secondary education systems. The transfer between these systems is particularly problematic in the area of science. In order to alleviate some of these problems, as well as to enhance the cognitive development of students, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education programme was adapted for use and implemented across the primary–secondary school transition in Ireland. The programme was delivered in a variety of ways across the two levels, including the teacher and researcher teaching the programmes individually and team-teaching arrangements. The results on cognitive development measures showed that the students who were taught the programme in primary and secondary school made significant gains, when compared to the non-intervention group. There were also gains evident for students who only received one part of the programme (i.e. in either primary or secondary school). The greater gains, in terms of effect size, were evident at secondary school. The rationale, methodology and results are detailed in this paper

Perceptions on proof and the teaching of proof: A comparison across preservice secondary teachers in Australia, USA and Korea

Despite the recognised importance of mathematical proof in secondary education, there is a limited but growing body of literature indicating how preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) view proof and the teaching of proof. The purpose of this survey research was to investigate how PSMTs in Australia, the USA and Korea perceive of proof in the context of secondary mathematics teaching and learning. PSMTs were able to outline various mathematical and pedagogical aspects of proof, including purposes, characteristics, reasons for teaching and imposed constraints. In addition, PSMTs attended to differing, though overlapping, features of proof when asked to determine the extent to which proposed arguments constituted proofs or to decide which arguments they might present to students

Compensatory education for disadvantaged Mexican students : an impact evaluation using propensity score matching

The authors use propensity score matching to evaluate the effectiveness of CONAFE, a compensatory education program in Mexico, in improving student test scores and lowering repetition and failure rates. They find that CONAFE is most effective in improving primary school math learning and secondary school Spanish learning. Secondary education delivered by way of television to remote communities and bilingual education for indigenous students are both shown to improve student achievement. CONAFE also lowers primary school repetition and failure rates. The authors conclude that this compensatory education program can effectively improve short-term learning results for disadvantaged students, but that improvement varies by the subject of instruction and the demographics of students taught.Primary Education,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Teaching and Learning,Public Health Promotion,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Girls Education

A critical challenge: Developing student's critical abilities

The work of educators includes grappling with the challenges of bringing theoretical concepts and approaches into day-to-day physical education practice for quality programmes and the betterment of student learning. One of our most exciting challenges is in capturing the potential the Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (MoE, 1999) and the New Zealand Curriculum (MoE, 2007) present to us as physical educators. The curriculum has encouraged the development of socio-critical perspectives and inquirybased approaches to teaching and learning programmes (Culpan & Bruce, 2007; Fitzpatrick, 2010; Gillespie & Culpan, 2000; Wright, 2004). We (the writers) have tackled the theory to practice challenge of the development of student’s critical abilities from a range of positions within education. Our involvement in initial teacher education, teacher professional development, secondary physical education teaching and physical education advisory roles has meant we have needed to not only develop our own practice as educators, but also consider how to successfully enable secondary school students, teacher education students and practicing physical education teachers to understand and implement a socio-critical physical education curriculum. This paper focuses on processes, knowledge and understandings that support the development of student’s critical abilities

Changing patterns in vocational education

One of the long standing issues in education development has been productive job training in rapidly changing economies. The argument has been made that vocational secondary schools are not well equipped for this task. Although vocational and academic schooling often result in similar levels of education and employment, the higher costs of the vocational schooling makes it a less attractive alternative. In the past 23 years of Bank lending for vocational education and training, there has been a clear shift away from vocational secondary schools toward various forms of training, outside the formal education system. Although investment has been shifting into nonformal training, secondary education is in need of new directions. Diversified secondary schools have not provided that direction, leaving questions about how secondary schools might meet social objectives cost effectively.Tertiary Education,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Curriculum&Instruction