Background

Assuming that our curricular are right and that there is sufficient readiness to learn on the part of students, to what extent do pedagogical skills of teachers affect the standard and quality of learning and overall achievement of students? To what extent is it correct to assume that teaching skills are the principal drivers of quality learning?

However, many may agree that quality teaching skills lead to good learning outcomes. In other words, it is easier for skillful teachers to impart knowledge faster than others not so endowed.  As pointed out by Richard Tabulawa, a good teacher is one who is able to elicit creativity, versatility, innovativeness, critical thinking, problem solving, tolerance of diverse views and independence of thought from her students. As correct as the above assertion is, an incompetent teacher will have no capacity to bring about these stated outcomes.  Competent teachers constitute critical enablers in the quest for nation building, for they produce the human capital that catalyze developments on different fronts in any nation. Teaching skills are noticeably on a fast decline and impacting negatively on the quality of graduates coming out of our institutions of learning.

Many of the graduates of modern teachers are found to be less articulate, unable to communicate effectively, have little or no knowledge of their immediate environment, think less critically, have little or no history of their states or of the country, and generally lack critical motor skills.  The big task, therefore, is how to get a good number of Nigerian teachers to relearn teaching skills that will enable them impart active and lasting knowledge to their students. Perhaps the starting point is to reassess the availability of rich resources to the teachers that will enable them attain mastery of their subject areas.  These will come in the forms of relevant books and research publications in their fields as well as training opportunities to reorient their approaches and methodologies for the better; so they are able to simplify and clarify concepts by telling the right stories to connect such concepts to real life situations for easy grasping and retention by their students.