Educational Resources in Lower Primary Classes: The Situation in Lagelu, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Lower primary classes are known to be the last three years (Age 6 to 8 years) of Early
Childhood Education (ECE) programme. Learning at this age is characterised by the
availability of quality instructional resources, which enable the teachers to plan and deliver
child-centred lessons for functional and effective learning. The extent to which lower
primary class teachers adopt teacher-centred methods at Lagelu Local Government Area
(LLGA) of Oyo State Nigeria, makes one wonder, if resources are available at all and why
teachers are not using them, hence this study. Correlational survey research design was
adopted. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 150 teachers of lower
classes in public primary schools in LLGA. Two validated research instruments, through
inter-rater techniques, namely Resources Availability Checklist (RAC; r = 0.83) and
Observation Schedule on Lower Primary School Teachers’ Use of Teaching Resources
(OSLPST_UTR; r = 0.86) were used to gather the data. Some of the findings show that
only Class Teachers (94.7%) and Assistant Class Teachers (60.6%) are available and
efficient among human resources, others are not available. Only number poster (49.2%)
is available and functional among all print materials, others are not among other findings.
Recommendations were proffered based on these findings.

Keywords: Lower primary classes, Availability of educational resources, Public
primary schools, human and material resources