Teaching practice experiences of trainee Biology teachers: Challenges and possible panacea

Abstract

The study examined teaching practice experiences of trainee Biology teachers,
challenges and possible panacea in Nigerian Universities with reference to Ignatius Ajuru
University of Education (IAUE), Port Harcourt. Four research questions guided the study.
Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was
450 third and final-year students of Biology education for 2022/2023 academic session.
Random sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of 203. The instrument for
data collection was a questionnaire titled Trainee Teachers Teaching Practice Experience
Questionnaire (TTTPEQ). Reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained using Cronbach’s
Alpha. Research questions were answered with mean and standard deviation. The
findings showed that infrastructural development challenges like lack of chairs, tables,
laboratory, teaching equipment, insufficient seats for students, classroom management
challenges like difficulty in class control, overcrowded classrooms, uncooperative and
disruptive of students in class and the attitude of supervisors (IAUE) like making harsh
comment about lesson delivery, being reluctant to visit schools because of its location are
the challenges trainee Biology teachers experienced during teaching practice. In
conclusion, the findings call for prompt tackling of the obvious challenges to enhance
education for sustainable development. Recommendations were made like the
government should endeavor to build more classrooms, staffrooms and accommodations
for trainee Biology teachers, and university authorities should as a matter of urgency reorientated
supervisors on the need to properly supervise trainee Biology teachers in order
to bring out the best in them during teaching practice. Also, the supervisors should go a
step further to serve as models that the trainee Biology teachers would copy in order to
prepare them well for the future role of nation builders and economic backbones.

Keywords: Teaching practice, Trainee teachers, Panacea, Supervision, Experiences