EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Volume 2, Number I (2006)
Teaching practice experience and types of concerns
Out of the 130 subjects in the study, 97 had previous teaching practice experience while 33
indicated that they had no teaching practice experience. Those with teaching practice experience
indicated that they had such experiences in either the colleges of education they attended before they
entered the university or after completing their Part Two courses in the university, or both.
There were no differences in the types of specific concerns expressed by both groups of student
teachers. There were also no notable differences between them in regard to the importance of these
concerns to them. There was only a minor difference between them in this respect with regard to their
concerns for transportation and accommodation. Seven out of the ten subjects who ranked
transportation as their most important concerns were those without previous teaching experience.
Also, all the 11 subjects who ranked accommodation as either their first and/or their second most
important concerns were those without previous teaching experience.
Discussion
Student teachers’ concerns
Table 1 shows that the Nigerian preservice teachers in this study expressed clusters of concerns similar
to those in Fuller and Bown’s (1975) model. A greater number of survival concerns than task
concerns were expressed by the subjects while a negligible number expressed impact concerns. In
terms of the relative proportions of their specific concerns in the self, task and impact categories of
concerns, the findings of this study are in support of Fuller and Bown’s (1975) model of preservice
teachers’ stages of professional development. This study adds substance to the results of previous
researches, which show that for students entering the student teaching experience, self-concerns were
high and task and impact concerns were less evident. According to Hall and Hord (1987), concerns at
this point have to do with feelings of potential inadequacy, self-doubts about the knowledge required,
or uncertainty about the situation they are about to face.
The Nigerian preservice teachers in this study expressed almost similar concerns with those in
studies elsewhere (Chan & Leung 2002; Veenan 1984 & 1987 cited in Meister & Melnick, 2002).
Notable differences are in regard to preponderance of self or survival concerns expressed by the
Nigerian respondents in this study.
The respondents in this study also differed from those in similar studies elsewhere by not expressing
concerns about assessing pupils’ work, record keeping and management of time. It may be wrong to
assume that they were competent in these areas of work. They might not have given any thought to
them as they were preoccupied with self concerns.
These differences could result from the differences in emphasis given to different aspects of the
teacher education programme by Nigerian educators and their counterparts elsewhere. Although the
Nigerian sample is small, the differences could be a reflection of the possible differences in the
characteristics of Nigerian student teachers and their counterparts elsewhere. It is possible that, for
reasons to be given below, the Nigerian preservice teachers in the study were less dedicated to their
training programme than their counterparts and, consequently, were slower than them in developing
professional skills.
The Most Important Concerns
Table 2 shows that survival concerns were ranked as the most important by about 80% of the subjects
of the study while less than 20% of them ranked task concerns as the most important. Among the
category of survival concerns, ‘school location’ was of the greatest importance to them. This is
probably a manifestation of the impact of the environment or context on the teaching/leaning process
as this study was done shortly after a feud between Ile-Ife and an adjoining community (Modakeke) in
which many lives were lost and property, including schools, were destroyed. With no assurance that
83