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

European Journal of Social Sciences - Volume 2, Number 1 (2006)
the feud was over, the student teachers in this study might have been so much concerned with the
possibility of being placed in schools located along or near the boundary of the two communities,
which they perceived as unsafe or volatile, that they had a greater intensity of concern for survival than
for either the task of teaching or its impact on pupils. It is not surprising, therefore, that under these
circumstances, the student teachers’ concerns for placement would be heightened. Added to this is the
natural concern some of them, like most people, would have for working in any unfamiliar setting.
Even veteran teachers are reported to revert to lower stages of development when placed in unfamiliar
teaching environments (Katz, 1972).
Their concern for overcrowded classroom might not have been unconnected with their
perceived effect of the destruction of some classroom blocks in some schools during the communal
disturbances. This may also explain their concern for school environment. It should be noted that
many of the classrooms in the area, Ile-Ife were already overcrowded due to lack of adequate
infrastructural facilities even before the outbreak of the communal clashes. Most of the schools in that
area currently have sizes of 60 and above.
Apart from school location, classroom discipline is the second greatest concern of the
respondents. Table 1 also shows that this tops the list of concerns expressed by them. Their concern
for overcrowded classrooms (mentioned by a few of them) is invariably linked to classroom discipline.
Concerns for classroom discipline or for dealing with pupils’ disruptive behaviour, pupil-teacher
relationships and assessment by lecturers expressed by the subjects in the present study have been
shown to be important survival or self concerns of preservice and beginning teacher in similar studies
elsewhere (Meister & Melnick, 2002; Chan & Leung, 2002).
In regard to the subjects of this study, these concerns could be a reflection of one of the
weaknesses of the teacher education programme of the university: classroom management is not
offered as a full course in the programme. Only some aspects of it are taught in a course titled School
Management. Exposing preservice teachers to a full classroom management course may not totally
eliminate classroom management related concerns among them but will surely go a long way in
minimizing the problem. As Turley and Wood’s (2002) study has shown, it is possible to meaningfully
address these areas of concerns through appropriate teacher preparation programmes.
The major task concern of the respondents was about teaching methods. They expressed unease with
how to teach pupils with poor communication skills. This problem has come into view in especially
the junior secondary school classes in the state mainly because of democratization of secondary
education and the virtually non-selective admission policy of the State’s Ministry of Education that
owns the public schools involved in the study. In these schools, English language is the official
language of instruction but many products of the state’s primary schools do not develop sufficient
proficiency in the language for work at the secondary level of education. Some student teachers who
understand and speak Yoruba, which is the local language, often have to resort to the use of mother
tongue for teaching some aspects of their lessons in order to enhance the students’ understanding – a
practice often frowned upon by their lecturers who expect them to teach the whole lesson (apart from
Yoruba language as a subject of study) in English. This problem of teaching pupils in a language
which they do not clearly understand partly explains why some of them expressed concern with
motivating pupils to learn.
Use of teaching aids in class was another important task concerns of the student teachers. This
is understandable as their various methods course teachers in the university emphasise the preparation
and use of relevant instructional materials for lesson delivery by student teachers. Moreover, this
aspect of their teaching practice is weighted relatively highly in the assessment of their performance in
class. Table 1 shows that this was the specific concern expressed by the highest number of students – a
reflection of the wish of many of them to get good scores in the teaching practice exercise.
Other task concerns of the students teachers, included the content of the syllabus, availability of
relevant text books, the topics to teach, motivating pupils to learn, and class level to teach. These
concerns suggest student teachers’ unease with their mastery of the subject matter, lack of knowledge
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