Functions of National Teachers Institute | The National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna is a single mode distance education institution dedicated to teacher training. It was established in 1976 by the Federal Government primarily because of the pressing needs in the country for trained and qualified teaching staff at all levels of the educational system.
Act No. 7 of 10th April 1978 establishing the Institute charged it among others with the responsibility of: providing courses of instruction leading to the development, upgrading and certification of teachers as specified in the relevant syllabus using distance education techniques.
Vision
The vision of the Institute is to enhance the professional skills of serving teachers for high quality education delivery at primary and secondary education levels with a view to uplifting the standard of the education system of the country.
Mission Statement
To upgrade/update teachers knowledge and skills in curriculum implementation while instilling in them the virtues of dedication, loyalty, commitment, discipline and resourcefulness.
The Institute’s vision shall be realized through the pursuit of the following goals:
- producing teachers trained and oriented to meet the challenges of twenty first century Nigerian society;
- nurturing a commitment to lifelong learning that is creative, innovative, and responsive to changes in the world of knowledge and the changing needs;
- designing and enriching subject content to ensure that the teacher-trainees attain a high level of mastery of the subject matter;
- building the capacity of teacher- trainees in the use of effective communication skills and relevant technologies for the delivery of quality education;
- strengthening the Institute’s monitoring , evaluation and feedback mechanism to ensure effective and efficient service delivery;
- developing capacity for effective selection and deployment of relevant technology including Information and Communication Technology for effective Distance Learning delivery;
- establishing effective research capability in order to ensure that all the Institute’s programmes are based on scientifically established grounds in terms of who needs training and the content of training required;
- reviewing and revitalizing in-service training and retraining programme for all categories of teachers, school administrators and school supervisors;
- regularly reviewing and restructuring curricula of all the Institute’s programmes to bring them in line with changing realities;
NTI Structure
The Institute, with its headquarters in Kaduna, operates through a network of 6 Zonal and 37 State offices and over 400 study centres. The organizational structure of the Institute comprises:
- Office of the Director-General & Chief Executive.
- Registry and Council Affairs
- Department of Field Operations & Students Services.
- School of Teacher Professional Development, Research and Examinations.
- School of Undergraduate Studies
- School of Postgraduate Studies
- Bursary
The Zonal Offices are located in Abuja (North Central), Bauchi (North East), Benin (South South), Enugu (South East), Ibadan (South West), and Kano (North West).
The Institute has an office in each of the 36 States and FCT. Tutorials, examinations, tutor-student interaction, student-student interaction, counselling, etc take place in the Study Centres all over the country.
Functions of the Institute
The enabling Law mandates the Institute to:
- upgrade under-qualified and untrained teachers.
- conduct post-graduate courses and examinations in education for graduate teachers.
- provide refresher and other upgrading courses for teachers.
- organize workshops, seminars and conferences, which would assist in the improvement of teachers.
- conduct examinations.
- carry out research in conjunction with other bodies on any matter relevant to educational development in the country.
- formulate policies and initiate programmes at all levels of education designed to improve by way of research the quality and content of education in Nigeria.
- assess from time to time the training programmes offered by Institutions controlled by or associated with the Institute with a view to ascertaining the professional competence of those Institutions.
- offer such assistance, either alone or in co-operation with educational bodies as may be required by the Institutions controlled by or associated with the Institute.
- foster and enhance international co-operation in the education of teachers; and perform such other functions as are necessary or expedient for the full discharge of all the functions of the Council under this Decree.
Meet the people and institutions who make Nigerian Teachers Institute an industry leader.
Composition of the Governing Council
- Chairman and another Federal Government Nominee
- One Member Representing the Fed. Min. of Education
- Three Members representing the NUT, NTA and FRCN
- Two Members representing the Universities
- One Commissioner of Education from each of the Six Geo-Political Zones
- The Director General / CEO
- The Registrar serves as the Secretary to the Council.
Duties of the Governing Council
- To organize and provide programmes for the training, development, upgrading and certification of teachers.
- To carry out research in conjunction with other bodies on any matter relevant to the development of teacher education in the country.
- To conduct post-graduate courses and examinations in EDUCATION for graduate teachers.
- To formulate and initiate relevant policies and programmes towards enriching / improving the content and quality of Teacher education in Nigeria.
Other Duties
- To assess from time to time, the training programmes offered by Institutions controlled by, or associated with the Institute with a view to ascertaining their professional competence.
- To offer such assistance, either alone or in co-operation with other educational bodies, as may be requested by those institutions controlled by or associated with the Institute.
- To foster and enhance international co-operation in the development of Teacher Education.
- To perform such other functions as are necessary or expedient for the full discharge of any of the functions of the Institute.
From MDGs to SDGs
The NTI has successfully trained 749,158 teachers through the MDGs from 2006-2015. As the nation transits from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is necessary to state that the National Teachers Institute has even greater role to play. As next steps, the NTI intends to:
- train Primary and JSS teachers on the concept and principles of SDGs,
- train them to integrate the SDGs in the classroom teaching of the 4 core subject areas of Basic Science and Technology, English Language, Mathematics and Social Studies
train in thematic areas to be selected from the following: Inclusive Education, Language Communication Skills, Effective Classroom Management Skills, Basic Teaching Methods and Techniques, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), School Based Assessment, Improvisation of Instructional Materials, Teaching Large Classes, Coping with Children with Special Needs (Learning Difficulties), Teaching in Small Rural Multi-grade Schools, Entrepreneurship education, and E-Learning. There is need to increase the allocation for the project.
NTI and the FME Ministerial Strategic Plan (2016-2019)
As a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Teachers Institute is ever ready to key into the plans and programmes of the Ministry. It is therefore gratifying to note that the NTI is strategically placed to play a critical role in the actualisation of the Draft 2016-2019 FME Ministerial Strategic Plan. The Plan is built on nine pillars, all of which are relevant to the NTI Mandate. More specifically, four are directly relevant, namely:
- Strengthening basic and secondary school education;
- Teacher education, capacity building and professional development;
- Quality and access in higher education; and
- E-learning
The NTI Specialised Centres
The Institute also has Specialized Centres and they include:
- Centre for Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education (SMASE),
- Centre for Entrepreneurship and Special Education,
- Centre for the Teaching of English, and
- Centre for E-Learning.
The Centre for the Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education (SMASE) has trained 438 teachers in Science and Mathematics nationwide. This training has been cascaded in each state to cater for more teachers. Similarly, the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Special Education has CPD programmes that will help develop and upgrade the skills and knowledge of teachers at basic level.