Gender and Teacher Experience as Distinguishing Factors of Classroom Interaction Pattern of Teachers of Two Modes of Study in Social Studies Class

Abstract

The study investigated the interaction pattern of primary school Social Studies teachers. The purposivesampling procedure was used to select 40 NTINCE and 40 full-time NCE teachers who teach at the middlebasic in Ogun State, Nigeria. A valid and reliable instrument, the Classroom Interaction Sheet (CIS) (ranging from 0.70-0.85) was used to obtain classroom coded behaviours of these teachers. Data were analysed using descriptive, t-test and ANOVA statistics. NTI NCE teachers and full-time NCE teachers did not facilitate active learning activities in the classroom as 10.3 and 10.4 minutes respectively were spent facilitating learning, whereas pupils under the two types of teachers spent 4.2 minutes or about 29% of the class time respectively participating in learning activities. NTI NCE and full-time NCE teachers spent 6.27and6. 21 minutes respectively on monologue and other activities that did not facilitate learning. Teacher’s experience and gender did not significantly distinguish between teacher interactions patterns in Social Studies class. In view of these results, it was recommended that there is a compelling need for Social Studies trainee teachers to be well-grounded in sound pedagogy that will enable them to exhibit innovativeness and ingenuity in class. Also, teacher preparation during teaching practice'Should not be left exclusively to Colleges/Faculties of Education but should be a collaborative effort among host and external auditing personnel, Ministry of Education, school heads and other teacher representatives in the state.