Teacher educators in Nigeria will have the opportunity to receive training in early grade reading, once the National Commission for Colleges of Education concludes the revision of the Nigeria Certificate in Education curriculum.
The commission is revising its minimum standards to include early grade reading as a standalone course in the departments of Adult and Non-Formal Education, Primary Education and Early Childhood Care and Education across 82 colleges of education in the country.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Bappa-Aliyu Muhammadu revealed this when the management of Northern Education Initiative Plus led by the Acting Chief of Party Nurudeen Lawal paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday, February 28, 2019.
Muhammadu said the decision to introduce early grade reading best practices into the pre-service curriculum was to equip teacher educators with skills to teach children to read in mother tongue while transitioning to English.
“Undoubtedly, the approach of NEI Plus has yielded results and we want these successes replicated and the concept imbibed in our colleges,” he said.
He said the commission will establish an Early Grade Resource Center as a model for other colleges of education and train lecturers to implement the curriculum.
“We will require technical assistance from the project as we set up the model Early Grade Reading Center,” he added.
Acting Chief of Party of the Northern Education Initiative Plus, Nurudeen Lawal appealed for closer collaboration with the commission so that early grade reading is fully integrated into the NCE minimum standard for improved learning outcomes.
“We will continue to provide support to the commission through the Preservice Technical Working Group so that intervention Colleges of Education are positioned to effectively implement and sustain the early grade reading course,” he said.
The Acting Chief of Party also made a presentation of some NEI Plus materials to the Executive Secretary. The materials presented include English and Hausa Versions of the Mu Kuranta! Let’s Read! Teacher’s Guide and Pupil’s Book, video compilation of activities, roll-up banners and project’s success stories.
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