Nigeria & Education STEPHEN COWELL EDU 357 DR. STOLOFF DUE: 4/11/14

History of Nigeria  Influenced and controlled by British early on…  Gained independence in 1960  Under military control  Did not change until new constitution was accepted in 1999  Country’s economy based around petroleum  Causes violence and corruption  Elections were always surrounded with violence  Elections of 2003 and 2007 The World Factbook

Geography  Located in Western Africa  Borders with Gulf of Guinea  Between Benin and Cameroon  32 nd largest country in the world  910,768 sq km of land  13,000 sq km of water  Tropical weather in center of country  All different kinds of terrain  Mountains, plateaus, lowlands, plains The World Factbook

Geography Cont.  Natural Resources…  Natural Gas  Petroleum  Tin, Iron ore, Lead, Zinc,  Coal, Limestone, Niobium  Arable Land The World Factbook

Environmental Issues  Soil degradation  Rapid deforestation  Urban air and water pollution  Desertification  Oil pollution - water, air, and soil  Has suffered serious damage from oil spills  Loss of arable land  Rapid urbanization The World Factbook

People and Society  Composed of more than 250 ethnic groups  Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%  Languages  English is official language but over 500 additional languages are spoken  Religions  Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, Indigenous Beliefs 10%  As of July, 2014 there are 177,155,754 people living in Nigeria  Life Expectancy  Male: years  Female: years The World Factbook

Facts About Nigerian Life  Labor force Million  70% in Agriculture  10% in Industry  20% in Services  70% of population lives below poverty line  Nigeria Revenue = Billion  Nigeria Expenditures = Billion  United States biggest export partner  86 th largest debt out of all countries, United States being the 2nd The World Factbook

Transnational Issues  Border Disputes  Refugees and internally displaced persons  5,299 Liberia Refugees  Unknown number of IDP’s  Illicit Drugs  Heroin and Cocaine  Corruption and money laundering The World Factbook

Education System in America  Early childhood education is followed by primary school (called elementary school in the United States), middle school, secondary school (called high school in the United States), and then postsecondary (tertiary) education.  Postsecondary education lead to certificates and diplomas plus six degree levels:  associate, bachelor, first professional, master, advanced intermediate, and research doctorate

EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TO MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL STUDIES.  Multicultural Education Concepts  Very valuable in today’s Social Studies  Increases capacity for intellectual open mindedness and global perspective  Addressing cultures is vital  126 junior secondary school students were given a 30 question assessment  Proved that teaching that included different cultures were more effective then conventional teaching (Salako, 2013)

THE EFFECT OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND PROBLEM SOLVING TEACHING STRATEGIES ON ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY AMONG NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.  Not so different then schools in America  Experimenting with usefulness of different types of teaching  Concept Mapping and Problem Solving  One of the multiple learning styles  Also explored gender and age when it came to learning  Group with new learning style proved to be more effective (Okoyo, 2010)

Relation to US Education  Multiple Intelligences are being acknowledged  Good example is in, “The Polytheistic Classroom”  Many classrooms and teachers understanding new term  Results in multiple different education outcomes  Non-uniform teaching  Students in both the United States and Nigeria are being exposed to different learning styles (Neville, 2012)

Programmed for failure? The colonial factor in the mass literacy campaign in Nigeria,  Earliest attempt in Africa to make education available to all  Fundamental education or a mass education program  Demand for mass education during the Second World War  Met by the British government  Revision of its initial policy of exclusion,  Restriction of access and general hostility to mass education,  Made an unprecedented "large capital and recurrent grant" available for medical and educational work in its Colonial Development and Welfare Fund, and  Subsequently published the historic document entitled Mass Education in African Society.  Examine the reasons for the collapse of the promising literacy campaign in that country. (Omolewa, 2008)

Relation to US Education  US Education System wanted a system where every child was treated equally and given an equal chance  Lead to the passing of “The No Child Left Behind” act  Explored in article, “Urban School Principals and the ‘ No Child Left Behind ’ Act. “  Points out importance of giving urban children a chance  Also includes importance of multicultural education  Regulations and Laws about act are talked about (Gardinar, 2008)

ASSESSING THE COMMUNICATION PROFICIENCY OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CENTRAL NIGERIA.  South Central Nigeria  Addressed problems with teaching clarity and proficiency  Secondary School Social Studies teachers  Out of the 50 teachers that were tested…  Many of them scored weak in effectiveness to communicate information and also to be fluent in the information being presented  Recommendation to improve effectiveness…  Review teachers about their skills  Improve the communication programs in South Central Nigerian schools (lyamu, 2009)

Relation to US Education  U.S. schools are facing similar problems that are seen in Nigeria  Trying to access teacher skills and effectiveness  Topic explored in article, “What Are We Teaching Our Students.”  Article explores the quality of education in the U.S.  December It presents  Insights from a teacher on her performance at the end of the school week,  Expectations placed on present day classroom teachers. It  Discusses requirements for teachers under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that was enacted in  Encourages parents of children to…  Instill respect and responsibility into their children. (What Are We Teaching Our Students?, 2013)

Added Bonus  Thoughout my research I found a great website that compares all different aspects of education between all the countries in the world  Great to use to compare U.S to Nigeria about different aspects of learning  /StatPlanet.html /StatPlanet.html (EdStats: Educational Statistics)

Conclusion  Nigeria faces similar problems that schools in the United States face, the only difference though is the US has the capacities and ability to adapt and improve to accommodate the students, Nigeria not so much  Both countries are realizing the importance of education and are adapting their teaching styles to stay current and effective  I would say in the next 20 years, if Nigeria stays on course, their education system will improve and that other economic conditions will be better but still relatively the same

Bibliography  EdStats: Educational statistics. (((n.d.))). Retrieved from  Gardiner, M., Canfield-Davis, K., & Anderson, K. (2009). Urban School Principals and the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act. Urban Review, 41(2), doi: /s  Iyamu, E. S., & Iseguan, A. I. (2009). ASSESSING THE COMMUNICATION PROFICIENCY OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CENTRAL NIGERIA. Education, 130(1),  NEVILLE, B. (2012). The Polytheistic Classroom. Educational Philosophy & Theory, 44(1), doi: /j x  Omolewa, M. (2008). Programmed for failure? The colonial factor in the mass literacy campaign in Nigeria, Paedagogica Historica, 44(1/2), doi: /  OKOYE, N. S., & OKECHUKWU, R. N. (2010). THE EFFECT OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND PROBLEM SOLVING TEACHING STRATEGIES ON ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY AMONG NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS. Education, 131(2),  SALAKO, E. C., EZE, I. R., & ADU, E. O. (2013). EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TO MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL STUDIES. Education, 133(3),  Students first. (n.d.). Retrieved from  The World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved from  WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR STUDENTS?. (2013). Education, 134(2),