Effect of Participatory Training Programme on Early Childhood Education Pre-Service Teachers’ Production of Locally-Made Instructional Materials in Kwara State

Abstract

This study determined the effect of participatory training programme (PTP) on early childhood education pre-service teachers’ production of locally-made instructional materials in Kwara State, Nigeria. Pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with 2x2x3 factorial matrix was adopted. Two colleges of education running Early Childhood Education programme were purposively selected using intact classes of 200Level students offering ECE 227. A total of 65 pre-service teachers (16 males and 49 females, ages 20 years ±1.6) participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to PTP (51) and control (14) groups, while the treatment, along with hands-on practical production for the PTP group lasted 12 weeks. Instruments used were Pre-service teachers’ knowledge of locally available resources assessment test (r = 0.81), Creative ability (r = 0.84), Production (r = 0.80), Utilisation of LmIMs (r = 0.82) rating scales and the instructional guides. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Scheffe post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance. Treatment had significant main effect of treatment on pre-service teachers’ production (F(1,52) = 704.31; partial η2 = 0.93). There were no two-way and three-way significant interaction effects of treatment and gender; treatment and creative ability; gender and creative ability; treatment, gender and creative ability. Hence, ECE teacher educators can adopt the participatory training programme in the teaching of pre-service teachers for improved performance. Also, this training can be integrated into the in-service teachers’ professional development programmes in order to enhance or update their skills of producing instructional materials using the resources available in their surroundings.