ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS OF STUDENT TEACHERS DURING TEACHING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the problems encountered by student teachers during teaching practice exercise at the University of Ilorin. The survey design was adopted for the study. Simple random technique was used to select hundred 400 level students who participated in the teaching practice exercise in 2014/2015 session, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin. A thirty-two (32) Items questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on Problems encountered by faculty of Education student in University of Ilorin during teaching practice” was used for data collection. Eight research questions were raised to guide the study. Some of the question raised were: do student-teachers possess perquisite knowledge of the teaching practice exercise, what is the influence of the attitude of pupils towards teaching on teaching practice, what financial assistance was provided for the student-teachers, what specific problems affected students teaching practice, what is the relationship between duration of the teaching practice and students success in it? The data collected were analyzed using the simple frequency and percentage and the chi-square statistical analysis.  The findings of the study revealed that most of the problems raised in the questionnaire were perceived by majority of student teachers as major challenges faced during teaching practice exercise. Also, it was found that school location had no significant influence on the challenges faced by student teachers. The study recommended among others that special allowances should be given to students teachers for teaching practice exercise just like their counterparts who participate in  SIWES industrial training in other faculties. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that there should be proper orientation for the student teachers before going on teaching practice exercise. It was again recommended that the university authority should give the student teachers financial support for their upkeep during the exercise.