ABSTRACT
The programme of training Mobile Teacher Trainers (MTTs) was designed to upgrade the professional competence of primary school teachers in northern Nigeria. It is part of the Primary Education Improvement Project (PEIP) which is also a part of the Network of Educational Innovations for Development in Africa. The MTT Programme was launched in 1971 to improve primary education through training of teachers on the job. It was hoped such a training programme would supplement teacher production through teacher training institutions, since there was a continued trend of increasing demand for education and a shortfall of competent teachers.
This article outlines the training, role, skills and handicaps of hundreds of Mobile Teacher Trainers in Nigeria. The teachers carry curriculum innovations to other teachers working in their normal classrooms. After a short training course, carried out in the Ahmadu Bello University or in their own Ministry of Education, MTTs are competent to organize workshops in science, social studies, cultural and creative activities, etc. As a result of the lack of incentives, transport and materials, some of them become discouraged. Nevertheless, the Programme has been a contributory factor to the amount of success achieved in the implementation of the Universal Primary Education scheme in northern Nigeria. The chapter summarizes reports on the evaluation of the Programme, which illustrates what developing countries can achieve through the co-operation of different agencies such as UNESCO and UNICEF in a determined effort to upgrade the professional competence of teachers by using the traditional African pedagogy – ‘the apprentice system’.
