CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In many professions such as medicine engineering and pharmacy, the training period is characterized by practical exposure which allows the trainee to practice the skills they have learnt in theory. Practical training is planned to provide the trainee with experiences related to the practical aspects of the profession in order to enhance both the theory and practical aspect of the profession. Abbat (1999), emphasized that one of the ways of insuring that people work effectively after training is by giving them opportunities to practice during their training. The performance of trainees during the practical exposure is evaluated using a set of criteria.

The final score derived from the evaluation is used to determine whether a trainee’s performance is professionally accepted or not.

Teaching like most professions has a set of criteria that the student teachers must have to attain by the time pre-service training is over. These are the theoretical and practical component of the training. The focus of this paper is on the out –of college teaching experience, which is commonly referred to as “off campus teaching practice”. From observations, one noticed that during this period off campus teaching practice, student-teachers suffer a lot of untold hardship to the point that some of them abscond from their practicing schools. The big question is what actually are causing this hardship of the student teachers? What are the factors that are working against the smooth running of the vital component of the training of teachers? The answer or answers to these questions formed the focus of this study.