Illuminative Evaluation: Some Reflections

Summary

Controversies over the usefulness of student teaching practices have been raging for a long time now. The arguments become more acute in face of teachers' increasing claim to professional status. These teachers refer to their ‘specialized’ training to reinforce their professional claim. The opposition is more pronounced in the developing countries or in countries facing high inflation rates or severe cuts in the budget allocation to education, where the choice is between competing demands upon public expenditure and about the reconciliation of the requirements of education with the other economic and social needs of the society. The study reported in this paper was undertaken to ascertain more objectively the relationship between student teaching and the post‐training performances. A general conclusion from the study was that there seems to be much divergence between student teaching grades and their post‐training performances. Although set in Nigeria, this study will be of relevance to any other country, in which it might indeed be replicated.