Assessment of the Effectiveness of Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Meeting the Job Needs of Teachers in Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria

This study was designed with an objective to assess the effectiveness of the PGDE programme in meeting the job needs of teachers in secondary schools in Gboko local government area of Benue state. A cross sectional descriptive survey design was used in the study. The instrument used for the data collection is a well-structured questionnaire consisting of 26 questionnaire items. 320 respondents were sampled from sixteen schools in Gboko using the purposive and stratified sampling techniques. The results obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and variance. Findings revealed that secondary school teachers in Gboko were mainly HND holders (39%). The findings also showed that majority of the respondents were aware of the PGDE programme (both holders and non-holders of the PGDE certificate). Furthermore, the study indicated that PGDE holders were more proficient in the utilisation of teaching aids. All four hypotheses were tested and the researcher observed that there was no significant difference in knowledge of the PGDE programme among teachers who were PGDE holders and those without the certificate. The researcher noted a significant difference in the effectiveness of PGDE holders and non-holders in terms of their methodological competencies. The researcher further discovered that there existed a significant difference in the level of utilisation of teaching aids between PGDE holders and non-holders. It also revealed clearly that students understood lessons better when taught by PGDE holders than when taught by those without the certificate. The study then recommended among others that employment of teaching staff should be anchored on technical expertise while teachers without the PGDE certificate should be encouraged to acquire the certificate through sponsorship.