The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, has backed the Federal Government’s Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway, ATPP, a new initiative aimed at providing more than 250,000 serving but unqualified teachers with a pathway to professional certification and licensing.
TRCN said under the programme, which will be implemented in cohorts, untrained teachers in public and private schools will receive the requisite training and certification to qualify as professional teachers.
Candidates who successfully complete the prescribed ATPP examination will be eligible to sit for the Professional Qualifying Examination, PQE, conducted by TRCN before registration and issuance of teaching licences.
According to a statement by the Head of Media at TRCN, Esther Chiwar, the initiative was designed to address the longstanding challenge of teachers serving in classrooms without recognised professional qualifications or licences.
The statement noted that the initiative, led by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, is being coordinated by a Technical Working Group chaired by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad.
TRCN, in collaboration with the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, Kaduna, will drive its implementation, with support from the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, National Senior Secondary Education Commission, NSSEC, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, and National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE.
TRCN noted that for years, the education sector has faced the challenge of teachers who possess academic qualifications in their respective subject areas but have not undergone recognised teacher-training programmes or obtained professional teaching licences.
The ATPP is expected to provide such teachers with an opportunity to acquire the required professional qualifications without leaving their current jobs.
The six-month programme provides two pathways: the Postgraduate Diploma in Education, PGDE, for graduates of non-education disciplines and the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) for candidates from the National Diploma cadre.
The programmes will combine four months of blended learning, comprising self-paced online modules, virtual facilitation and assessments, with two months of supervised teaching practice in participants’ respective schools.
Participants who successfully complete the programme will proceed to the TRCN Professional Qualifying Examination, with certification and licensing costs covered by the programme fee.
The ATPP is expected to engage about 250,000 teachers nationwide, with participants mapped across the federal, state and local government levels.
