Nigerian and UK teachers swap notes

Colette Cotton was impressed by Nigerian pupils' patriotism and discipline

By Tomi Oladipo
BBC News, Lagos

A group of six teachers from different schools around England recently visited Enugu in eastern Nigeria for a week, teaching in schools there.

It is part of a scheme organised by the British Council to connect primary and secondary schools in Nigeria with ones in England.

The first teachers to take part have already learned some interesting lessons about their respective educational styles, cultures and traditions.

VERONICA NWAFOR

We had one of the teachers from the UK in our school [Independence Layout Junior Secondary] and honestly I must say I'm highly amazed about her teaching methods.

Veronica Nwafor noticed computers made an instant impact on the pupils

She applied a learner-centred teaching method, where the teacher is no longer on the stage, but is now a facilitator who stands on the side and leads the class in interactive learning.

The children really opened up, even though it was the first time they had been exposed to such teaching methods.

The learning environment was made conducive with the use of postcards and pictures, and giving the students writing materials.

This is all very motivational for the children.

Bigger classes

Another difference between our teaching styles is that we give the students information through writing notes, while the UK teacher brought in the aspect of using computer-generated instructional materials.

I was very impressed that whatever school I went to the national anthem was sung Collette Cotton Do you want a school twin?

Here we don't have the resources to be able to work on that level.

In the UK these teachers might deal with classes of about 25 to 30 students, while over here our classes can have up to 50 students.

And it would be difficult to cater at that level for the needs of each individual student so we have to take a more general approach.

But if we're able to get enough computers which are also linked to the internet, then we would definitely do better.

Our students are eager to learn and they are doing very well right now, so I can only imagine how much better they would do if we had adequate resources in place.

COLETTE COTTON

I've come over [from St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Kent] to experience what life is like in schools in Nigeria.

Colette Cotton thought Nigerian teachers seemed very strict

I noticed that in the Nigerian schools the children seem to stay in their seats all day long without any interaction.

Here we had to introduce the children to a much more interactive method of children, which at the start they found very difficult to understand.

I'm not sure whether that was because I was the first white person they had seen, or because we didn't quite understand each other's accents.

But they later became much more interactive and expressive, especially when I brought out a laptop and crayons.

Victorian methods

I think the resident teachers might have thought I was someone from another planet, because they seemed to be so strict, and their interaction with the children is completely different.

It's more like our old Victorian methods.

I do think there is quite a lot to learn from the Nigerian schools.

I was very impressed that whatever school I went to the national anthem was sung.

That seems to have disappeared from our own culture back in the UK.

Also the discipline among the children here in Nigeria is good, although I think it needs to move with the times.

They have very little but they could make so much more of it.

Classrooms could perhaps be painted and tidied, and the children should be encouraged to be part of this as well.