Islamic Studies and Private Universities in South-West Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects

Islamic Studies is one of the core and pertinent courses offered and taught at both private and public universities in Nigeria. The subject prepared its graduates to have potentialities, capabilities man power in teaching, administration, politics, economic, legislation and judiciary in Nigeria. Despite these significant contributions, the subject has confronted with a lot of deprivations in the enrollment of students, recruitment of staff and availability of physical and instructional materials. Based on these, the paper therefore, intends to explore the teaching and learning of Islamic studies in the south west Nigeria private universities, identify problems facing its teaching and learning and proffer solutions to these predicaments. The methodology adopted is analytical with information from both oral interview and written sources from libraries in Nigeria. Among the findings of the study are that the Subject-Islamic studies needs more experts to teach its core courses in private universities in Nigeria and students who wish to enroll for the subject should have rudiments of the discipline before admission.   

Effects of Teacher Turnover: A Case Study of a Private School

The contemporary educational theory holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate school performance is the inability of schools to adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers. The contemporary theory also holds that these staffing problems are primarily due to shortages of teachers, which, in turn, are primarily due to the high rate of teacher turnover. This study set out to understand the effects of teacher turnover on a private secondary school in Pakistan that experiences chronic teacher turnover. The objective was to understand the impacts of teacher turnover on the school's working climate and ability to function effectively. Furthermore, I wanted to examine and understand the effects of the teacher turnover on students' learning and home-school relationships. The study sample was a representative of all the key stakeholders of the school including the principal, three teachers, two students, and a parent member. It was a case study conducted in the qualitative paradigm by using in-depth interviews and document analysis for data collection. From analysis of the data, six major themes emerge: First, the recruitment and retention of teachers is a challenge for the school. Second, it negatively affects the relationship between school, parents, and community. Third, it hinders the professional development of the teachers and instructional quality. Fourth, it creates obstacles for teamwork in the school. Fifth, it causes disruption in the continuity of curricula. Finally, it negatively impacts the social and academic development of the students. In addition to these key findings, some implications and recommendations have been drawn from the study. These may assist one in understanding and solving the problem of teacher turnover.