INFLUENCE OF TEACH ER QUALITY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF NIGERIA CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL STUDIES MINIMUM STANDARD IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-CENTRAL-NIGERIA

The research looked into the “Influence of Teacher Quality on Implementation of NCE for Social Studies Curriculum in Colleges of Education in North- Central-Nigeria. For the study, two objectives, two related research questions, and two null hypotheses were developed. With 165 Social Studies lecturers as the target population and the same number as the sample size, the study was conducted using a descriptive survey approach. A validated questionnaire titled "Teacher Quality and Implementation of NCE Social Studies Curriculum (TQINSSC)" was created by the researcher; the instrument's reliability index was 0.85. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test statistics were used to analyse the data that was gathered. Frequencies and percentages were utilised to analyse the demographic variables and mean and standard deviation were employed to address the study issues. An independent t-test was utilised to assess null hypotheses at a significance threshold of P<0.05 alpha. One null hypothesis was accepted, and the other was rejected. It was discovered that there was no discernible difference in the quality of instruction or the application of the NCE Social Studies Minimum Standard between lecturers who were male and female and the educational background of the lecturer. Based on the lecturer's educational background and gender, there was no discernible difference between the NCE Social Studies Minimum Standard implementation and the resources' availability. A notable distinction was observed between the average evaluations of teachers by state and federal colleges of education, as well as the effectiveness and application of the NCE Social Studies Minimum Standard. It was recommended that the employment of social studies lecturers in colleges of Education should not be based on gender; state and federal governments should commit to adequate funding for colleges of Education to enhance teacher quality.