Facilitators’ Professional Qualities as Correlates of Learning Outcomes among Learners of Non-formal Education (LNE) in Sokoto, Nigeria: Implications for Educational Counselling

The importance of facilitators in attainment of learning outcomes in adult and non-formal education centres cannot be over-emphasized. This can only be possible if the facilitators possess the requisites professional qualities. It is on this note that the study examined facilitators’ professional qualities as correlates of learning outcomes among LNE in Sokoto, Nigeria and implications for educational counselling. Quantitative research of correlational design was used for this study. The population of this study was 3464 learners (LNE) and 68 Basic Literacy Facilitators in 3 Basic Literacy Centres of the Agency for Mass Education, Sokoto. A sample size of 380 basic literacy learners was proportionately selected while the whole of 68 Basic Literacy facilitators were used. Proforma, Facilitators’ Demographic Scale (FDS) and Facilitators Andragogical Competence Scale (FACS) were the instruments used for data collection. The reliability coefficient indexes (α) of 0.86 and 0.82 were obtained for the FACS and FDS respectively. Demographic data were presented using frequency and percentages. The null hypotheses were tested with the use of PPMC at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that educational qualification, andragogical competencies and years of experience are very vital to the realization of the learning outcomes of adult and non-formal education learners. The study recommends that opportunities should be given to facilitators to acquire further qualifications and the experienced facilitators should be retained and motivated while on-the job training opportunities in from of seminar, conferences mentorship should be given to facilitators to enhance their andragogical competence