INVESTIGATION OF EVIDENCE BASED POLICIES AND STRATEGIES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF WOODWORK LECTURERS ON MACHINE WOODWORKING IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CENTRAL STATES, NIGERIA

This study focused on Investigation of Evidence based Policies and Strategies of Professional Development of Woodwork Lecturers on Machine Woodworking in Colleges of Education in North Central States, Nigeria. The study was guided by ten specific objectives with their corresponding research questions and null hypotheses and relevant literature related to the objectives of the study were reviewed. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and the study was conducted in Colleges of Education in North-Central States of Nigeria. The study had a population of forty-one respondents comprised 31 Experience Lecturers and 10 Inexperienced Lecturers of Woodwork Technology Education in Colleges of Education in the North-Central States of Nigeria. Total Population Sample (TPS) was used for the study and 35 questionnaire was returned for both respondents. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher and was validated by 5 research experts. Pilot study was conducted in Colleges of Education in North-East, Nigeria and the reliability coefficient of the instrument was found to be .830 and hence was found to be reliable. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 25 was used to analyze the data that was collected. The data obtained was analyzed using Descriptive Statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions and independent t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. In line with the analysis of data collected for this study, the findings of the study among others revealed that: The current professional development practices for woodwork technology lecturers is high, Woodwork Technology Education lecturers need specific professional development to enhance their instructional delivery skills, the existing professional development programs is effective in improving instructional delivery outcomes among woodwork technology lecturers, evidence-based insights abound that can inform the development of policies / strategies to enhance the professional growth and instructional effectiveness of woodwork technology lecturers in Colleges of Education in North Central State of Nigeria among others. Based on these findings, the study recommends among others that: The government should provide professional development programs for woodwork technology lecturers, government and relevant stakeholders should provide Woodwork Technology Education lecturers with specific professional development to enhance their instructional delivery skills, more input by the government should be provided to the existing professional development programs to make it more effective in improving instructional delivery outcomes among woodwork technology lecturers, government and relevant stakeholders should encourage evidence-based insights abound that can inform the development of policies / strategies to enhance the professional growth and instructional effectiveness of woodwork technology lecturers in Colleges of Education in North Central State of Nigeria.