Abstract

ANALYSIS OF UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION MATHEMATICS TEACHERS? CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Dr Lawan Abdulhamid,1,2 Dr Balarabe Yushau,1 Dr Abdussalam Abubakar Sambo1

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It is generally agreed that teachers? mathematics content knowledge is a necessary, though not a sufficient condition for the working, because one cannot teach what one does not know. In this paper, we analyse the responses of a group of 98 Universal Basic Education (UBE) teachers from one Nigerian state to a conceptually based mathematics content knowledge test. The findings, in a context of emerging attention to primary teacher knowledge in Nigeria, point to serious gaps in teachers? mathematical content knowledge. Furthermore, the findings also point to the need to disaggregate the levels at which in-service mathematics teacher professional development interventions could usefully start across lower, middle and upper basic teachers. We recommend the need for urgent and robust research and development projects with focus on developing teachers? mathematics content knowledge in ways that are useful for teaching. In this way, successful interventions can be scaled-up to more teachers. Keywords: 9-year mathematics curriculum; Content Knowledge; Nigerian public schools; professional development interventions; teacher assessment; Universal Basic Education.

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