Amadi, Martha Nkechinyere (2013)

Education authorities have seemed to agree that increasing standards for preservice education of teachers will not necessarily lessen the need for continued in-service preparation and professional growth. No amount of time spent in college or university will complete the preparation of the teacher for classroom tasks. Teachers, like doctors, ministers, and lawyers, must continue with their education after graduation. Constantly applying new techniques and materials make education in service absolutely necessary. If teachers are to become real leaders in their respective schools, teachers must be provided with a programme of in-service training which is concerned with doing and not merely with listening. Distance education has played a role in meeting these challenges and is likely to play an increasing one. However, the paper examines how open and distance education (ODL) affects teachers professional development and offers suggestions on how ICTS could be used to improved and increased teachers professional skills in Nigeria. In industrialized countries, ODL has been used to reach new constituencies of potential teachers who would not otherwise have become teachers. It has provided qualified university graduates with teaching licences or professional qualifications to support school based training. [For complete volume, see ED567118.]