Impact of MDGs capacity building workshop on teachers' performance in teaching mathematics in Zamfara state, Nigeria

Abstract

Teachers' performance in teaching mathematics had over the years been persistently poor and the corresponding effect has been noticeable on students' performance. To address the issue, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sponsored capacity building workshops for primary school teachers. The paper explores the impact of this capacity building workshop on teachers' level of competence and pupils' performance. Sixty teachers were selected purposively for the study and 418 pupils were selected to form the sample of students. Two instruments were used for the study, Teacher Competence Test (TCT) and Pupils' Performance Test (PPT). The result of the study shows that both the performances of teachers and pupils were tremendously increased as a result of the capacity building workshop. The paper finally offers recommendations on how to help  teachers increase their performance by exposing them to more rigorous academic training and the programme should be extended to senior secondary school teachers.