ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN DEVELOPING 21ST-CENTURY COMPETENCE AMONG TEACHERS IN ABA EDUCATIONAL ZONE.

Abstract

The study investigated the effectiveness of teacher education programmes in developing 
21st-century competencies among teachers in Aba Education Zone. Two research 
questions were formed and answered statistically using mean and standard deviation. A 
descriptive research design was used for the study. The study population consists of all 
the three thousand four hundred and seventy – teachers in Aba Education Zone. A simple 
random sampling was used to obtain a sample of one hundred and seventy-eight teachers 
(178) seventy–eight respondents. The instrument for the study was a researcher
developed instrument (questionnaire), which was validated by three experts. The 
reliability of the instrument was obtained by using a sample of 30 teachers who were not 
part of the sample for the study and a Cronbach alpha of 0.78 was obtained. The 
questionnaire was distributed to the respondents and the data generated was analysed 
using mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that teacher education 
programmes in Aba Education Zone largely emphasize the development of 21st-century 
competences among teachers, Teachers in Aba Zone also have a positive perception of 
the integration of 21st-century competences into their instructional practices. It was 
therefore recommended that Teacher education programmes should be regularly updated 
to align with current trends, integrating digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem
solving through practical experiences and modern teaching strategies that align with 21st
century competences.