GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT Teacher education programme as given in Colleges of Education and Universities aim at ensuring adequate supply of teachers in schools and for Nigerians to get quality Education that will help them fight against the three enemies of development, which according to Mwalinu Nyerere, include ignorance, poverty, and diseases. Thus, the way and how these teachers are trained and produced become very vital to their actual performance in the classroom. The study is a comparative analysis of how Colleges of Education and Universities prepare the would be teachers with the art and act of teaching. History of Teacher Education in Nigeria was thoroughly reviewed and Education Courses offered in these two types of institutions were brought out and emphasis were laid on those with practical orientation. Two hypotheses were postulated to guide the study and the findings revealed that more Education courses were taught in Colleges of Education (about 24 with 37 credit units) than the University (about 16 with 41 credit units). More Courses and program with practical bias were in Colleges of Education Curriculum than in the Universities, such as Classroom Sit-in Observation, Micro Teaching, longer duration of Teaching Practice, etc. conclusions were drawn that students in Colleges of Education offer more Education Courses than their counterparts in the University. Also student in Colleges of Education are better trained with more practical courses, in the art and act of teaching. Recommendations were made that National Universities Commission and incorporate more practical based Education Courses into teacher Education Programme and the 6 weeks once and for all Teaching Practice exercise should give way to 6,6, weeks T.P. at the end of these 2nd other 2nd 3rd years. KEY WORDS: Teacher Education, Tertiary Institution, College of Education, University