ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the Sandwich programme of Continuing Education in Federal Colleges of Education in South East Nigeria. The study used evaluative design and was conducted in South-East zone of Nigeria. The population of the study comprised all the lecturers in Continuing Education Programme of Federal colleges of Education in South-East Nigeria. Census was used for the study and that gave the population of 173 respondents. A researcher made questionnaire tagged “Continuing Education Evaluation Questionnaire” (CEEQ) was used to elicit information from respondents. The questionnaire has a four point rating scale of very high extent (VHE), high extent (HE), low extent (LE) and very low extent (VLE). The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.80 established through Cronbach alpha. Data obtained was analysed using mean and standard deviation for research questions and analysis of variance for research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study includes: lecturers of this programme are competent; there was no significant difference in lecturers’ level of competency; the curriculum content is too large to be adequately covered due to the short duration of the programme; there was no significant difference in curriculum content coverage; conduct of examination is satisfactory; there was no significant difference in the conduct of examinations; course materials are not adequately provided; there was no significant difference in the adequacy of course materials; teaching practice exercises are effectively organized; there exist a significant difference in the effectiveness of teaching practice exercises in the colleges. Based on the findings, the following recommendations among others were made; the institutions should ensure that the lecturers are given in-service training and sponsored on workshops and conferences to update their existing knowledge in the area of research; there should be extension in the duration of sandwich programme in the colleges to enable adequate coverage of the curriculum as well as reduce workload for more programme effectiveness.