Relevance of History and Educational History in

Teacher Education in the 21st Century

BY

ABDULRAHMAN YUSUF MAIGIDA, Ph.D

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FACULTY OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT-NIGERIA.

e-mail: yusuf.abdulrahman@uniport.edu.ng or yusuf@yusufmaigida.com.ng

website: www.yusufmaigida.com.ng
m-phone: +234 (0) 803 234 5719

Abstract

The teaching and learning of history in Nigerian schools have been observed to be
going into extinction; as if there is no need for the younger generation to be aware
of their cultural backgrounds. This paper is intended to highlight the relevance and
relationship existing among history, history of education and historiography to
teacher preparation. Having recognized teachers as vanguards and elements of
salvaging the situation, the need to have the knowledge of history of education in
advancing the Nigerian education is considered paramount. The why of teaching
history is considered indispensable to human existence and societal sustainability.
The various goals of teacher education were critically examined. The roles of
teacher are discussed extensively focusing on the functions of instruction,
socialization, evaluation and motivating pupils, maintaining control, and generally
creating an environment for learning, as well as seeking judicious combination of
enthusiasm and fair-mindedness and others. Ultimately, a ten-point item was
provided to manifest the relevance of history and history of education. The
conclusion emphasises the importance of training and retraining of teachers.

KEY WORDS: History, History of Education, Historiography, Relevance,

Relationship, Teacher Preparation.

Introduction
A review of history teaching in Nigeria has left us with the manifestation that the
subject is fast going into extinction and in itself becoming a subject of the past,
as it is often referred to, as the subject where the past is studied. At one time in
the country, history as a school subject was completely expunged from the
syllabus as if there was no need for people to understand or know their history
and that of the society in which they live. Sequel to this removal, some experts
and professionals rose to the challenges by salvaging history teaching and
learning from being relegated to the background and leading to the reintroduction
of the subject in the curriculum of secondary schools in Nigeria, but still offered
as optional subject, particularly at the senior secondary and not at all in primary
and junior secondary as it used to be.

The feat of bringing History back into the school syllabus was achieved
under the auspices of the Historical Society of Nigeria who took the bull by the
horns and did everything, including consultation with relevant Government
agencies that matter. The body met the Minister of Education and Alhaji Shehu
Shagari, then President of Nigeria with the submission of memoranda drawing
attention to the dangers and consequences of the Nigerian citizens, not knowing
their history. As Ikime (2006) recounts, nothing came out of this initial effort.
However in 2002, President Obasanjo announced the return of History to our
school syllabus.

On the significance of history, Daniels in Ikime (2006) had submitted that:

History is the memory of human group experience.

If forgotten or ignored, we cease in that measure to
be human. Without history, we have no knowledge
of who we are or how we came to be, like victims of
collective amnesia groping in the dark for our
identity. It is the events recorded in history that
have generated all the emotions, the values, the
ideals, that make life meaningful, that have given
men something to live for, struggle over, die for.

Furthermore, he argued that “historical events have created all the basic
human groupings - countries, religions classes and all the loyalties that attached
to these”.

In a specific term, history of education as an academic discipline is also

doing more than expected to ensure the sustainability and continued relevance of
history in education. This was also an achievement recorded by a handful of
practitioners who gathered at the International Standing Conference of the
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History of Education (ISCHE) in Switzerland in the year 2000. The idea of forming
a national association for the history of education was conceived and
subsequently translated into action with the birth of History of Education Society
of Nigeria, with the secretariat at the University of Ibadan-Nigeria, as well as
representing the African sub-region as a body on History of Education in the
global circle.

The present age of computer-scientific and technological orientation seems

to be contributory to declining history teaching and learning in our schools. The
attention and emphasis of the Government itself, is today not on arts or
humanities, but on science and technology; clearly manifesting in the policy of
30 – 70% priority attention for science and technology, not excluding the
admission requirement into the Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. The policy of 30%
for arts/humanities and 70% for science and technology is now the educational
lifestyle of Nigeria. On the part of the students, knowledge of computer and its
usage for contemporary essentials have made them to be less keen and interested
in examining the past, even reduced the reading culture of the Nigerian students.
Basically, everyone’s attention is now directed at being computer literate and is
presently a phenomenon that has overtaken the educational life of Nigeria and
Nigerians. Student, even government recognizes the relevance of history as a
school subject, but no attention is accorded its promotion as an important school
subject. However, this has been observed and identified by practitioners,
resulting in series of conferences, workshops and seminars organized to
proffering solution and arresting the ugly trend.

Fundamentally, all efforts at ensuring that history teaching and learning

continue to enjoy relevance have become the concern of everybody, especially the
practitioners and educationists. All these efforts seem not yielding the desired
result. Significantly, a well groomed teacher is the one believed to revolutionize
and help the learners by rebuilding hope and confidence in the study of history;
hence the need to make a serious exposition on the relevance of history and
history of education as well as their relationship in teacher preparation.

Education has always been characterized by one problem or the other,

having direct or indirect consequences on the people or the society and waiting to
be accordingly addressed. These and more require the professionals to rise to the

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occasion by contributing meaningfully to addressing the situation. The situation
may be positively addressed through workshops, seminars, advocacy campaign,
implementation of conference communiqué and formulating policy for back-up.
Researches are also best conducted to solve the problems with the results of such
researches being utilized by policy-makers for salvaging the situation.

For anyone to assume responsibility for handling these myriads of

problems, specifically the teachers; there is need for adequate training to equip
them with the skills necessary to confront these onerous challenges. There is
therefore, the need for the knowledge of history and history of education and its
relevance in teacher preparation. It is teachers that assume the role of experts
and they are the ones who impart the knowledge into the younger generation.
These younger ones would then be able to appreciate the need to know their
history – their past (issues, events, problems and solutions) to be put in
perspective, for the present to have direction and the future to flourish.

Conceptual Clarifications

History
The word ‘history’ and the word ‘story’ both came from the same Greek word
‘historia’ and which was grafted into the English language many hundred years
ago. Ward (1960:11) says that English people took this one Greek word and made
two different English words out of it, because they wished to express two different
ideas of history and story.

In actual fact, every African society has stories about its great chiefs,
warriors and past heroes and heroines; how they fought and led their people.
These stories constitute the beginning of history, because they are about real
people, and because the elders who tell them believe them to be true, but they
often contained things which are hard to believe, and often they do not seem to fit
well together.

In view of this, stories are not always accounts of the true events, but a
fiction which, when they are told or read, they are amusing and interesting. For
example, Ward (1960:1) renders a beautiful story of how the elephant got its long
trunk as follows:

3
 Once upon a time elephant had a short nose. One day
he went to the river to drink, and a crocodile caught
him by the nose. The elephant friend, the snake
caught hold of him and the crocodile was not able to
pull the elephant into the river; but the elephant’s
nose was pulled out until it became a long trunk,
since then, all elephants have had long trunks.

The above story is an interesting story to tell or read, but is not real reason
why elephants have long trunks. Another example may be a newspaper report of
the police who discovered a murder, and perhaps sometime later we may read
that someone had been tried for the murder and found guilty. That is a fact; it is
the truth. But we may buy a book which tells us the story of a murder, and how a
clever policeman found out the man who did it. Not a real murder, not a real
policeman. However, a story that the writer has invented is a fiction. History
therefore, is about real people, real event or occurrence.
Academically, history is a discipline that deals with human actions in the
past, pursued by interpretation of evidence for the sake of human knowledge. It is
commonly used to connote the entire human past as it actually happened.

Looking at history as a discipline, Osokoya (1989) says it has developed

from mere description of past events to interpretation of evidence of what
happened in the past events, evaluating such evidences and presenting the
evidences in a form that would give intellectual analysis. Osokoya further stresses
that history is the development of human societies in space and time, for it
embraces the thoughts and actions of men and women in the past and present.

Education
In the New Encyclopaedia Britannica (2002), education is thought of as the
transmission of values and accumulated knowledge of a society. And, in his own
way, Jimoh (2004:15) defines education as the totality of the experiences made
available to the individuals in order to make them develop rounded
personality(ies) and be useful to themselves and their communities. The position
of Gerald (2006) on the concept of education is that it developed from the human
struggle for survival and enlightenment, and that it may be formal or informal.

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 Generally, education should be viewed as the transmission of culture from
one generation to the other for the purpose of continuity in the values and
traditions promoted by the society for useful and productive living of its members.

History of Education
The synergy of the concepts above, that is history and education produced
another concept of focus, that is history of education. Having given that history is
the study or reconstruction of the past, and that education is the transmission of
values and accumulated knowledge of a society, history of education is then given
by Osokoya (1989), as an academic field which concerns itself with the study of
how societies have transmitted culture from one generation to another. He goes
further to say that it is also a study of how education became a tool for problem
solving activity and its evolution down the ages. However, Gerald (2006) says that
history of education can be explained as the theories, methods, and
administration of schools and other agencies of information from the ancient
times to the present.

To Bailyn (1960:14) history of education is simply the study of the entire

process by which a culture transmits itself across generations. This definition is
in agreement with the position of Gerald and Osokoya who see education as being
concerned with the total efforts, in theory and practice of transmitting culture
across generations.
Evolution of History Teaching in the Nigerian Education
History teaching has gone through various stages of gradual development before
its current status. Identified and noted from a lecture manual by Kosemani
(2011), the stages in the evolution of history teaching can be discussed as follows:
The first stage of history teaching began at the time when history was dealt
with through parables, legends, poetry, dialogues, riddles, proverbs and
storytelling. At this particular time, no definite line was drawn between history
and education. There was no organization of history in the curriculum. History
teaching at that time had no aims, goals or objectives, no contents and methods
of teaching it. This stage when the teaching of history had no organization could
be likened to Pre-Graeco-Roman times when there was a form of history termed
pseudo-history because history then was basically theocratic and mythological in
orientation, and it lacked independent existence. For instance, this type of

5
conception could be likened to history of Sango in Yoruba history where some
people regard Sango as god (of thunder), while others see him as just a historical
legend.
The second stage of evolution of history teaching was the coming of the
Europeans. It was believed that the Europeans brought Western education to
Nigeria so as to evangelize. Christianity was basically the tool of evangelization
and all that the colonial masters introduced into education were the teaching of
the 3Rs, that is, reading, writing and arithmetic. This made it impossible for the
teaching of history as a subject at that time because the contents of the
curriculum were drawn from passages in the scripture. At that time, history as a
subject did not exist in the curriculum. Because of the absence of history in the
curriculum of early Christians, no methodology could be ascribed to its teaching.
The third stage in the evolution of history teaching in Nigeria was the time
when indigenous writers of history appeared on the scene. This was around the
19th century. Those indigenous writers wrote about the laws, customs, proverbs
and history of specific places in Africa such as West African history and so on.
Prominent among these writers were Otunba Payne and Samuel Johnson. They
were motivated to document history to preserve the culture of the people for
posterity and to prevent it from going into extinction. In addition to this, they
could have been motivated probably because they wanted to react against the
assertion that Africans had no history before the coming of the Europeans.
The decisions of the indigenous writers to focus on writing about Africans
meant that these writers were out to debunk the assumptions that since there
were no written records in Africa, which was translated by Europeans to mean
that Africa had no history. In this regard, whatever the laudable motivation that
spurred these indigenous pioneers to write history books where their
contributions were even ignored in some secondary schools for failing to recognize
indigenous books, yet history appeared in their curriculum. Samuel Johnson in
the preface to his book in 1897, castigated fellow Africans for taking more pride in
studying foreign history than their own history when he said “Educated natives of
Yoruba are well acquainted with the history of England and with that of Rome
and Greece, but of the history of their own country they know nothing
whatsoever”.

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 From the above statement, it has been observed that though, a particular
kind of history had been advocated but the systemic approach to obtain
satisfactory outcome from the study of our history (knowing something about our
heritage) had to be inferred.
The fourth stage of history teaching began with the Government
intervention in educational matters. This was at the later part of the 19th
century. The teaching of history was ushered in as a result of the introduction of
some Educational Ordinances or Codes. The Ordinances were issued between the
later part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. The
enactment was for Government to direct all educational policies and to supervise
all educational institutions by inspection or other means.
One of the first things observed in the ordinance was the layout of the
levels of education as primary, secondary and teacher training. The second was
the schedules under which specific subjects in the curriculum were listed. For
example, the schedule for secondary school contains the following statement:
The subjects of instruction should include English, Mathematics, Practical
Mathematics, History, Geography, Religious Knowledge, Hygiene and for girls,
domestic science; so also in the higher classes, are the second language,
elementary science or commercial subjects. The subjects were to be taken in
preparation for Cambridge Examinations, the forerunner of the West African
School Certificate Examination.
Though secondary schools were few in number at that time, the subjects on
the curricula reflected the type of staff available and the type of training that
could be provided. Consequently, subjects like history which appeared on the
syllabus were taught based on the fact that teachers were available. The subject
was taught without any specific aims and methods recommended for teaching.
The content of history and objectives which history teaching were meant to fulfill
were left to syllabus makers to determine. Instead, the type of history that
teachers were made to teach included the General Knowledge of English History
and Egba History.
Though the content of history at that time consisted of both foreign and
local history, but more emphasis was placed on foreign history. The preference for
foreign history at the expense of African history was questioned by the Phelps-
Stokes Report of 1922 that “why should the history and Geography of Europe and

7
America receive more attention than that of Africa itself?” This question which
was asked from Somervell by the Nigerian history teachers during his tour of
West Africa on behalf of the Colonial Government in the early thirties was critical.
Question asked by the history teachers – Do African schools really need to have
history books written especially for them? We need our own ‘local’ history books,
written by local experts. Somervell reacted to this question and advised that
charity should begin at home and that African history should be taught in African
schools. It is necessary to state categorically that the full implications of teaching
and learning of history in schools have not been in the secondary school
curriculum for a long time. The content has evolved gradually into what it is
today, having in it the relevance of learning indigenous history.
The last stage in the evolution of history teaching began in the sixties when
history of West Africa was included in the School Leaving Certificate Examination
syllabus. The inclusion of history in the examination syllabus demands a
thorough knowledge of the aims, content and techniques to be adopted to achieve
effective teaching and learning. In view of the above history teaching and learning
in Nigeria witnessed different epochs in scope, nature and characteristics. With
the historical account of how history teaching in Nigeria came to where it is
today, it is strongly believed that history will again take its rightful place of
relevance and recognition; so long the teachers and other educational
stakeholders can be proactive about its development.

Here, it is imperative that a number of concepts be looked into – these

include: history, education, history of education and the teacher to provide for an
unambiguous explanation on the topic.

Historiography

Historiography is writing about rather than of history. Historiography is a meta-

level analysis of descriptions of the past. The analysis usually focuses on the
narrative, interpretations, worldview, use of evidence, or method of presentation
of other historians. The term can also be used of a body of historical writing, for
example "medieval historiography”
(http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Historiography).

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 Historiography, according to Conal and Michael (1988) is "the study of the
way history has been and is written—the history of historical writing. For
instance, when you study 'historiography' you do not study the events of the past
directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of
individual historians.

Historiographies according to The New World Encyclopedia (2008) can be

described as falling into one of three categories below:

1. approaches that understand history as random; hence, there is no

purpose behind history—although the human race can take control of
history to ensure a better future;
2. understanding of history that regards history either as a product of
human evolution or of dialectical processes;
3. an understanding of history that accepts the reality of a divine power in
whose hands human destiny and therefore the historical process itself
finally resides. This view is usually associated with religious convictions.
This approach tends to regard history from a purely secular perspective as
inadequate, since historians who fail to recognize the reality of divine
intervention cannot render a true account of history.

The Teacher
The teacher is a person whose profession is teaching, especially but not limited to
a school. On the other hand, Penguin English Dictionary (2001) defines teacher
as a person who instructs another in a subject, skill, among others. Similarly,
Encarta Dictionary (2006) takes the teacher as somebody who teaches, especially
as a profession. On the other hand, the teacher is considered as anything that
teaches an occurrence, idea, or an act from which something may be learned e.g.
“experience is a teacher”. The writer as a teacher understands ‘teacher’ to be
anyone who is professionally equipped with the skills, knowledge and
resourcefulness to impart knowledge into others, consequently influencing the
behaviour of learners.

Why Teach History?

History is indispensable to human existence and societal sustainability. Brown
(1967:21) asserts that if we teach a topic (in history) simply for its own sake and
9
not for the sake of our pupils, then we are probably doing little good and possibly
doing harm since we may alienate our pupils’ interest in the whole. Brown
(1967:22) then observed that:
“this is the sort of thing that used to happen when
Africa was subject to colonialism and external
examination requirements made it necessary for
pupils to learn about such topics as the complicated
wars of the Rose in fifteen-century England. Now that
examination syllabuses have either been changed or
are in the course of change, they take more account of
the need to help those who study them.

A further consideration of why we teach any subject in school attracts a

simple answer- Not simply because we want children to learn facts, but because
we want them to think and understand. As an analogy, Sir Winston Churchill; as
a young man was reported to have said that bullets are no use unless you have a
gun, and facts are no use unless you know how to use them (Ward, 1960:22).

When it is asked, for which purpose is history? Ikime (2006:144) prefers

the response credited to J.H. plumb in 1971, saying that “the purpose of history
is to deepen understanding about men and society, not for its own sake, but in
the hope that a profounder’s awareness will help to mould human attitudes and
human actions. The historian or the history expert or teacher himself is
challenged in his ability as a professional to be able to make a difference. This is
why Carr (1971:106) observed that “Great history is written precisely when the
historian’s vision of the past is illuminated by insights into the problems of the
present”. Ikime (2006:145) also maintains that the historian’s awareness of the
problems of the present can inform his understanding and, perhaps even more
importantly, his presentation of the past – but without doing violence (not bias) to
his evidence; for the canons of historical scholarship insist that the historian
must be faithful to his evidence.

The Goals of Teacher Education

The national goals of teacher education in Nigeria are best sourced from the
Nigerian policy document on education which remarks that “no education system
may rise above the quality of its teachers (FRN, 2004:33)
The aim of teacher education according to FRN (2004) therefore shall be to:

10
  produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom
teachers for all levels of our educational system;
 encourage further the spirit of enquiry and creativity in teachers;
 help teachers to fit into social life of the community and the society at
large and enhance their commitment to national goals;
 provide teachers with the intellectual and professional background
adequate for their assignment and make them adaptable to changing
situations;
 enhance teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession.

Roles of the Teacher

The roles which teachers play in education are all encompassing. They may be
administrative, social, school-community roles, instructional or academic roles
and so on. Of importance to this paper is the instructional or academic role of
teacher. In a broader perspective, Hoyle (1969:59) looks at teacher in the
classroom as having two basic sets of roles to fulfill, one set corresponds with the
major functions of instruction, socialization, and evaluation. The second set is
concerned with motivating pupils, maintaining control, and generally creating an
environment for learning.
More importantly, Brown (1967:38) that a teacher must seek a judicious
combination of enthusiasm and fair-mindedness. He goes further to say that
teacher’s enthusiasm must be apparent to the class and must also be
communicable. Also, it is important that the teacher, in the class remembers,
especially when reading a story to ensure that he:
- gets light and shade into his voice;
- varies the speed of his reading so that it quickens in particularly exciting
places;
- introduces ‘different voices’ suitable for each of the characters who speak in
the story; and
- injects ‘sound effects’ (war cries, animal noises, mechanical sounds etc.)
wherever possible.
The above highlights do not sum up all the roles expected of a teacher, but
gives just as few of the roles of a teacher. Teachers, however, require a
considerable knowledge of history of education to develop him, make meaningful

11
impact in the lives of his students, and positively contribute to societal
development. And, for the goals of teacher education to be possibly and
practically realizable, there is the need for the knowledge of history of education.

The Relevance
History promotes the understanding of our heritage by exploring the society; that
is, what the society is, how it grows, the way it works and what it has achieved.
History also helps to know what the societies had been like in the past as well as
how their evolution could give us the clue to the factors that operate in them, the
currents and forces that move them, the motives and conflicts, both general and
personal that shape events.
This aspect is most accurately illustrated with information provided in
Sherman and Kirschner (1976:4) that “when the leading professors of education
in major colleges and universities were polled at the beginning of the last century
concerning the subjects most essential in the education of teachers, 90%
nominated the history of education”.
Nevertheless, the significance of history of education in teacher preparation
is such that anyone who will teach others, as a teacher must have been equipped
with the knowledge, skills and understanding of what to teach, especially as it
concerns history and education to forestall or prevent occurrence or reoccurrence
of nagging educational problems. In this regard, Ward (1960:22) posits that a bad
teacher of history can waste time by teaching his class lists of names and dates
without helping them (students to understand).
Similarly, underscoring the relevance of History and History of Education;
Kosemani (2011) noted that history helps to promote understanding through the
acquisition of relevant information. Well ordered information increases students’
understanding of historical events and happenings of their time. Adequate
understanding promotes education. Education in this sense is not mere
regurgitation of facts but ‘what is left when one has forgotten all that one has ever
learnt’.

In his own contribution and specifically on the relevance of history of

education in the practice of education and teacher training programme, Osokoya
(1989:xiv) renders a ten-point item as follows:

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 i. The study of the past would help modern educators or teachers to become
more aware of the implications of the various issues involved in education
ii. It will increase the ability of educators to influence educational policies
under which they are operating, for which their knowledge of the past they
can now offer alternative for actions.
iii. Only by studying the history of other civilizations can we become aware
that the principles upon which our own is founded are peculiar and unique
iv. The knowledge of the past brings us acquaintance with the thoughts of
men who differ from ourselves not being uncivilized or less civilized, but in
being differently civilized, we are thus made conscious that civilization is
relative to societal values.
v. A study of the past enables us to analyze the present critically and
objectively.
vi. The basic problems of education are persistent and perennial and they
must be solved by each generation and from one culture to the other. The
accumulated solutions constitute a historical laboratory which can in
several ways serve those concerned with the problems of education. History
of education will allow us to be familiar with how educational thinkers have
responded to the social demands of their times.
vii. People concerned with the improvement of teaching can learn such from a
study of the way in which effective and great teachers have actually taught
their pupils.
viii.Educators will no longer be at the receiving end of educational policies
formulated by others. Rather, they will be in a position to assist in
formulating more adequate polices which will be implemented by them in
the classroom.
ix. History of education offers a personal intellectual education for the teacher.
x. The teacher can develop greater confidence in his ability by becoming
familiar with the roots of education.

These ten-point items by Osokoya are enough to summarize the

significance of educational history in the teacher preparation. The teacher is the
one who imparts knowledge into others, so that the behaviours and general
attitude of learners to life and to the society can be positively influenced for the
better. To achieve these, the teacher himself requires the understanding and
13
knowledge of how to cause these positive changes to happen; garnering and
applying the experience of the past to address existing situation and for the
future prospects.

In the same vein, relevance of history of education in the overall teacher

education programme can be considered “existential”, from the justification of
Maxine Greene in her writing – “Seeking Our Education Past” who says that
studying history of education provides opportunity for students and teachers to
learn to choose intelligent and courageous actions among ambiguous and often
agonizing alternatives. With this, teachers become professional by making such
choices.

Relationship

The relationship that history has with history of education can be gleaned from
the functions of history, thus;
i. History studies the past to shape the present and make projection into a
promising future.
ii. History makes careful inquiries into the past (events/occurrence, situation
or things) to determine the cause and effect of historical occurrence.
iii. History records, archives or holds the memory of places/things/events said
and done for subsequent referencing.
iv. History enables man to extend his knowledge and imagination to judge the
present events and prognosticate, that is, learning from experience and
experience as the best teacher of man.

Also, the examination of history and its relationship with history of

education in teacher preparation can be seen from the goal of teacher which is to
prepare students to become teachers, and the goal of teachers is to act
professionally – knowledgeably and ethically, in helping others to learn
summarized in the words of Sherman and Kirschner (1976:2) who maintain that
“for one thing, it seldom is useful directly that is, as clinical study, such as
internship portion of teacher preparation. This assertion sees history of education
as indispensable in a teacher education programme, therefore portraying this in
the emphasis that:
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 a. the study of history of education can prepare teachers to interpret and
generalize educational experience in order to free themselves from routine.
b. by examining the actualities and alternative in education, one can become
aware of the realistic choices in the present.
In connection to the above, historiography is a tool necessary for the
practitioners and historians or teachers of history to embark on documentation of
events, situations and activities that unfold in the society, as well as archiving
historical documents and other materials; so it can be useful information to the
generation yet unborn. These documented information and archived materials
serve the purpose of guidance for future use, either as warning against
reoccurrence (negative) or motivating template for adoption (positive) across
generations.

Conclusion
The FRN (2004), stresses that all teachers in educational institutions shall be
professionally trained. The document also affirms that teacher education
programmes shall be structured to equip teachers for effective performance of
their duties. This then means that the knowledge of history of education is
indispensable for teachers to be able to effectively perform their duties. The
teacher’s knowledge of history of education is indeed synonymous to having the
potentials to influence and initiate positive developmental changes in the self and
the society.

Osokoya (1989) equally maintains that education cannot be divorced from

the learners and the society which they ultimately help to build. The major
purpose of educational history is to acquaint the students with the knowledge of
the past which could be applied to improving the ongoing educational problems.
With this submission, it is clear that the knowledge of educational history is sine
qua non to teacher preparation, hence the need for all the teacher training
institutions in Nigeria to rise to the challenges, and redouble their efforts at
making educational history an integral part of their programmes.

As long as man continues to exist on the earth, history of education would

continue to be relevant, and dictate how well our individual and collective
existence should be fashioned for progress and development. This requires that
persons to cause progress and development to happen should have the requisite
15
knowledge of their past; considering the mistakes of the past and ensuring that
such do not repeat themselves.

References
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