Should tracking system be abolished in Colleges of Education? This is the current trending question trainees are asking themselves and colleagues.
The tracking system or shifting system of education in colleges of education was introduced in 2020 due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused distraction to the academic calendar.
This system is where two batches of teacher trainees will be on campus whiles others (one batch or academic year batch) are in the house. Each batch will spend six weeks in school (first phase) and come home to rest for another six weeks. After which they will return to school and complete the semester by spending eight weeks in school.
Should Tracking System Be Abolished in Colleges?
Looking at the system and how the academic calendar is draft to suit the fourteen (14) weeks a semester, it does not look good for a tertiary system of education.
Each time teacher trainees will report and leave for vacation, there won’t be a contact between the trainees and tutors (may be to engage them in academic work) until they return for the second phase.
Most of the trainees lose concentration and even sometimes ineffectiveness of lectures counts in. The lecturers in the colleges will sometimes need to visit the lesson taught in the first phase before they can build up.
This actually calls for attention to revert to the normal fourteen (14) weeks semester mode without breaking. Since the introduction of this system of education in colleges, there have been challenges that trainees face.
Even the lecturers at the colleges of education have to double up their work as they don’t have any break from January to December.
The recent CETAG strike as one of the reasons for the strike action as dislclosed by CETAG was all year round teaching. This is simple as the result of the shifting system.
In order to avoid further distraction to the college system, the acaemic calendar should be reverted back to the old system (14-weeks) for trainees to have more contact hours with their lecturers without break.
Let us know in the comment section below whether to abandon the tracking system in colleges of education or not?