The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) is responsible for regulating the teaching profession in Nigeria. One of the key requirements for teachers to be registered with the TRCN is to pass the TRCN professional qualifying examination. The exam is designed to test the knowledge, skills, and competencies of teachers in various categories.
In this blog post, we will be discussing the TRCN Exam Syllabus for Degree Category. The TRCN Exam Syllabus for Degree Category (C) covers a wide range of topics that are essential for the professional development of teachers. You may want to see TRCN exam syllabus for NCE.
The syllabus includes foundations of education, teaching profession, educational management and administration, educational psychology, general studies, teaching practice, special education, guidance and counselling, Nigerian education system, research project, library studies, statistics, ICT in education, curriculum development, and measurement and evaluation.
TRCN Exam Syllabus for Degree
Now let’s list the TRCN exam syllabus for degree as officially published.
History of Education
Concept and Rationale of
History of Education;
History of Ancient Greek and Roman Education;
African Traditional Education;
Islamic Education in Nigeria;
Onset of Western Education in Nigeria;
Nigerian Education after Independence in 1960;
Evolution of primary and Junior Secondary Education in Nigeria;
Relating current educational system, polices, challenges and
successes to the history of Western, Traditional and Islamic Education in Nigeria.
Overview of the National
Policy on Education – The national philosophy, objectives and directive principles related to education;
the national educational philosophy, goals and values;
types of education and critical issues recognized by the National Policy on Education; etc.
Traditional African Education, its functionality and relationship with modern education.
Brief account of the Early Greek and Roman Education in the Western World.
Introduction of Christian Missionary/Western Education to Nigeria:
Covering the pre-colonial through the Independence to the present time.
Origin and development of Islamic Education in Nigeria.
Current issues in Nigerian Education:
The 6-3-3-4 system; the prospects and constraints of the PPP – Public Private Partnership – model in the ownership and control of education;
etc.
Philosophy of Education
Philosophy and education.
Various schools of thought in philosophy and their impact on education.
The philosophical bases for primary, secondary, tertiary and teacher education.
Educational issues and problems as they relate to the philosophy of education in Nigeria.
Sociology of Education
Sociology and Education;
the school as a social system;
Education, development and social mobility in Nigeria;
Educational problems and efforts to solve them.
The role of the teacher.
Structuring of educational programmes.
The concept and scope of Sociology of Education.
The concept, types, process and agents of socialization – the family, peer group, mass media, school, religious organizations, etc.
The concepts of culture and subculture; norms and values; and other important sociological concepts relevant to education;
Education as culture.
Social change: Education as agent of social change in Nigeria.
The social learning theories and principles:
The Labeling theories, etc.
The school as a social system;
socialization processes at the school;
social factors that affect adaptation and learning at school.
Cases: social problems in the school, their causes, prevention and
management, e.g. cultism and gangsterism; robbery, rape, examination
malpractice, alcoholism, drug abuse; moral decadence, mass academic
failure; etc.
The roles of the teacher in the management of social problems in the school.
Factors that affect the development of Education in a country: sociopolictical,
economic, cultural, etc.
Educational Psychology
Stages and determinants of human development from
birth to adulthood.
Effects of heredity and environment on the physical, cognitive, social,
moral and emotional development of an individual.
The relation and application of psychological principles to educational practice and performance.
Introduction to the field of Educational Psychology.
Role of Psychology in the learning process.
Principles, stages and characteristics of human growth and development;
To include the cognitive/intellectual, moral, psychomotor/skill,
verbal/language, etc
Selected theories of personality (Minimum of two theories).
The nature/nurture debate (Heredity and environment).
Psychology and Instruction: Psychological factors that affect learning;
Psychological foundations of intelligence, motivation, etc;
Individual differences and effect on academic performance; etc.
Guidance & Counseling
The history, development and trends in Guidance and Counselling.
General principles, techniques and essential components of guidance and counselling.
The relevance of guidance and counselling to the National Policy on Education.
Multicultural aspects of counselling.
Assessment in Counselling.
Ethical issues and therapeutic processes in relation to unemployment, career choice, abuse, peer influence, sexuality, social relations, drug abuse etc.
The concept, scope and goals of Guidance and Counseling in schools.
Theories of Counseling
Guidance and Counseling tests.
Ethics of Guidance and Counseling services in schools.
Cases: Studies of specific learner/learning problems that require good knowledge of psychology, guidance and counseling and applicable strategies; Problemsolving techniques, etc.
The Teaching Profession
Historical development of teaching as a profession in Nigeria.
Provisions of the TRCN Act 31 of 1993.
Activities, programmes and policies of TRCN especially in the areas of
i. Registration and licensing of teachers
ii. Mandatory continuing professional education.
iii. Induction and internship schemes.
iv. Control of professional misconduct, incompetence and negligence.
v. Accreditation, monitoring and supervision of teacher education
programmes.
Etc.
Teacher Education
Concepts, aims and objectives of senior secondary school teacher education; Roles of the teacher in the school and as a member of a population group in Nigeria.
Teacher education issues, problems and strategies for improvement.
Classroom Management & School Organisation
Concept of classroom management and organisation – class organisation, classroom leadership, classroom arrangement, class control, class discipline, etc; concept and essence of school public relations;
Factors influencing school-public relations;
Staff-management relations; student-staff relations; parent-staff relations;
school environment; school programme; school performance; school tone.
Information and Communication Technology in Education
The concept, scope and role of Educational Technology in the teaching learning process.
Communication theories and models:
i. Types of Communication
ii. Models; Dale, Schramm, SMCR, Early Systems Mass Communication
The System Approach of Instructional Technology
i. Definition
ii. Component, goals, conditions, resources, outcomes, etc.
The resources of Instruction
i. Human
ii Non-human: print graphics/transparencies, audio, audiovisual realia,
games, simulations, multimedia, etc.
Principles for the Improvisation of teaching aids/media.
The concept, parts and functions of a computer.
The use/appreciation of computer.
Computing/typesetting skills.
Application packages:
Microsoft Word; PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
Production of documents using a computer.
Creation and use of emails and internet-based facilities.
Internet based research.
Use of the internet – browsing, searching, mailing, social media, etc.
Subject Methodology
Classes of learning
objectives: Behavioural, instructional, expressive, etc objectives.
Formulation of behavioural objectives.
The concept of general and subject methodology.
Factors that determine methodology.
Overview of general teaching methods and techniques, their relative strengths and weaknesses.
The lesson plan as basic tool; format of a lesson plan.
Three broad groupings in instruction
i. Lecture or large group instruction
ii. Small/medium group interactive instruction
iii. Individual or selfinstruction
Issues in delivery of instruction
i. Introduction
ii. Logical progression
iii. Pace and language
iv. Time management
v. Classroom management/discipline
vi. Use of resources; visual aids, chalkboard, etc
vii. Questioning techniques, etc.
The concept and benefits of individualized instruction:
Primary focus on individual differences and designs that enable learners to develop at their own pace.
The problems and strategies for the management of large classes.
Subject methods; Theoretical material; steps; content; method; activity, resources. Practical material; skills, explanation, trial, practice.
Theory and Practice of Child-Friendly Schools
Concept, principles and models of CFS – definition of CFS, Key generic principles of CFS based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, child-centredness democratic participation, inclusiveness;
Quality as holistic and multi-dimensional; characteristics of CFS –
Principle 1 (child rights and inclusive education),
Principle 2 (effective teaching and learning environments),
Principle 3 (safe supportive and protective learning environments),
Principle 4 (healthy and health-seeking learning environments),
Principle 5 (gender sensitive learning environments),
Principle 6 (democratic participation and partnership building); Policies in Nigeria that promote CFS; Child friendly school standards and indicators for teacher education; teacher preparation for CFS – child centred interactive methodologies based on constructivist principles and activity based learner centred approach; facilities and resources required for CFS; Assessment of teaching in a CFS; Technology on a CFS learning and teaching; strategies for mainstreaming CFS concepts and principles in Nigeria.
Curriculum Studies
Key concepts of curriculum development to include objectives, contents, learning opportunities and evaluation; Knowledge and skills on curriculum
development;
Relating instruction (lesson objectives, learning experiences, learning
materials, methods and media of instruction, etc.) to curriculum.
Relating curriculum to national goals;
Overview of curriculum innovations in Nigeria with respect to specific subject areas.
The concept and scope of Curriculum; Curriculum as a teaching plan.
Curriculum types/design: integrated, core, single subject, etc curriculum typologies/design; formal/official and informal/hidden curriculum, etc; studentcentred and teacher-centred curriculum, etc.
Components of Curriculum Implementation
i. Curriculum content
ii. Resources
iii. Methods
Domains of learning and implications for curriculum development:
i. Cognitive
ii. Affective/moral
iii. Psychomotor
Assessment of learning outcomes Indices of curriculum nonimplementation
i. High dropout/ failure rates
ii. Examination malpractice
iii. Cultism and other vices
iv. Poor job performance.
Measurement and Evaluation
The concept and scope of measurement and evaluation.
Uses of tests; classification of tests as teacher-made, standardized, etc;
validation of test instruments; etc.
Types of test items, construction and use
i. Short answer type
ii. Essay type
iii. Unstructured type: observation, project, excursion, etc.
Evaluation standardization strategies; mean, normal curve, standard deviation, table of specification, error modification, standard score and T-score transformation, etc.
Continuous assessment:
concept, scope, rules, strengths and weaknesses.
Ethics in Measurement and Evaluation.
Measurement of affective domain: Using self-reports, observation techniques, projective, socio-metric, checklist, strategies, etc.
Computer based testing, online presentation of students results, etc.
Educational Management
Introduction of Educational Management.
The concept, scope and goals of Management.
Factors that contribute to effective Management. Management processes. Planning in the context of education.
Supervision of schools.
Managing the Nigerian Educational system.
The various categories of educational managers and their roles.
The meaning and scope of Educational Management.
Policy and legal issues in the management of Education in Nigeria; the control of education in Nigeria.
Basic principles and functions of Management.
Concept and types of organization/bureaucratic features of organizations.
Organizational structure:
Definition, types (classical and modern organization structures/centralized and
decentralized organizations, etc.)
The concepts of power and authority, types of authority.
Discipline in schools.
Programme planning/design in schools (co-curricular activities, examinations, etc.)
School supervision/inspection: Definition, goals, types, principles, etc.
Traditional and modern methods of school supervision/evaluation.
Qualities of a good supervisor and evaluator;
Prospects and constraints of quality assurance processes in Nigerian schools.
Ethics in Educational Management.
Special Education
Historical development of Special Education in Nigeria;
National Policy on Education and Special Education; types of exceptionalities; causes, characteristics, identification and intervention strategies and rocedures; attitudes and beliefs; philosophy of education for exceptional children; general problems associated with each type of exceptionality and symptoms; inclusive education – implementation, interdisciplinary collaboration, creating and managing inclusive classroom, methodology in inclusive education.
Education of Special Target Groups/Adult Education
Rationale, objectives and principles of adults, women, migrants, etc; strategies of non-formal education;
principles and strategies of Distance Education (DE);
Distance Learning System (DLS); Open and Distance Learning (ODL); Issues, problems, strategies and prospects of the education of women, nomads and migrant fishermen, and other sub-groups.
Nature and scope of adult education; problems and prospects of adult education in Nigeria; characteristics of the adult learner; methods and materials for teaching adults learners; adult education and human resources
development in Nigeria; adult education and national development; types of adult education organisations; crosscultural comparison of adult education programmes.
Comparative Education
Factors that influence the character and nature of educational systems of countries. Patterns of educational thought as reflected in some systems. Traditional educational issues and contemporary problems in education affecting technological and other aspects of development.
Analysis of the Structure of education and schooling processes in selected foreign countries, e.g. one country each selected from Africa, Asia, Europe and America.
A comparism of the Nigerian Education system with the selected countries.
Outline of the best practices and strengths of the foreign education systems that Nigeria needs to emulate.
Educational Statistics
Statistics and its functions.
Statistical distributions and their properties.
Measurement levels and applicable statistics.
Organization of data (ordinal, simple, frequency distribution, grouped and
cumulative, etc.).
Graphic representation of data – Pictogram, Pie chart. Bar chart and histogram, Frequency polygon Ogive.
Measures of central tendency – Mode, Median, Mean, etc.
Measures of dispersion, Range, Standard deviation, etc.
Decision making; types of errors. Various statistical instruments such as the
Normal Distribution curve, Student‟s t-test, Stanine Scores, t-test, Analysis of
Variance, Coefficient of Correlation, etc.
Educational Research Methods
The concepts and typologies of Educational Research (pure and action/applied;
historical/descriptive/experimental;
quantitative/qualitative/eclectic, etc).
Planning the research.
Research topic, statement of problem, objectives, etc. Literature review.
Research design. Research methodology. Data collection techniques. Observation. Selfreports. Experimentation, etc.
Report writing: complete outline of a research report, etc.
Format for a Research Project.
Questionnaires and other instruments for data collection.
Formulation and testing of hypotheses, preparation of research
reports.
English Language & Communication Skills
Nature and Importance of Classroom Communication.
Types of language problems among learners and strategies for improvement.
Grammar: Parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives,
prepositions, etc); verb tenses, agreement/concord, auxiliary/models, questions, statements, commands; phrases, clauses, sentence types and patterns; direct and indirect speech, common errors; etc.
Writing: Punctuation, outlining, logical presentation of ideas;
paragraphing/structure/development, logical sequencing of paragraphs;
compositions – narrative, descriptive, argumentative, explanatory, letter writing formal/informal; report writing, memos, speeches, minutes; writing styles – inductive/deductive, generalizations, etc.
Reading: Reading problems; principles and techniques for effective reading; reading for various purposes (research, inferences, pleasure, scanning for key ideas, etc); creative reading; etc.
Listening: Listening types; listening defects; strategies for effective listening.
Use of the Library
Functions and types of library.
Types of library materials
Organisational structure of the library.
Library classification systems, bibliography, catalogues, etc.
Computerized library operations.
Basic Mathematics
Binary numbers, conversion from base 2 to base 10 and vice versa; sets definition, notation and diagrams; basic operations on factional and whole numbers; Fractions, decimals, and approximations; indices and surds;
graphs; change of subject of formulae.
Expansion and factorization of simple algebraic expressions; simple algebraic equations and methods of solutions; simple word problems; ratios, percentages, simple and compound interests; variations (direct and inverse).
Units of measurement for money, length, mass, weight, area, volumes; calculations of areas and volumes of 2 and 3 dimensional shapes e.g. triangle, square, rectangles, cylinder.
Properties and classification of 2 and 3 dimensional shapes; types of angles, horizontal, vertical, parallel and perpendicular lines; representation of data – pictogram, bar and pie charts. Frequency distribution – histogram and cumulative frequency distribution; mode, median and mean; range, mean deviation, and standard deviation; simple probability and application.
Micro Teaching Theory
Concept and process of micro teaching; relevance of micro teaching to teacher education; Set induction; Stimulus variation; planned repetition; reinforcement; non-verbal communication; questioning; closure; evaluation; merits and demerits of micro teaching.
Wrapping Up
The TRCN Exam Syllabus for Degree Category is a comprehensive guide that helps teachers to adequately prepare for the TRCN professional qualifying examination. It covers a wide range of topics that are essential for the professional development of teachers.
Teachers who pass the TRCN professional qualifying examination and are registered with the TRCN are recognized as qualified and competent teachers in Nigeria. As such, it is important for teachers to study the TRCN Exam Syllabus for Degree Category comprehensively to adequately prepare for the exam and to enhance their professional development.