About T-CEIPEC

The TETFund Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning in Primary and Early Childhood Education (T-CEIPEC) is one of the 12 TETFUND Centres of excellence in Colleges and Polytechnics which were established in November, 2021 following the decision of TETFund Board of Trustees and in line with the approval of the Nigerian President and the Honourable Minister of Education.

Allocation for the establishment of the Centre of excellence was given to the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Nigeria, with the mandate of developing high standards of conduct in research, innovation and learning in the Primary and Early childhood education, towards capacity building, human resource development, improving organizational capacity and creating institutional/legal frameworks in research field to have impact on socioeconomic development.

The Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning in Primary and Early Childhood Education (T-CEIPEC) is aimed at;

• Supporting strategic and application oriented innovative research with potential institutional/ industrial application.
• Collating complementary resources needed for technical development and institutional/ industrial application by concentrating multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transnational research competence towards furthering the development of products, processes and services.
• Closing the gap between researchers and the users of research-output, by stimulating and strengthening quadruple-helix relationship in order to increase the likelihood of research being used by institutions/industries as well as to making Federal College of Education, Pankshin more responsive to societal and institutional/industrial needs

VISION
To be the foremost TETFund Centre of Excellence (TCoE) in Innovative teaching approaches, research, training and dissemination of empirical data in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC)

MISSION

• Foster innovation into research, teaching and learning of Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) in line with global best practices.
• Build the capacity of teacher educators/trainees in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) by exploring innovative teaching approaches.
• Create awareness among stakeholders in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) about their responsibilities.
• Enhance collaboration among stakeholders in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC)

OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of the Centre is to train high quality Pre service, in service and teacher educators through the following specific initiatives/objectives:

1. Evolve strategies which will assist in arresting the depreciating moral values/attitudes for responsible citizenship at Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) level.
2. Develop formal and informal training/engagement for parents and communities in children’s school life at Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) levels (through seminars, workshops and mentoring activities).
3. 
   a. Develop relevant curriculum and its materials for use in teaching and learning in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) levels.
   b. Organise short term blended courses in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) for teachers.
   c. Provide specialised training for teacher educators/pre- service teachers on innovative teaching and learning resources built around the 21st Century Skills in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC)
4. Develop a formal monitoring and mentoring guide for use by lecturers and in-service teachers to enhance teacher effectiveness at Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) levels.
5. Design a training package in: i. literacy and numeracy for Primary School teachers and learners & ii. nurturing care for Early Childhood Education
6. Develop a model of PEC learning environment at the centre

IDENTIFIED NATIONAL CHALLENGES
Despite the formulation of policies to implement Early Childhood Education in Nigeria, not much progress seems to be made in the effectiveness of the programme thereby defeating the goals of the programme. Several challenges faced by Early Childhood Education are inadequate human and material resources for innovative teaching and learning, dearth in 21st Century skills among teacher educators and pre-service teachers. Other identified challenges are:

1. Depreciating moral values/attitudes for responsible citizenship.
2. Lack of formal training/engagement of parents and communities in children’s school life at Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) levels.
3. The challenges of teacher effectiveness, dearth of monitoring and mentoring in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC).
4. Decline in literacy and numeracy levels among primary school graduates.
5. Decline in nurturing care at the Early Childhood Education.
6. Poor funding and its multiplier effects (capacity building, supervision and modelling in Primary and Early Childhood Education)

TRAINING PLANS

SN	WHO TO TRAIN	TYPE OF TRAINING ACTIVITIES	MATERIALS REQUIRED
1	In-service Teachers	Train teachers on innovative teaching strategies to inculcate good morals/ attitude and 21st century skills	Training guides, learning manuals, text materials and resource persons
2	Teachers, Parents and community leaders	Advocacy, seminar / workshops	Monitoring and mentoring guides, learning manuals, text materials and resource persons
3	Teachers, lecturers,  students and centre staff	Run short term courses/Diploma in Primary and Early Childhood Education	Developed innovative curriculum  for Certificate/Diploma in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC), Resource persons
4	Teachers / centre staff	Teaching /resources development.	Training guides, learning manuals, text materials and resource persons
5	Lecturers/In-service teachers	Improving teacher effectiveness through monitoring and mentoring	Developed monitoring and mentoring guides, learning manuals, text materials and resource persons
6	Lecturers, teachers and parents	Literacy/ numeracy and nurturing care improvement packages	Pre reading and reading manuals/books Pre-numeracy and numeracy textbooks/workbooks
7	Lecturers, teachers and  centre staff	Training proposal writing, undertaking research and grant management	Training guides, learning manuals, text materials and resource persons

RESEARCH PLANS
The following are research plans for the centre:

1. Undertake base line survey of existing curriculum and materials and implementation challenges in Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC).
2. Research into curriculum of nations that successfully addressed their developmental challenges through Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC).
3. Conduct research into innovative resources required for teaching and learning in Early Childhood and Primary Schools in Nigeria.
4. Train and engage lecturers and teachers on research to address areas covered in the national developmental challenges identified.

APPROACH
Developing an implementation plan using the Quadruple Helix approach and the TCoE monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure that set objectives are achieved through partnership and collaboration with stakeholders nationally and internationally.

EXPECTED IMPACT

1. Train at least 2400 teachers on innovative learner centred teaching and learning towards achieving SDG goals number 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 4 (Quality Education) and 5 (Gender Equality).
2. Ten thousand pupils are expected to have improved values, attitudes, literacy and numeracy levels giving them the skills, abilities and competence required for successful living in the society.
3. Train at least 1200 certified Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) teachers for innovative teaching and learning.
4. Improved participation of parents (3000) and communities (40) in children’s learning at Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC) towards achieving SDG goal number 17 (Partnership for the goals).
5. Enhanced research and proposal writing skills and capacity of lecturers (200) and teachers (100) to undertake research in the field of Primary and Early Childhood Education (PEC).
6. Publication of at least 10 articles in indexed journal annually

SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
The Centre has the following sustainability Plan:

1. Collaborations and partnerships entered with national and international agencies to ensure that TCoE continues thriving even after the end of funding by TETFund.
2. Pool of innovative teachers, researchers and resources acquired will be used to sustainably manage the TCoE going forward.
3. Funds realised from partnership/ training and research will be used to enhance funding activities at the centre.

ORGANIZATION CHART
The administration of the Centre is autonomous while the College provides oversight function through a management board headed by the Provost. Procurement is done by the Procurement unit of the College based on the modified Procurement Act of 2007, while the financial management of the Centre is done by the College Bursary Department using the TETFund financial guidelines. The Directorate of Internal Audit provides checks and balances

Figure 1: Organogram of the Centre

OVERVIEW OF CORE PROJECT TEAM

Name MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE	Position	Qualification	Responsibilities
Dr. Zipporah Pewat Duguryil	Director	PhD	Oversee the running of the Centre
Dr. Jere Ndazhaga	Researcher Officer I	PhD	Coordinate research activities
Dr. Emmanuel Hemba	Researcher Officer II	PhD	Assist in coordinating research activities
Dr. Henry Katniyon	Research Officer III	PhD	Assist in coordinating research activities
Mr. Emmanuel Nannim Ramson	Communication & Documentation Officer	MSc	Manage website, handle communications and document all activities
Mr. Chadirwe Goyol	Finance Officer	MBA	Prepares and keep all financial records
Mr. Hillary Katyen	Admin Secretary	BA	Manage the Secretariat of the centre
Name Technical Advisory Committee	Position	Qualification	Responsibilities
Dr. Sunday Jacob	Chairman	PhD	Coordinates the activities of the technical advisory committee
Dr. Fidelis Ugwuanyi	Member	PhD	Member of the committee
Dr. Obadiah Dalong	Member	PhD	Member of the committee
Mrs. Deborah Mangset	Member	MSc	Member of the committee
Dr. Peace Sorochi Longdet	Secretary	PhD	Manage and keep records of the Centre’s TAC committee

Dr. Zipporah P. Duguryil
Centre Director