Gender Studies As A Tool For Improving Global Competitiveness Among Undergraduate Teacher Education Students In Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State.
Victor Ojorka AKOR, PhD
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba
Ejura YUSUF
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State
Chinedu AKAJIRI
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Port Harcourt
Keywords: Gender studies, competitiveness, teacher education
Abstract
The investigated gender studies as a tool for improving global competitiveness among undergraduate teacher education students in Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State. The study adopted the descriptive survey design with a sample of 373 respondents from a population of 5,437 students in the Faculty of Education, Prince Abubakar Audu University, which was selected through multistage sampling technique. The instrument was validated by three experts while the reliability was tested using Cronbach Alpha and it gave a coefficient of 0.81. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that gender studies are minimally integrated into teacher education curricula, with limited presence in course content, pedagogy, and institutional support, students exposed to gender studies show greater awareness and more positive attitudes toward gender equity. However, socio-cultural and religious beliefs, along with a general disregard for gender education by both students and lecturers, posed significant barriers to its full integration, highlighting the deep-rooted structural and ideological obstacles to inclusive education. Hence, it was recommended that the management of Prince Abubakar Audu University should revise and expand her education syllabi to include and make compulsory, practical-based gender studies courses, faculty members should adopt experiential and real-life classroom examples when teaching gender content, this knowledge will be available to them through attendance to conferences, it is required that awareness campaigns should be launched within the university community to address misconceptions about gender studies, using peer education programs, public lectures and the management of the university since it is currently under the leadership of a woman as head of the institution should do well to sponsor programmes that would break barriers that challenges gender equality.
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