JONAED

The study was an exploratory cross-sectional survey research that sought to juxtapose the perception of teaching practice by cooperating science teachers with that of the pre-service science student-teachers in Nasarawa State of Nigeria. Three research questions and two null hypotheses guided the investigation. Stratified random sampling technique was applied for selecting a sample size of 305 consisting of 105 cooperating science teachers in 21 secondary schools in Nasarawa State and 200pre-service science teachers from the College of Education, Akwanga arid the Faculty of Education, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, both disaggregated by gender. Data were collected using researcher-developed 21-item questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at alpha level of 0.05. Findings revealed the existence of high positive perception of teaching practice and its relevance by both practicing and pre-service science teachers. However, the practicing science teachers portrayed a higher positive perception of teaching practice than the pre-service science teachers. Cross-tabulation of the key variables with gender showed that female practicing teachers and the pre-service science teachers had a remarkably higher positive perception than their male counterparts. The researchers concluded that pre-service science teachers need adequate orientation on teaching as a pertinent aspect of teacher education for professionalization. It was recommended that teacher educators and other stakeholders should intensify efforts to orientate the student-teachers on the importance of teaching practice.