The availability and use of teaching aids in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality

Abstract

This research examines the availability and use of teaching aids in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality. The study was carried out through descriptive survey. The study population included all public primary school teachers in the Agona West Municipality. From this population, a sample of 175 teachers were randomly selected from 35 public primary schools in the Agona West Municipality. The research instrument used for data collection was the Availability and Utilization of Teaching Aids (AUTA) questionnaire, which was constructed by the researcher, for the purpose of data collection. Descriptive statistics namely: frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study showed that models, games, text books, computers, and pictures were moderately available while projectors, public address system, television, cassettes and head phones were not available in public primary schools. Also, from the findings, it was discovered that models were regularly utilized, while pictures, games, computers and text books were seldom utilized. However, projectors, television, public address system, cassettes and head phones were not utilized in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the availability and use of teaching aids are indispensable for the effective teaching of pupils as the readiness and appropriate utilization of instructional facilities makes the teaching and learning among pupils concrete rather than abstract and improves educational programs. It is highly recommended that teachers should always try their best to make use of available instructional materials where necessary, to make their lessons more concrete and interesting to the students.