Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in Female Pre-Service Chemistry Educators through Science Education: A Path to Women Empowerment in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the development of entrepreneurial skills in female pre-service chemistry educators of south-east colleges of education in Nigeria through science education. This study involved only the south east colleges of education. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Simple random sampling by balloting with replacement was used to select 90 final year degree and NCE female pre-service chemistry educators drawn from three South East colleges of education involved in degree programmes. The instrument for data collections was a 41-item structured questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument was validated and an internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach alpha and found to be 0.88. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The result from the study showed that female pre-service chemistry educators in southeast colleges of education were not exposed to entrepreneurial skills in science education; poor funding, inadequate science laboratories, lack of materials and equipment were among the hindrances in the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in science education programmes. Strategies to empower the female pre-service chemistry educators’ acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in science education programmes so as to eradicate poverty and improve national development by being self-reliant were suggested. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include among others that: entrepreneurial skills should be incorporated into science education curricular and also fund should be provided to the colleges of education by the government to procure facilities and materials for teaching entrepreneurial skills incorporated into science education programmes.