TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TO HEALTH AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOLS’ LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN OFFA LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

In order to ensure for a safe and healthy learning environment, there are things preschool teachers need to plan beforehand so that they can be able to deal effectively with illnesses, injuries and emergencies. For this reason, this study examined teachers’ attitude to health and safety precautions in early childhood schools’ learning environment in Offa Local Government Areas. The study employed descriptive research design. Simple random sampling technique was used to select twenty private and twenty public early childhood schools in Offa Local Government. The total number of teachers that participated in the study was 360. The instrument used for data collection was Teachers’ Attitude to Health and Safety Precautions Questionnaire (r=0.78). Four hypotheses were formulated and tested. Data gathered were analyzed using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that teachers in early childhood schools do not show positive attitude towards upholding health and safety precautions in the learning environment. Also, gender does not determine teachers’ attitude to safety and health precautions. The type of school determines the level of teachers’ attitude to safety and health precautions. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made that teacher training institutions for child educators should include courses on safety and health in their curriculum and regular workshop and training be organized by stakeholders to update teachers on issues about health and safety of children in early childhood schools.