Teaching Profession in Nigeria and its Professional Codes of Ethics

Abstract

Teaching is a universal and ubiquitous activity involving transmissionof skills, values and knowledge to learners from onegeneration to another. Its importance to humans, society and nationshas made it to be regarded as a noble and mother of all professions.It is regarded as a noble profession because it entails so much responsibility and duty towards learners, including knowledge transfer, inspiring, motivating, building confidence, and guiding learners toward the proper pathway of life. As a mother of all professions, teaching moulds and equips people to functionappropriately in their chosen career. Teaching is the means and the primary pillar upon which people are prepared and equipped to function meaningfully and usefully as an agent of production and service delivery in the society. It contributes significantly to nationa ldevelopment and its pervasiveness to all human activities has made some to feel it is an all-comer affair that can be done by anyone. Advocates of this view believe that everyone is a teacher and everywhere is school and it is a task done every day. This perspectivebelieves that every human being in his or her right mind learn through experiences and gets insight from any action. Apart from self education,people first learn from parents and later from peers informally. The Indonesia 2013 Curriculum (K -13) succinctly states that anyone is a teacher, anyone is a student, and anywhere is a class.