Supervising Adult Education Facilitators: Best Practices and Challenges in North Central Nigeria

This study examines the practices and challenges of supervising adult education facilitators in North Central Nigeria, focusing on states including Kogi, Benue, and Nasarawa. Effective supervision is a critical quality assurance mechanism in adult education, providing facilitators with instructional guidance, feedback, and professional support. However, supervision in Nigeria's adult education system is frequently nominal, with supervisors lacking the time, resources, and skills needed to provide genuine instructional support. This study uses a mixed-method design, combining a survey of 85 supervisors and 170 facilitators in the three states with case study observations of supervision activities in 10 adult education centres. Supervision quality is assessed using frequency, depth, and feedback quality dimensions. The relationship between supervision quality and learner outcome measures is examined using regression analysis. Findings reveal that fewer than 40 percent of facilitators receive more than two supervisory visits per quarter, and most visits focus on administrative compliance rather than instructional quality. Facilitators who receive regular instructional supervision demonstrate significantly higher learner retention and literacy acquisition scores. Key barriers to effective supervision include poor transportation infrastructure, large geographic supervisory spans, and absence of structured observation tools. The study concludes that supervision reform is essential for improving adult education facilitator quality in North Central Nigeria. It recommends structured observation protocols, reduced supervisory spans, and transport allowances for supervisors as priority investments.

Keywords: facilitator supervision, adult education, North Central Nigeria, quality assurance, instructional support.