Nigeria’s teacher education system faces persistent, well-documented challenges: low-quality entrants into pre-service programmes, an imbalance between teacher supply and demand, inadequate funding, poorly coordinated teaching practice, and limited integration of technology. Training remains largely theoretical and poorly aligned with 21st-century classroom demands.

In response, the 4-in-1 model was designed and implemented, integrating microteaching, Jigsaw, problem-based learning (PBL), and Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) into a single, structured, practice-oriented and learner-centred training approach.

Using a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design across six publicly funded Colleges of Education, the intervention group (n = 319) consistently outperformed the control group (n = 252), with knowledge gains of roughly 30–40% in five of the six colleges. Gains were weakest in the TPACK module and in one college, reflecting underlying infrastructural and digital-literacy constraints rather than a flaw in the model itself.

This brief recommends integrating the 4-in-1 model into the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) Minimum Standards, embedding microteaching as a continuous practice-and-feedback mechanism, and investing in ICT infrastructure and lecturer capacity to unlock the technology-integration component.