ABSTRACT
The present upper basic social studies curriculum in Nigeria which was introduce in 2007 and began its implementation in 2008 has eighteen themes and forty-seven topics. Meanwhile, part of its objective was to enable pupils to: become responsible and disciplined individuals capable and willing to contribute to the development of their societies; and develop a sense of solidarity and sharing based on a sense of security in one’s own culture. This study examines the perception of teachers and students on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation and national security, this is essentially a survey study.
A total of 110 social studies teachers and 300 junior secondary schools pupils were purposively selected for the survey from Akinyele and Ibadan North Local Government areas of Oyo state. Two sets of instruments tagged; Teachers’ Questionnaire On Citizenship Participation and National Security (TQOCPANS) and Students’ Questionnaire On Citizenship Participation and National Security (SQOCPANS) were developed and used to collect data for the study. The cronbach’s alpha reliability co-efficient for the teachers’ perception on the adequacy of upperbasic social studies curriculum for citizenship participation is 0.77 while for national security is 0.61. Whereas the cronbach’s alpha reliability co-efficient for the students perception on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation is 0.65 while for national security is 0.68. Four research questions and eighteen hypotheses were raisedin this study and were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, Z-test, T-test, andAnova at 5% level of significance.
Major findings in the study are: teachers have high level of perception on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation (2.58) while the sameteachers have low level on perception of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool fornational security (2.33). The students also have a high level on perception of upper basic socialstudies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation (2.92) and as a tool for national security(2.79). Out of the eighteen hypotheses tested seven were significant while eleven were not significant based on the obtained result. The following results were significant: The proportion of teachers and students who had acceptable score on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation and as a tool for national security is significantly different from 50%. Also, school type did significantly influence students’ perception on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation. Also, there is a significant difference between the teachers and students perception on the adequacy of upper basic social studies curriculum as a tool for citizenship participation and as a tool for national security.
The study recommends among other things that there is a need for schools to provide every student with the opportunity to serve others every year to develop responsibility and commitment, or encourage them to identify needy people or organization that they would like to serve. There is also a need to expose social studies teachers to more knowledge on national security concepts, its problems and how it can be effectively tackled. This is a clarion call on Social Studies Association of Nigeria (SOSAN). The teachers would in turn transit the knowledge adequately to their students in social studies class.
KeyWords: Perception, Citizenship participation, National Security, Upper Basic Social Studies Curriculum, Social Studies Teachers, Junior Secondary Schools.