ABSTRACT
Nigeria is currently facing myriad of social problems of monumental proportions. Some of these social problems which appear to have emanated majorly from loss of civic values include cult activities, armed robbery, violence, examination misconduct, disobedience, and terrorist attacks, among others. The perceived neglect of civic training to the Nigerian youth over the years might have been the cause of these social ills. It therefore seems that civic education, which needs to be handled by teachers that have positive self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes towards it, is now the apparent antidote required to save Nigerian youth from the menace of these social problems. This study therefore investigated Social Studies teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards civic education as correlates ofeffective teaching of senior secondary school civic education curriculum in Oyo State, Nigeria.
The descriptive survey research type, which is “ex-post facto” in nature, was adopted for the study. A total number of 600 subjects, selected through stratified simple randomly sampling technique participated in the study. Eight research questions and hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of significance to guide the study. Three self-designed instruments namely ‘’Social Studies Teachers’ Attitude Towards Civic Education Curriculum Scale’’, ‘’Social Studies Teachers’ Self-Efficacy of Civic Education Curriculum Scale’’, and ‘’Civic Education Curriculum Scale’’ were used to collect relevant data. These were validated and with reliability Cronbach Alpha values of .85(SSTATCECS), .76(SSTSECECS) and .83 (CECS) respectively. Simple per centages, Multiple Regression Analysis, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, Independent t- test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis.
Finding shows that Social Studies teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards civic education explained 20.3% of the total variance in the dependent variable (Adjusted R Square=.203). Also, the two variables Social Studies teachers’ self-efficacy (β=.356; p
Conclusively, the two variables are quite relevant and important towards the determination of the effective teaching of senior secondary school civic education curriculum in Oyo State public and private senior secondary schools. It was therefore, recommended among other things that Social Studies teachers should pay serious attention to the two selected factors since they both made significant contributions to the teaching of civic education curriculum. Also, there is the need for Social Studies teachers in Oyo State senior secondary schools to upgrade their academic qualifications through further education. Finally, Oyo State public senior secondary schools need to be properly funded, supervised and staffed with professionally qualified Social Studies teachers in order to achieve the objectives of civic education curriculum.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
In Nigeria and the world over, education is a means of achieving a nation’s objectives. Education may be viewed as the transmission of what is worthwhile from generation to generation. It is the various ways in which a society creates and utilizes knowledge, including factual information and occupational skills as well as cultural norms and values, to its members. Education is also a life-long process, which transforms the life of an individual from that of helpless and dependent creature to a self-reliant, rational and skillful person who can contribute positively to the development of his society. It is the aggregate of all the means by which human beings develop the necessary skills, attitudes and values that are socially acceptable (Akinbote, 1988).
Globally, education is perceived as a life transforming activity, which empowers its receivers to make concrete contributions to the development of a society. The transforming potential of education has informed the adoption of various policies by government in its planning and delivery patterns. In most developing countries, basic education has been adopted so as to make sure that educational services are provided to as many that are willing and ready to consume it as possible. The reason is to make sure that skills and knowledge are provided for young people for their personal development and their societies. The paramount goals of government and non-government agencies in developing countries is nation building and nation cannot be built if the lives of her youths who are leaders of tomorrow lack those values and traits of good and effective citizenship. Therefore, in order to create a society where there is unity, tolerance, honesty, cooperation, respect for human dignity and patriotism, there is the need to inculcate in the citizens those traits and values of effective citizenship.
Changes are most often effected through the educational system of the nation involving various reform programmes and curriculum development. It is a polyvalent agent for the transmission of appropriate values, norms, ideals and skills to the young ones.It entails training and acquisition of special skills, knowledge, attitudes and values needed by an individual to be responsible, and which will enable him to contribute his own quota to the growth of the society. Education is considered a potent instrument for change and development. Iyewarun (1989) asserted that education is an instrument by which young members are brought up and socialized so as to become useful and active members of the society. Cookey (1970) perceived education as a means of inculcating right type of value, self-reliance, responsibility moral uprightness, and civic dispositions for the betterment of the individual and the society.
Nigeria is facing many social problems of monumental proportions. Some of these problems include cult activities, armed robbery, violence, indiscipline, examination misconduct, disobedience, terrorist attack, and other unpatriotic practices. The socio-political and economic problems emanate majorly from loss of civic values and unpatriotic tendencies demonstrated by some Nigerian citizens. This is the reason why training for effective citizenship should be one of the main goals of the Nigerian education. Civic education is capable of inculcating in the learners those values, attitudes and skills that will enable them to live patriotic and democratic lives and also contribute meaningfully to the progress of the nation.
The neglect of civic training for years at the primary school level has negative effect on the attitudes of the youths. It is therefore not surprising today, to see some of the youths engaging in immoral, criminal and anti-social behaviours. In the light of this, the re-introduction of civic education into the Nigerian schools, right from the foundation level will help to develop in the citizens, desirable social norms and national ethics since the primary schools level is the basic foundation for other stages of the educational system, thus, the pupils will grow up to become responsible adults. Falade (2008) had earlier remarked that the early years (primary and secondary school levels) are important for the development of civic values and traits.
Akindele (1994) argued that the cohesive, socialist type of democracy and self-reliance which the Nigerians want will not drop from the sky while they are sleeping. It will not be handed to them as a gift by anybody rather, Nigeria needs to celebrate a period of nationhood, a period of sustained democracy with democratic freedoms and practices effectively institutionalized. To achieve this, it is important not to ignore the role of education as a veritable tool in establishing democratic citizenship in the country. The struggle for political emancipation cannot be achieved through political parties. It can only come through the people’s own political struggle and through the right type of education. In effect, civic education values play prominent roles in producing a responsible citizen and in maintaining the country’s democracy and ensuring its survival for future generations.