Evaluation And Implementation Of Economics Curriculum In Senior Secondary Schools In Imo State

ABSTRACT

The study aimed at evaluating the implementation of economics curriculum in senior secondary schools in Imo state education system. Four research questions were formulated for the study. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study area consist of six educational zones namely, Owerri Zones 1 and 2, Orlu zones 1 and 2 and Okigwe Zone 1 and 2. The population of the study consists of all the SS3 economics students and teachers in Imo State Educational Zones The sample comprised of 371 SS3 students 175 SS3 economics teachers from 27 senior secondary schools in Imo State.. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. From the findings it was observed that there were inadequate instructional materials for implementation of subject curriculum as the proportion of qualified teachers who teach economics is low, therefore the study recommends that state government in-charge of recruiting economics teachers should ensure that the only qualified teachers are recruited for implementing the subject curriculum and employs economics teachers to make use of CBN bulletin to teach Balance of Payments

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher presents the background to the study, statement of problem, scope of the study, purpose of the study, significance of the study, and research questions.

The Background of the Study

Evaluation is the term most students, government employees, administrators and indeed most people in different walks of life dread. Students, if given the opportunity will want their examinations differed because they are not ready for examination. Government employees will not want their promotions to be based on examination oriented evaluation. Evaluation however, is inevitable because at one time or another we evaluate ourselves directly or indirectly. Any sensible human being will like to take stalk of activities performed to ascertain if there is progress or not. At the end of each year, most individuals want to know how well they have performed, this will enable them make amendments and plan for the future. Evaluation in general sense is the systematic process of passing value judgment as to the worth of a thing, object or programme (Nworgu, 201 5). Within the school setting, it is the systematic process of determining the extent to which instructional objectives are achieved (Asuru, 2006). It involves the collection of evidence to determine whether certain changes are taking place in the learners. Evaluation seems to determine the congruence between results and objectives based on certain criteria. Thus, an instructional objective, objects, polices, and programmes would be evaluated to determine the extent to which the objectives are achieved. In the educational system, decisions and judgments are made based on available data on the extent a learner was able to acquire skills and knowledge (Obiefuna, 2008). Olaitan (2003) said that the focus of evaluation is the programme aspects about which decision makers want to collect information. He further explained that evaluation is the appraisal of the worth or value of a thing or action and the making of appropriate decision on the basis of such appraisal. It is important to gather data about achievement of the objectives of a programme and the needed improvement.

According to Duru (2011), evaluation is the process of collecting data on a programme to determine its value or worth with the aim of deciding whether to adopt, reject or revise the programme. Programmes are evaluated to answer questions and concerns of various parties. The public want to know whether the curriculum implemented has achieved its aims and objectives; teachers want to know whether what they are doing in the classroom is effective; and the developer or planner wants to know how to improve the curriculum product. Hurteau, Moule & Monglet (2009) “Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subjects merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards”. It can assist an organization. programme, project or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim realizable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of an} such action that has been completed. The primary purpose of evaluation, in addition to gaining insight into prior or existing initiatives is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change. According to Mbakwem (2005), evaluation plays not only a fundamental role but forms an integral and indispensable part of the educational enterprise anywhere in the world over so as to effect an orderly development of the individual in his totality-mentally, emotionally, morally, physically and otherwise along the lines dictated by societal goals. To bring about this, the individual is made to pass through series of planned experiences under the guidance of an educational institution. These series of planned experiences provided by the institution for the proper overall development of the individual is referred to as the “curriculum”.

The business of planning a curriculum is a tasking one (Mbakwem, 2005). It is primarily concerned with making series of choices and decisions regarding the selection of educational objectives, selection of content and learning experiences, organization of content and learning experiences and the evaluation of the learning outcomes. All these processes are called a blueprint or curriculum document. The actual execution of the contents of the blue print or the document is what is referred to as curriculum implementation. According to Mkpa (2003) Curriculum Implementation is the task of translating curriculum document into the operating curriculum by the combined efforts of the students, teachers and others concerned. As defined here, curriculum is a set of materials that includes both content and instructional guidelines into practice in the classroom is what constitutes curriculum implementation.

Economics is one of the elective subjects to be studied at the Senior Secondary School level as prescribed by the National Policy on Education. The curriculum is based on the principle of equipping Senior Secondary School graduates with basic knowledge and skills to appreciate the nature of economic problems in any society and adequately prepare them for the challenges in the Nigerian Economy. The philosophy of this curriculum is to present Economics as a subject that has relevance in everyday life and could prepare graduates for an entrepreneurial career in future.  It is designed thematically and structured in spiral form to spread from SSI, SSIII in a simple to complex way with in-built teachers and learners activities. The former twenty-six (26) themes have been restructured into 16 themes with 49 topics spread over the three years of senior secondary based on the complexity of topics and the total leaching time available in each year. SS1 – I0 topics. SSII – 18 topics, and SSIII 15 topics. Teachers are implored to use collaborative, interactive and learner-oriented instructional strategies. Future wheel technique, entre education approach, concept mapping, field trips, cooperative learning strategies are strongly recommended for teachers. The use of resource persons and field officers is recommended. The inclusion of new topics and concepts requires new books, journals, bulletins, government documents and so on. School teachers would need to be assisted in this regard. ‘They also need to be retrained through workshops; seminars, conferences etc. There is therefore need: to make the post-basic Economics curriculum responsive to make it relevant to Nigeria’s quest to be among the top 20 players of the world economy come 2020. Development of the human capital and the entire country is the hall mark of the new Economics curriculum. According to Asoluka and Obih (2012:14), the objective of teaching Economics in secondary school is to prepare students for:

“Useful living and higher education prepare and encourage students to be prudent and effective in management of scarce resources. Raise students respects for the dingily of Labor and appreciation of economic cultural and social value of the society: enable students source knowledge for the practical solution of the economic problems of the society. Nigeria, developing countries and the world at large”

Many factors in the teaching and learning environment are responsible for the discrepancy between the planned and implemented curriculum. Foremost among them is the teacher factor; this deals with the quantity, quality and variety of economics teachers handling classroom interaction processes tie ingenuity and knowledge of the teacher in skillfully weaving methods and materials together. Over the years, prospective teachers have been ill-prepared to meet the demand for more economics teachers and the requirements of the newly introduced topics. All sorts of people are in senior secondary schools today as economics teachers who have obtained qualifications such as Higher National Diploma (I-IND). Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Bachelor of Arts (B. A) and Master of Arts (MA) and so on to (hose who possess competent teaching professional degrees, ranging from National Certificate in Education (N.C. H.),Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in education (B. Ed/M. Ed) to Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education (Ph.D.). This mix-grill kind of qualifications in the teaching profession has led to a steady decline of teacher quality. Much as adequate number and a wide variety of teachers are needed for effective implementation of the existing Economics curriculum, the quality of the teachers must not be sacrificed to quantity and variety It is stating obvious to emphasize that the quality of teachers has a dominating influence on the quality of curriculum implemented and the consequential learning outcome. Poor teacher quality is an impediment to effective curriculum implementation.

These poor performances of students have led to out-cries by parents, government and well meaningful Nigerians that a large proportion of economics students of senior secondary schools are not performing well in both internal and external examinations yearly, remain a strong convincing evidence that something is wrong in the education sector in spite of the huge provision for qualitative education by the federal and state governments of the country. This situation calls for a critical evaluation of the mode of implementation of Nigerian secondary school economics curriculum in order to identify the root cause of the problem as well as gaps needed for reformation. In view of this perspective, this study evaluated the implementation of economics curriculum programme in Senior Secondary Schools in Imo State.

Statement of Problem

The academic achievement of senior secondary school economies students especially in both internal and external certificate examinations has been on the decline over the years. The situation does not only worry parents but also government. Many parents are bored to find that after spending huge sum to train their children and wards in secondary schools for six years, they come out without standard certificate. To the government, the situation does not augur well with its educational objectives, which others, is to produce a future generation that would be educationally and technologically sound.

To ameliorate this problem of poor academic achievement by economics students, government for some years now has ensured the recruitment and posting of qualified teachers in an appreciable number to secondary schools and has also improved on existing learning facilities in the schools.

Therefore, this situation calls for a critical evaluation of the mode of implementation of economics curriculum in order to identify the root cause of the problem as well as gaps for reformation.

Scope of the Study

The areas of economics curriculum programme that were treated include availability and the use of instructional materials and teaching strategies, availability and the use of qualified economics teachers, WAEC coverage of Economics curriculum and the level of economics curriculum covered by the economics teachers. Geographically, the study was carried out in Imo State which is made up of six zones namely; Owerri zones (1 & 2); Orlu zones (1 & 2) Okigwe zones (1 & 2) and only SS3 economics teachers and students were used because they have almost covered the curriculum.

Purpose of Study

Generally, this study aimed at evaluating the implementation of Economics curriculum Programme in Senior Secondary Schools in Imo State Education system. Specifically, the study sought to;

• Find out the proportion of economics teachers who are qualified to teach economics as specified by the curriculum.
• Ascertain the students mean rating score of economics teachers who use the recommended instructional teaching strategies.
• Ascertain the students mean rating score of economics teachers who use recommended instructional
• Find out the proportion of teachers of economics who cover the economics topics as specified in the curriculum

Significance of the Study

This study is of immense benefits to the following; policy makers, educational administrators and curriculum planners.

The Policy Makers: this result of the findings of this study will contribute to the formulation of policies that will encourage the necessary parastatals responsible for the evaluation and implementation of economics curriculum in senior secondary schools in Imo State, as inspectors from federal and state ministries of education will be sensitized on what to look out for during inspection.

Educational Administrators:  the result this study will be of immense benefit because the findings and recommendations will act as a reference point to all the federal and state ministries of education as well as contributing immensely in the current government effort towards implementation of the 9 – years Basic Education Curriculum and also in the areas of assessment, evaluation of students learning outcomes and teaching/training programmes in Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

Curriculum Planners: it will sensitize on the need to plan towards effective curriculum implementation in Nigerian secondary schools. This will go a long way in minimizing failure among secondary school students, thereby making them well-adjusted individuals who will raise the economic productivity of the country as well as exposing the flaws of the present implementation of economics curriculum process and allows the educators and evaluators to assess the relationship between the planned economics curriculum programme and its execution.

Research Questions

In carrying out this study, four research questions were formulated. These are;

1. What proportions of teachers of economics are qualified to teach economics as specified by the curriculum’?
2. What are the students mean rating score of economics teachers who use the recommended instructional teaching strategies?
3. What are the students mean rating score of economics teachers who use the recommended instructional materials’?
4. What proportion of teachers of economics cover the economics topics as specified in the curriculum?

Pages:  66

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF        

Chapters: 1-5

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.