CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In the match towards scientific and technological advancement, nothing short of good performance at all levels of schooling is needed. Kneller (1971) in Wikipedia (2009) states that Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual (e.g. the consciousness of an infant is educated by its environment through its interaction with its environment); and in its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge; values and skills from one generation to another through institutions.
Teachers in such institutions direct the education of students and might have draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 952, Article 2 of the first protocol to the European convention on Human rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations‘ International convention on Economic, social and cultural right of 1966 guarantees this right under Article 13 (Wikipedia, 2009).
According to Henson (2001), education is the process through which individuals learn to cope with life. On his part, Ughamudu (1992) described education as a systematic development of all the faculties of the individual members of the society in respect of the physical, the emotional, the social and the intellectual. Explaining further, Ughamudu noted that in the physical dimension, education promotes physical development through sports and games, living in healthy environment and eating balanced diet. Emotionally, education beings to nurture and moderate emotion such as love, hatred, anger, ambitions and kindness among others. Intellectually, it helps the individual improving his reasoning ability. This helps him to adapt to the ever changing society and its values.
Inogie (2010) remarked that education is the means through which the society perpetuates and develop itself culturally, socially and economically. Fafunwa (1990) on his part defined education as the aggregate of all processes by means of which a person develops abilities, skills and other forms of behavior of positive (and sometimes negative) values in the society in which he lives.
Thus to him education is not a single process but a combination of processes. Looking at the dimensions from which the term education can be viewed, Ukeje (2001). Identified three perspectives, namely (a) as a process (b) as a product and (c) as a discipline. Explaining further he noted that a process education is the means through which men acquire past civilization so as to live in the present and plan for the future. As a product, education means change in behavior. As a discipline, Ukeje (2001) noted that education is a body of knowledge that deals with the following questions:
(a) What should be taught?
(b) Why should it be taught?
(c) How should it be taught?
(d) To whom should it be taught?
All these phenomena show that no society can or should afford to ignore education under any guise. In recognition of the significant position of education in the life of individuals and the society at large, the United Nations have attached some levels of importance to the education of their citizens, and Nigeria is not an exception.
Secondary education is provided to children aged between 12 to 17 years of age to prepare them for entry into tertiary institutions. The focus is on cognitive development by introducing them to scientific concepts and to especially prepare them to think for themselves, respect others and respect the dignity of labour. This makes learning meaningful in the life of students. Secondary education used to be a five year programme until the late 70s with the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) when it became six years of two segments, the Senior and senior secondary schools under the 6-3-3- 4 system with the current reforms however; the secondary education has further been fragmented. The Senior level is merged with the primary education and is well supported by the Governments‘ effort under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Scheme. This does not include senior secondary education as the Education Reform Act (2004) of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Education does not seem to touch the three years of senior secondary level. Consequently the reform processes do not affect them.
Learning has many difficult forms and takes place under many conditions. It involves a change in behavior. This is why in a school environment, the curriculum is used to guide what students learn. The curriculum is the arrangement of what the school wants the school wants the children to learn. There are many definitions of the word curriculum but generally a curriculum is seen as a document that includes all the learning experiences that are to be formally provided for the learner for the purposes of achieving the objectives of the activities. It also includes the materials and methods to be used as well as evaluation as a means for determining the achievement of the objectives. In a sense, curriculum means two things: (i) the range of courses from which students choose what subject matters to study and (ii) a specific learning programme. In the latter case, the curriculum collectively describes the teaching, learning and assessment materials available for a given course of study. It can therefore be described as a total and comprehensive instructional system. The subject matter in the classroom is organized into fields of knowledge such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, geography, English language, social studies, economics government, Commerce and so on. It is through the curriculum that the aims of education are achieved. As the aims and resources of education change to keep pace with the needs of a changing the curriculum changes to meet the needs.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Curriculum implementation is the actualization of curriculum plans. According to Guga (2007), it is the process of translating curriculum plans into reality. The manner in which a curriculum is implemented determines the success or otherwise of a curriculum plan. Notwithstanding how well articulated the philosophy and objectives of a curriculum are, how well selected and organized the content, regardless of how carefully selected the methods of instruction and instructional materials are, if the implementation and its process are poorly carried out, the success of the curriculum may remain a mirage.
It is a common knowledge that in all countries of the world including Nigeria the national curriculum is universal though its implementation may differ from one institution to another and from one school to the other as diverse methods and techniques exist.
In Benue state national curriculum in most of the subjects taught in secondary school are known to be implemented with some degree of reservation based on some ‗local peculiarities‘. The curriculum of Biology falls in this category. This is reflected in the yearly results of students at the Senior secondary school examination. Questions are being asked as to the reason(s) for this. Could it be that schools do not cover enough areas to enable good performance? Could it be as a result of defective curriculum? Or is this resulting from poor implementation of the enabling curriculum-the Universal plastic Education curriculum? These and many more are the issues why this research work set Out to assess Biology program implementation in selected public and private Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The study aimed at assessing the implementation of biology curriculum in Senior secondary schools in Benue State. The specific objectives are as follows:
1. Determine the difference in the perception of stakeholders towards the implementation of biology program in senior secondary schools in Benue State.
2. Ascertain whether or not students‘ perceptions differ towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
3. Determine whether schools‘ administrators differ in their perception towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
4. Determine the difference exists in the perception of teachers towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
1.4 Research Questions
This research work was said to find answers to the following questions.
1. What difference exists in the perception of stakeholders towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State?
2. What is the difference in students‘ perception towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State?
3. What is the difference in school‘ administrators‘ perception towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State?
4. What difference exists in the perception of teachers towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State?
1.5 Hypotheses
On the basis of the research questions raised, the following hypotheses are postulated:
1. There is no significant difference in the perception of stakeholders towards the implementation of the biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
2. There is no significant difference in the students‘ perception differ towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
3. There is no significant difference in schools‘ administrators‘ perception towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State.
4. There is no significant difference in the perception of teachers towards the implementation of biology program in Senior secondar schools in Benue State.
1.6 Basic Assumptions
The following assumptions are made for this study:
1. Senior secondary schools in Benue State are the same irrespective of ownership in terms of biology program implementation.
2. Students of Senior secondary schools in Benue State may differ in their perception on the implementation of biology program in Benue State.
3. Schools‘ administrators share the same opinion on the implementation of biology program in Benue State.
4. Teachers in public and private Senior secondary schools have similar attitude towards implementation of biology program in Benue State.
1.7 Significance of the Study
Curriculum is the backbone of any educational system especially when properly implemented. This study will therefore be of immense importance to policy makers in the education sector as well as curriculum planners, educational administrators and teachers who can have the insight for investment in the educational sector for profit, while teachers will have solutions to problems of administrators in following different strategies to assess the system thereby making how to implement the school curriculum with ease and administrations will harmoniously work towards achieving educational goal uniformly the relevant personnel alive to their responsibilities. The research work is hoped to be significant to biology teachers who are expected to implement policies formulated for biology programmes. It is also believed that the teachers would be able to identify some of the problems militating against the achievement of some aims, goals and objectives of biology programme. Having first hand information from learners will increase their resourcefulness, dedication and commitment to work thereby make conscious of the desire to achieve the learners aim. Thus, is the goal of the National Policy on Education.
The government will also find this research work useful because it will point out the area where it has come in, such as training and retraining of teachers and provision of
In the same vein, the curriculum planners will benefit from the study in such a way that when engaged in further review of biology program, other interested groups will be contacted and made to play their role. It is also expected that biology students benefits from the study when they find it necessary to consult in the course of their studies. It is hoped that the research work will serve as an insight to researchers who might consult it in the process of carrying out similar research work in the near future. The study would further contribute to knowledge as its findings would be found useful in Libraries, offices and even homes as students tend to benefit from any improvement in the system as might be discovered in the findings of the study.
1.8 Scope of the Study
The study assessed the implementation of biology program in Senior secondary schools in Benue State. The scope of the study is limited to principals, teachers and students, even though they are not the only stake-holders. The study is thus limited to biology program even though, there are other subjects taught in the schools. The variables in this research work are implementation (independent variable) while physical health education curriculum (dependent variable).
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 110 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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