Influence Of Christian Religious Studies Implementation On Students Character Formation In Public Senior Secondary Schools

1.1 Background to the Problem

Christian missionaries introduced the western education system in Nigeria in the mid- nineteenth century. This education system was more readily accepted in the southern part of Nigeria (Ajidagba, 2012). Students in public secondary schools in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, the south-eastern part of Nigeria have been exposed to the Christian Religious Studies (CRS) curriculum. The exposure is either in the JSS or in the SSS. Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is one of the core subjects in the upper basic education curriculum; that is, JSS 1-3 (Igbokwe, 2015). On the other hand, it is an elective subject in the senior secondary school education curriculum; that is, SSS 1-3, but a core subject for those in Humanities (Obioma, 2012).

The current study hinged on one of the objectives of the SSS CRS curriculum: “To help develop in the youth Christian attitudes and moral values” (NERDC, 2012, p. ii). These Christian attitudes and moral values are humility, respect, love, kindness, justice, fair play, spirit of forgiveness, obedience, orderly behaviour or discipline, hard work and devotion to duty, and selfless service to God and humanity. Therefore, the CRS curriculum is a tool that helps the Nigerian youth to be disciplined and empowered for the good of the society.

In this era of secularism, materialism and consumerism, CRS curriculum has not done much to positively influence the character formation of students in Nigeria (Ohwovorione, 2013). Some parents and other stakeholders in the Education sector in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria have observed that their children and wards do not behave well at home; some of them are involved in some vices such as theft, examination malpractice,

disobedience, disrespect, substance abuse, bullying, cultism, and sexual misconduct. Therefore, they wondered if CRS is being taught. Some of these stakeholders have also noticed that many CRS teachers are not fully trained and even when trained, their characters or behaviours were not scrutinized to see if they are qualified to be role models to the students. Since one cannot give what he or she does not have, this poses a big problem to the schools that receive these teachers from the Ministry of Education to teach CRS.

Character formation of students is a concern to stakeholders in education. This is because there has been a social outcry on the incidences of indiscipline in secondary schools. At the global level, Junger-Tas et al. (2012) studied many faces of youth crime. Their study adopted a quantitative paradigm and focused on the behaviour of young people in 30 countries in Europe and America. The study revealed drug dealing, theft, vandalism, assault and indiscriminate shooting of staff and students, as the prevalent deviant acts of students. The study therefore recommended the use of citizenship education curriculum to promote social values.

At the regional level, Nyabwari, Katola and Muindi (2013) explored holistic  Christian Education for the character formation of students in Nyamira County, Kenya. The study found that inadequate implementation of the school philosophy led to drug and substance abuse, sexual abuse, violence, and drunkenness among students. The study recommended that teachers should introduce students to knowledge, skills, positive attitudes, and values that would help them make worthwhile decisions in life.

At the national level, Asiyai (2013) surveyed students’ indiscipline in three States in Nigeria. The study revealed that assault on teachers and prefects, vandalism, examination malpractice, substance abuse, and alcoholism were the most types of indiscipline cases

among students. In order to positively influence the character formation of the students, the study recommended that teachers should increase supervision of students’ activities, teach them moral education, and be role models to them.

The studies explored at the global, regional and national levels have identified the need for teachers to promote values in schools for the character formation of students. Therefore, in addressing the Italian Teachers’ Union on 5th January, 1954, Pope Pius XII (as cited in Majawa, 2014) exclaimed that:

A society that is really interested in intellectual and moral values, a society that does not want to slip and slide towards that materialism, secularism and consumerism to which it is being drawn by weight of the ever more mechanical life of technical civilization, holds on to quality and credible education. (p. 15)

The CRS teacher is the key factor in this Pope’s message because of his or her role in the CRS curriculum implementation in schools. Research has shown that some of the teachers who teach CRS in secondary schools in Nigeria have little solid Christian background. They are sometimes wanting in Christian values, and creativity in teaching methodology (Ilechukwu & Ugwuozor, 2014). With this, it may be difficult to expect maximum results from them on the character formation of students. This creates opportunities for students to be involved in incidences of indiscipline in the secondary schools (Dalhatu & Yunusa, 2013).

The social outcry about indiscipline in students may be attributed to the ways the CRS teacher implements the curriculum. The implementation starts from the arrangement of the contents of the curriculum to its practical translation into action in the classroom. If for instance, the arrangement of the contents is not coherent and consistent, it may find it

difficult to address the character formation of students. Furthermore, the way CRS is taught and the ethical behaviour of the CRS teacher enhance or negate the character formation of students.

At the global level again, in her content analysis, Brady (2011) examined the values of teachers that inform classroom relationships. She focused on values education in secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Her study revealed that the inability of the teacher to create warm and supportive classroom environments makes leaners to be involved in indiscipline cases. Similarly, Bogomilova (2015) did a quantitative study in Eastern Europe. He focused on the problems of teaching Religion: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism in public schools in Bulgaria. The study found that lack of sufficiently well- trained Religion teachers, poor teaching skills of the teachers, and lack of resource materials for the subject were the pronounced problems in the teaching of Religion. Therefore, this led to increase in youth crime.

At the regional level also, the findings from the global level had some similarities. These were in the teaching skills of Religion teachers and the resource materials in the teaching and learning process. In their study, Wambui and Amukowa (2013) adopted quantitative approach and elicited information from teachers and students. The study focused on constraints teachers are faced with in using life approaches to teach CRE in secondary schools in Nairobi East District, Kenya. The study found that teachers had inadequate resources, and they often used the lecture method in teaching due to wide syllabus. In the same vein, Situma (2016) studied methods used by teachers to teach Christian Religious Education in secondary schools in Kimilili, Bungoma County, Kenya. Her study adopted a quantitative paradigm and specifically used survey design. The study revealed that Christian

Religious Education (CRE) teachers use lecture methods in teaching instead of the more collaborative learning methods such as group discussion, demonstration, class presentation, drama, discovery methods and audio-visual. The lecture method revealed in these studies is ineffective in helping learners to understand and retain content. Hence, CRE finds it difficult to achieve its intended objectives of imparting moral values in students.

More so, at the national level, the increase in the incidences of indiscipline in schools is assumed to be due to lack of role models from the school. Furthermore, it is assumed to be as a result of the non-practical aspect of the implementation of the CRS curriculum. This is not far from the findings of Okosun (2010) that among the causes of indiscipline in Nigerian secondary schools were poor teaching by some teachers, teachers’ lateness and absenteeism, non-conducive school environment, and poor leadership of some school administrators. These findings agreed with Ememe, Ezeh, and Onwuchekwa (2013), who found that teachers’ method of teaching was one of the factors responsible for the acts of students’ truancy in secondary schools in Abia State, Nigeria.

Similarly, Ogwu and Ezema (2016) studied the influence of teaching methods on students’ interest in Christian Religious Studies. They delimited the study to senior secondary school students in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria and employed descriptive survey in their design. The study found that the CRS teachers use poor, boring and obsolete methods such as memorization of Bible passages, dictation of notes and recitation, in teaching. According to the study, these obsolete methods make students to lose interest in the subject; hence increase in moral decadence. The study therefore recommended more innovative and modern methods of teaching which include

simulation, drama, discussion and demonstration. This is because these innovative methods would increase students’ interest and enhance their character formation.

The researcher in the current study is of the opinion that CRS is very important to the character formation of students. Therefore, the more the CRS teachers use innovative methods in the teaching and learning of CRS, and exemplify themselves as role models to their learners, the more the students will develop interest in the subject. As a result, students’ character formation is enhanced. For this purpose, the current study explored how the schools’ commitment in the implementation of the senior secondary school CRS’ curriculum influences the character formation of public students in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) occupies a key position in secondary schools in Nigeria (Moyinoluwa, 2015). Despite that, there has been a social concern on its positive influence on the character formation of students in Imo State. This is because core values such as respect, honesty, hardwork, generosity, cooperation, responsibility, love of God and neighbour, do not seem to be internalised by students (Bogomilova, 2015). Hence, increase in moral decadence (Brady, 2011; Okeke, 2011) leading to incidences of indiscipline cases in schools such as theft, examination malpractice, disobedience, disrespect, substance abuse, bullying, cultism, laziness, and sexual misconduct (Ngwokabuenui, 2015). These incidences of indiscipline disrupt school activities; as a result, pose threat to school effectiveness (Maphosa & Mammen, 2011; Moye, 2015).

Some parents in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria have observed that their children and wards do not behave well at home and wondered if CRS is being taught at

school. This is presumably due to the fact that some CRS teachers rarely influence the behaviour of the students positively. Some studies have revealed that most of the acts of indiscipline inherent in schools were as a result of poor teaching techniques of the CRS teacher (Ememe et al., 2013; Ughamadu & Okaforocha, 2014), and lack of concrete instructional resources (Situma, 2016). Other causes of indiscipline cases in schools were as a result of lack of role models in schools (Asiyai, 2013; Eze, 2015), and students’ lack of interest in CRS (Ogwu & Ezema, 2016). Therefore, there is need for those entrusted with the character formation of students to be more committed in their duties. This is because according to Vadiyanathan (2015), education having no moral values will definitely vouchsafe reversal attitude.

Many scholars who researched on this phenomenon adopted quantitative and mixed methods research paradigms. Only a few research according to the literature reviewed used qualitative paradigm; however, the focus was on other Countries and States. Since the dependent variable of the current study was character formation, that is, the behaviour of students, pure qualitative paradigm was the best approach in developing an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon under study (Creswell, 2013). It was against this backdrop, that this study used qualitative paradigm and explored how the schools’ commitment in the implementation of the SSS CRS curriculum influences the character formation of public students in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria.