Problems And Prospects Of Teaching Social Studies In Primary Schools In Nigeria

This study was carried out to examine the problems and prospects of teaching social studies in PRIMARY schools in Nigeria using 6 registered secondary schools in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State as the case study. Specifically, the study aimed at finding out the extent to which Pupils’ attitudes constitute problems to the teaching and learning of Social Studies, assess the extent to which teacher quality and quantity constitute problems to the teaching and learning of Social Studies, find out the extent to which instructional materials constitute problems to the teaching and learning of Social Studies, and determine the extent to which curriculum issues pose problems to the teaching/learning of Social Studies. The study employed the survey descriptive research design. A total of 200 responses were validated from the survey. From the responses obtained and analysed, the findings revealed that lack of motivation, lack of professionals to effectively the Social Studies courses (both in the curriculum and teaching angle), inadequate facilities and many more are all hindrances to the growth of Social Studies sector of the Secondary Schools in Nigeria. 

Furthermore, this   situation   is    partly responsible  for  the  reason why  it  has been  increasingly difficult  to  run  experiments  effectively  for  Pupils; and made  the  teaching  and  research  in  science  and technology  difficult  and  therefore  the  country, resulting to the production of insufficient and ill-prepared Social Studies education  graduates. The study therefore recommend the educational authorities in the secondary schools should be charged with the responsibility for distributing curriculum guide for secondary schools. This is because the curriculum guide has columns for objectives to be attained after each topic as well as suggested materials for teaching each topic. This will assist the lecturers in the Secondary Schools in knowing what to do as well as act as orientation for the old ones. More so, there is need also for governmental agencies to organize workshops from time to time to keep instructors abreast of the new approaches to teaching some Social Studies education topics. To this effect, curriculum planners should review the present curriculum to see whether there are some topics that need be deleted.