DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A LOCALLY RELEVANT ANTI-SOCIAL VICES CURRICULUM FOR INFUSION INTOSOCIAL STUDIES USING A PARTICIPATORY PARADIGM

Abstract

The major objective of Secondary School Social Studies Curriculum (SSSSC) is to inculcate desirable social values, attitudes and skills in students. Deficiency in the existing SSSSC is partly responsible for the multifaceted problem of social vices noticeable among Nigerian students, particularly in the Amainyi community in Ihitte/Uboma Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria. Previous studies largely focused on interventions to improve students’ social values, attitude and skills, with little emphasis on the development and implementation of a locally-relevant curriculum. This study, therefore, was designed to develop and implement a locally-relevant anti-social vices curriculum using a participatory paradigm for secondary school students in Amainyi community, Imo State. Constructivist and Constructive Alignment theories provided the framework, while the mixed-method design (QUAL+quan) was adopted. All junior secondary school II students, Social Studies teachers and school heads in the three secondary schools in the Amainyi community were enumerated. Simple random sampling was used to select 24 former students of Social Studies, and stratified random sampling was used to select 28 parents and 16 community leaders who participated in developing and implementing the curriculum. In-depth interviews (41) were held with elderly community leaders, parents, teachers, school heads and selected students. The instruments used were Anti-Social Vices Curriculum Need Assessment (r=0.84); Stakeholders’ Perception ofOwnership of the Anti-Social Vices Curriculum (r=0.78); Teacher Commitment to Curriculum Implementation (r=0.79) and Students’ Interest inLearning the Anti-Social Vices Curriculum (r=0.84) questionnaires. Qualitative data were thematically analysed, while quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Analysis of variance at 0.05 level of significance. The majority of the stakeholders (52.2%) were male, while stakeholders’ age distribution was community leaders (57.50±3.20), parents (45.06±1.20), school heads (48.33±1.50), teachers (43.66±1.33), former students (15.60±1.25) and present students (13.05±1.35) years. Stakeholders opined that they needed anti-social vices curriculum that would incorporate “nwa azụrụazụ ma ọ bụ, nwa n’akpa agwa ọma” (a properly groomed child in all character ramifications), and captures values of, and peculiar social ills in Amainyi community. The developed curriculum included vices in Amainyi community, community values/history, honesty/integrity, diligence, discipline. Students stated that they were not aware that some activities constituted social vices since they were neither captured nor taught in the existing Social Studies curriculum. The teachers reported that the participatory paradigm empowered them in terms of decision making, identity and self-confidence towards reducing social vices among the students, while students were also empowered in terms of interest for positive attitudinal change. Also, the stakeholders showed a positive perception of ownership of the developed anti-social vices curriculum. However, there was a significant difference in stakeholders’perception of ownership of the developed anti-social vices curriculum (F(5;226)=10.6). There were positive significant relationships between teachers’ perception of ownership (r=0.60), current Social Studies students’ perception of ownership (r=0.31) and commitment and interest, respectively. The development and implementation of a locally-relevant anti-social vices curriculum effectively addressed social vices-related deficiencies in the existing Social Studies curriculum in the Amainyi community, Imo State. Curriculum planners should adopt locally relevant participatory anti-social vices curriculum to achieve Social Studies curricular objectives.