Assessment of the Quality of Civics Textbooks in Secondary Schools in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined teachers' assessment of the arrangement and contents of the Civic textbooks with the approved guidelines for the secondary school curriculum in Osun State. It also determined teachers' assessment of the readability level of each of the textbooks with respect to students' ability to read and understand the contents of Civic textbooks effectively. The study further determined teachers' assessment of the relevance of the Civic textbooks at the respective level of the students and finally investigated difference in teachers' assessment of the qualities of two Civics Education textbooks recommended for use in Osun State secondary schools. The study adopted survey research design. Secondary school Civic Education teachers constituted the population for the study including the recommended Civic Education textbooks. 60 Civic Education teachers and 2 recommended Civic Education textbooks were sampled using multistage sampling technique and simple random sampling technique respectively. A questionnaire, termed Civic Teachers' Questionnaire on Quality of Recommended Civic Textbooks (CTQ2RCT), was used for the study. The instrument was developed by the investigator and validated before use. Three research questions were asked and answered, and one hypothesis generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that 8(26.7%), 10(33.3%), 3(10.0) and 4(13.3%), 10(37.3%), 2(6.7%) of the teachers admitted that the contents of textbooks 1 and 2 are in agreement with the guidelines spelt out in the approved curriculum of Civic Education. 7(23.3%), 11(36.7%), 6(20.0%) and 7(23.3%), 5(16.7%), 11(36.7%) were of the opinion that textbooks 1 and 2 are readable for the designated level. There was no significant difference in teachers' assessment of the quality of the recommended Civic Education textbooks with t = -.102; p >.05. The study concluded that the contents of Civic textbooks agree with the approved guidelines, readable and understandable according to the levels of the students.