Curriculum Politics in the Changing Fortunes of Nigerian Social Studies

Biodun Ogunyemi

doi:10.5296/ije.v2i2.500

Abstract

This paper reviews the impact of political decisions on the development of school social studies in Nigeria. From its shaky start in the 1960s, the school subject was eventually adopted for all primary as well as junior and senior secondary schools under the national policy on education by the 1990s but later restricted to the junior secondary in 2004. Through a conceptual analysis of its evolution, this paper argues that the initial intellectual and altruistic undercurrents that informed the adoption of an integrated social studies seemed to have been overridden by ‘curriculum politics’. Illustrations are drawn from the changing fortunes of the school subject and the current threats facing it within the school curriculum. It is suggested, among others, that educational policy makers should keep to the raison d’etre for the initial introduction of Social Studies as Nigeria strives to respond to the crisis of nation building and national development.     Keywords: Curriculum, Politics, Changing Fortunes, Nigerian Social Studies

Highlights

Politics permeates all human activities, including education
Nigeria would have been doing a similar thing with Ghana where the senior secondary curriculum has ample provision for elements of the country’s history and geography to make up for the gap that might be created where a student opted for Social Studies in lieu of these older school subjects
In the United States, Leming and Ellington (2003:i) have observed that “The only possible interpretation of the state of social studies education at the turn of the 21st century is that the field is moribund.”

Summary

Introduction

Politics permeates all human activities, including education. In Africa and many other post-colonial societies, research evidence suggest that ongoing efforts at deploying education for nation building and national development are mostly driven by political considerations (Woolman, 2001; Musa, 2005; Ho & Alviar-Martin, 2010). Weber (1971) explains politics in relation to power and strive to influence the distribution of power among nation-states as well as among groups within a state. Doll may as well be saying that curriculum builders and leaders are, consciously or otherwise, entangled in political relations and the earlier they come to terms with this realization the better for their activities as educators Central to these relations is ‘curriculum lobby’ as political actors engage themselves in subtle supremacy contest. The expressed desire to build a strong, united and dynamic nation informed the early experimental projects like the Basic Science (1962) and Social Studies (1963) An assessment of these projects revealed that they gave directions for the initial change needed for meaningful education in Nigeria (Ivowi 1984). One of the worst hit school subjects in this regard is Social Studies

The changing fortunes of the Nigerian school social studies

Back to basics?

Conclusion