THE PROBLEMS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SOCIAL STUDIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN FUNAKAYE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Recent changes in the Junior Secondary School curriculum in Nigeria particularly, the introduction of social studies as a core subject to be taught in Junior Secondary Schools demand that specialist teachers be trained and provided with suitable resource materials including textbooks so that they can deliver their lessons effectively. The absence of related instructional materials in Junior Secondary Schools, lack of trained social studies teachers and other similar problems serves as barriers to the achievement of numerous objectives in social studies. In view of this situation, the teaching and learning of social studies tends to be ineffective. In the schools, non-specialist teachers are employed to teach social studies and they apply the methods of teaching traditional subjects like History, Geography, Economic, Government and Civics. This kind of arrangement is obviously bad. It is like spreading seeds on a sandy soil. When this happens the seed will not germinate but rot away. In the same way, if this situation is allowed to continue the essential points or aims about social studies will be lost.
1.2 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK
Teaching and learning are usually taken to be major activities or process that take place in school, particularly, in the classroom. During this process however, there are lot of subjects being taught, especially after the introduction of Western Education (Formal Education) in Secondary Schools. These subjects such as Geography, History, Economics, Government etc focus on their specific areas and therefore not suitable for the development of a complete human being, hence the introduction of Social studies as a discipline as of American origin. It did not exist as a distinct subject before the Second World War (WW II). The social sciences like sociology, economics and political science were thought of as the only subjects designed for the study of social and its institutions. Soon after the Second World War, people began to realize especially in the United States of America, that the understanding of man and his problems in society required a lot more than what was covered by the social sciences, hence social studies was introduced in the schools.
The introduction of social studies in Britain was not an easy task. Obiadi, A. (1980) stressed that social studies came about as a result of the missing link in Britain. The First World War (WW I) of 1914 and the European war happed to expose what was actually missing for human understanding learned on lesions from the wars, it became necessary for them to go back to schools to learn a lot about human relationship and what is meant to the society. For more than two decades, the study of social studies went thought it gained a foothold in the 1950s committees were set up by the Ministry of Education to study about the necessary of studying social studies. Various reports were submitted by the committees. Some of them were in favour while others strongly opposed its inclusion in the school curriculum for fear that it might replace other traditional subjects. Despite these oppositions social studies went through successfully and was given a place in the school curriculum. The history of social studies in Africa can be traced back to the London Oxford Conference of African Educators of 1967 which resulted in the Mombassa Conference of 1968. Further still another conference was held at Queens College Oxford to discussed social studies for Africa. Two years later after the Oxford London Conference, African social studies programme was established in Nairobi, Kenya to coordinate and offer help to social studies development in the continent. It was resolved at the various conferences that Education in African continent needed re-adjustment to relate specifically to African culture. Hitherto it was observed by the conference organizers that the colonial educational system did not serve the interests of African. The result of the conferences brought about the setting out of social studies curriculum which was meant to be adopted by all members’ countries including Nigeria according to their peculiar needs. The teaching and learning of social studies in the Nigerian institutions had a short but important history in the school curriculum. Short in terms of number of years, but important because of the impact that its introduction had made in the Junior Secondary School Curriculum.
Amonoo, et at (1979) said that “the first serious attempt to develop social studies for secondary schools in Nigeria was made but the staff of Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro in 1965. Initially the scope was limited to the then Western Region”. It was through the assistance of the Ford Foundation under its joints auspices with comparative education was adaptation centre (CESAC) that the Aiyetoro project was given a national scope. Through the publication, social studies have now become a core subject in the Junior secondary school curriculum. The Federal Republic of Nigeria National Policy on Education (1981) supports the inclusion of social studies in the Junior Secondary School Curriculum.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Social studies are one of the subjects being taught in our secondary schools. The teaching of social studies has not been properly done because most of the teachers handling the subject have little or no sound knowledge concerning the subject. This also posed problems for the studies in terms of learning the subject. This study is therefore designed to find out the problems of teaching and learning socials studies in our secondary schools, particularly in Funakaye Local Government Area and also find solution to the problems and suggest ways and method of improving upon the situation for the benefit of students, educators, school and society as well.

1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to identify and explain the problems of teaching and learning of social studies in Secondary schools in Funakaye Local Government Area, and how these problems could be eliminated so as to enhance effective teaching and learning of the students.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
a) Is there any significant difference between the use of instructional materials and the teaching of socials studies in schools?
b) Is there any significant difference between the use of instructional materials in learning and the academic performance of students?
c) Is there any significant difference between lack of qualified teachers in social studies and the problems of teaching socials studies.


1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
1) There is no significant difference between the use of instructional materials and the teaching of social studies in schools.
2) There is no significant difference between the use of instructional materials and the academic performance of studies in schools.

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research work is significant in many ways:
i. It will highlight the problems associated with the teaching and learning of social studies in schools.
ii. The outcome of the study will also uncover the fundamental roles expected of the Government of our country.
iii. This study will also serves as a source for future research in its area of study.
iv. The outcome of this study will also be of immense values to the society in that it will seek to improve the interest of the learners with regards to their academic performance.



1.8 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
With due consideration of the factors of time, economic depression of the period geographical location of the target population the scope of the research is delimited to only Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State.

1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This research has some limitations that are worth mentioning. The problem of transportation limited the exercise to only three recognized secondary schools in the area. There was difficulty in obtaining information about the project. This research work has a lot of limitation that are work mentioning. The problem of transportation to get information from transportation from teachers of different school; and the short time given for the completion of this project has been a great limiting factor.

1.10 DEFINITION OF TERMS
LEARNING: Gaining knowledge or skill by studying or form being taught.
PROBLEM: This refers to a difficult situation.
SOCIAL STUDIES: This is the study of man and the outcome of his interaction with his various environments.
STUDENT: A person who is studying at a schools or college.
TEACHER: Someone whose job is to teach.
TEACHING: This is the process of imparting knowledge and making learners gain knowledge, skills and attitudes they needed to become responsible citizens.















CHAPTER TWO
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW
The introduction of social studies as one of the core subject in Junior Secondary School has continued to win the admiration and support of most Nigerian scholars and students. Adewuya et at (1982) contend that social studies education enables students to examine those norms and cultures of their core and immediate communities within the Nigerian milieu in order to strengthen their socializing and humanizing responsibilities.
Integrated social studies inform the child and helps him know about the physical, social and educational environment in which he lives and function. Social studies help the child to realize that all the aspect of his environment are revolving or changing. According to Akpabio et at (1984) “Social studies, as a subject, is concerned with man’s way of life. It examines the way man lives and interacts with his social and physical environment”. The use of the available knowledge, skills, tools and technology may aid his interaction. It is important to note that man lives in the society of other human beings. As a rational being, man according to Akpabio et al needs the company, affection, protection, approval and attention of other human being for his comfort. At the same time, society demands the loyalty, cooperation and knowledge of its members in order to ensure development and continued survival of the society. Again, man lives in a physical environment or territory. He interacts with the resources of the physical environment to meet his need for water, food, clothing, shelter, exercise, sleep and rest. In order to interact successfully for the purpose of meeting his social and physical needs. Man as a general rule uses the knowledge, the ideas, the material objects that his society possesses.
Social Studies is not only a way of life, it studies how man influenced by his physical, social, political, economic, psychological and cultural environment. Uzoagulu (1981) observes that social studies is one of the social sciences disciplines which studies man ass he interacts with his fellow men and with his environment. The content of social studies, therefore, is man and his actions. Social studies is the one area of study which integrates, that is, which relates to various social sciences and it also aims at analyzing the view of man and his world. Uzoagulu further stresses that social studies is not history plus geography plus anthropology and so on. All the social sciences are important in their own right but social studies has some relationship with them. The materials from the social sciences and humanities form the basis of the contents of social studies. These materials help to constitute integrated social studies. Social studies is an attempt to reconcile conflicting and distracting statements about man. In other words, it is problem solving. According to Uzoagulu (1981) “In practical terms, social studies is the subject which considers man’s aspirations, hopes, dreams, resentment, hurts and frustrations in order to understand and interpret his behaviours at any particular time”.
For Ezewu (1985) social studies is the area of study made up of selections from other subject having to do with the art of living together peacefully and harmoniously in our family, community and society. By way of definition, Amonoo et al (1979) states that social studies deals with man in society as a whole in order to understand the effects of the processes and use them to make progress. it looks at man in his social environment and physical environment. It also examines the effects of science and technology in the social and physical environment. It is the study of man in society with various aspects working together. For Obiadi (1980) Social studies is not the study of history, geography and civics. As a separate discipline social studies asks questions, raise issues, face problems, present needs and identifies realities. The concept of social studies has been drawn from the disciplines of social science and humanities namely: Sociology, Anthropology, Ethics, History, Geography, and Religion. From the above argument, it can be seen that the definition of social studies is embedded in its philosophy. Social studies cannot be simply defined in a few words; it can be analyzed because it is a powerful discipline. Social Studies is not just an integrated subject but it is also a way of life. But whether all the objectives of social studies can be achieved or realized, it is a core subject for Junior Secondary Schools in Nigeria.

    Date: 2026-08-06 00:00:00.000000