Around
the world the general, concern for Citizenship Education is growing and
plays an increasingly more significant role in the future of education (Sears
and Hughes 2006). In a bid to either eradicate or minimize the ‘evils’ of
society, Citizenship Education is propagated (Ajayi, 2007). World Education
Forum Dakar (2000) considered the social ills of society and suggested
education as a powerful tool for promoting democracy and citizenship and Citizenship
Education. It was stressed that apart from education being the right of every
child, certain virtues need to be displayed by every individual or citizen
(UNESCO, 2000).
Citizenship
Education implies being educated to become an efficient member of one’s
immediate and the general human community and to develop a commitment to work
effectively with diverse people and to accept differences in cultures and
values to social and development needs or issues. Citizenship Education also
provides an essential element in the socialization process by helping young
people to understand their society, contributing to it as informed, effective
and responsible citizens (Aggarwal, 2000). Children’s learning is a major focus
within most early year’s settings and one that is rewarding and exciting for
early years practitioners. Understanding how children learn and how to support
their learning experiences require extensive and in-depth knowledge from those
people who care for them (Osler, 2001). Provision of quality secondary school
education will ensure sustainable academic future for generations. It may not
be easy to speculate, because today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. They
should not have to wait until they get to the tertiary institutions to be
introduced to Citizenship Education (Atubra, 2009).
With
the new development in promoting democracy among all countries in the world, Citizenship
Education becomes increasingly important in the educational system
(Torney-Purta & Vermeer, 2004). Citizenship Education is highly topical in
many countries at present and urgent consideration is given to how to prepare
the young people for the challenges and uncertainties of life in a rapidly
changing world (Ichilov, 1998). It is just in order that many international
communities are undertaking major reforms of schools and the curricula, Citizenship
Education is part of this reform process (Kerr, 2005). Hence the secondary
schools have no options but to be part of it. The school teachers who are the
“attacking troops” in the classroom in this regard need to be given serious
consideration.
The
concept of Citizenship Education is generally said to embrace the preparation
of young people for their roles and responsibilities as citizens and in
particular the role of education in the preparatory process (Kerr, 2005). He
further (2005) added that Citizenship Education is covered by a wide range of
terms used in many countries to include citizenship, civic, social science, Social
Studies, world studies, society and studies of society. It also has links to
curriculum subjects and options including history, geography, economics,
politics, environmental studies, values education, religious studies, language
and science. These interpretations mean that there are many different ways in
which Citizenship Education can be approached and defined. Osler (2001) adds that
Citizenship Education needs to be underpinned by human rights and cited
evidence which suggests that a well conceived human rights based on citizenship
curriculum has the potential to contribute to community cohesion, civic courage
and greater solidarity with others, within and beyond national borders. Amao
(2006) adds that Citizenship Education is basically directed at the youth, who
are seen as the future leaders to secure a better future for the country.
According to Oswell (2012:1), Citizenship Education is the provision of
knowledge, concepts, skills, values and attitudes for the purpose of developing
socially and morally responsible citizens. He further stated that Citizenship
Education occurs both within the school and outside the school. The family, peer
groups, social clubs, community and national organizations as well as the media
are important sources of Citizenship Education outside the school.
Nigeria as a
nation has been besieged by an array of seemingly intractable social,
economic and political problems. According to Omo-Ojugo (2009:438), “several
conscious efforts have been made by the government to instill discipline,
maintain peace and stability in Nigeria without
much success.” According to Ojugo (2009:438), these include; “Ethical Revolution
in 1983, War Against Indiscipline (WAI) 1984, Mass Mobilization for
Economic recovery, self-reliance and social justice (MAMSER) in 1987,
National Orientation Agency (NAO) in 1993, the Economic and Financial
Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other related offences commission (ICPC) in 2002. Omo-O-jugo (2009)
regretted that these efforts have not yielded much needed results to
improve the nation's value system.”
Man is a social being and
they live in a society. In order to live peacefully in the society, man need to
understand the rules and regulations governing the society. It was in this
context of developing long-term solutions and addressing the roots of
societal problems that the Citizenship Education curriculum was developed
(Ajayi, 2007). According to Dave (2006:439), “the aim of citizenship
classes both formal and informal, is to develop young people into
responsible citizens, who understand their rights and responsibilities and
can play an active part in society.” In other words, citizenship
education, that promotes civic literacy and attachment, requires a
citizen to be well informed, gather facts, reject
ethnocentrism, religious jingoism and encourage national
consciousness. That means that, Citizenship Education will develop
in individuals, skills, attitudes and values that will enable them to
show concern for the well being and dignity of others, respecting the
worth of others and approaching civil decision in a rational manner.
Schools
play crucial roles in the development of the academic abilities of young
people. Schools also serve as places that assist learners in developing and
understanding society and showing commitment to political and civic
engagements. As a result, schools can help foster the knowledge, skills and
disposition that young people need to develop political awareness and grow to
be socially responsible individuals (Torney-Purta & Vermeer, 2004). This
process has to do with Citizenship Education in the development of a sense of
social and civic responsibilities and the simulation of national patriotic
pride (Wright, 2003).
A
structured approach to Citizenship Education enables children in schools to
gain early understanding of the rights and responsibilities that come with the
membership of a given society. This will provide them with a sense of how
rules, regulations and the law work and after advice and guidance on how to
avoid falling victim of these rules, regulations and laws (Mitchell, 1999). Therefore,
schools should be obliged to teach citizenship education. Citizenship Education
lays the foundations for children’s political literacy and promotes the skills
of community engagements (Mitchell 1999). It offers children early introduction
to financial literacy and welfare support and also arms them with knowledge of
where to go for help when they need it (Kerr, 2005). McKinom (2007) adds that Citizenship
Education remains the most effective defense against underdevelopment and
poverty.
When children
are introduced to Citizenship Education at early years of their schooling, it
will bring a total transformation in the way of life in society. Imbibing these
characteristics makes a person an informed, critical citizen who is socially
and morally responsible as Citizenship Education is charged to give. Amao
(2006), adds that Citizenship Education is basically directed at the youth who
are seen as the future leaders to secure a better future for the country. It is
anticipated that it is better hatched at the early years to get worthy results
for sustainable national development than later. Children need to be prepared
early enough as active citizens and aside home educational institutions also
have obligations in achieving these goals.
In
order to effectively teach Citizenship Education in schools, teachers are
expected to have good knowledge of civic and political concepts. This is
because the competence of a Citizenship Education teacher, to a large extent,
depends on his knowledge of civic/political issues and concepts. The teacher
can not teach effectively any concept that he is not grounded in. There is no
doubt that if a teacher is not an authority in the subject he is teaching he
has no business being in the classroom (Adepoju, 2008). According to Ajayi
(1989:22), there is a positive relationship between teacher’s ability, his
intellectual characteristics and effectiveness in his teaching. The teacher’s
cognitive ability and his intellectual characteristics shape his thoughts, his
knowledge of the content of what he teaches and his method of imparting his
ideas into the students. Apart from the knowledge component, the civic
attitude, traits and values of the teacher have important role to play in
developing learners to become responsible citizens. Fan, Ekpo, and Ita (2008)
argued that teachers should serve as role-models to their students because
modeling remains a powerful strategy for teaching values and morals.
Teachers
are the key figures in implementing government policies in school. They are the
key bridge between the intended and implemented curriculum. They do not
“merely deliver the curriculum” but “develop”, “define” and “reinterpret”
it (Hargreaves, 1994). The outcomes of education are dependent on
teachers’ perceptions, beliefs and resulting decisions in the classroom (Hargreaves,
1994). As such, teachers have been called the “curricular-instructional
gatekeepers” in Citizenship Education (Ichilov, 1998). How teachers understand Citizenship
Education policy, and to the extent they find the policy meaningful, are
critical to its successful implementation.
Teachers’ perceptions of and
practices in Citizenship Education have shown that despite a standard set
of curricular documents, the enacted curriculum in the classrooms are often
varied. This is because curriculum filtered through teacher lenses could emerge
in a manner incongruent with policy expectations (Jasmine, Sim, Kim, Pui, and
Wing, 2012). This implies that teacher agency in the context of policy
interpretation and enactment is a key factor determining students’
citizenship experiences in the classroom. Evans (2006) stated that even though
teachers understood the learning goals of citizenship education, there could be
variations in the goals in which teachers prioritized and emphasized Citizenship
Education in their classrooms.
It is
important to note that teachers should have a knowledge and
understanding of the dimensions of citizenship education, a knowledge of
pedagogy, skills and competencies to support and guide learners and an
understanding of the social and the cultural dimension of educational
contexts. In this context, teachers should go through some form of specialized
training, either pre-service on in-service in Citizenship Education (Murray and
Dirk, 2013). This would enable them to be reflective practitioners, discerning
in managing information and knowledge. The main key aspect in teacher
training for Citizenship Education is that knowledge, understanding and
teacher competencies should be developed through the lenses of democratic
values and human rights. Another key aspect is the personal and ethical
development of teachers for Citizenship Education with a view to the practice
of active and responsible citizenship. Democratic attitudes and values
should be understood, made use of and cherished and appreciated by
teachers.
Citizenship
Education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills, values,
dispositions and attitudes which will enable them to actively participate as
citizens in a democracy (Ajiboye, 2009). Since its introduction in the secondary
school curriculum, there have been doubts as to whether the subject is
achieving its major goal of developing good citizens. These doubts emanated
from the fact that products of schools are exhibiting behaviors that are not in
sequence with good citizenship as encapsulated in its curriculum (Ajiboye,
2009). Such behaviours according to Denis, Jo, and Roy (2000:208) include a
“lack of interest in and involvement of young people in public and political
life” and an apparent inability, among
the youth, to deal with citizenship issues like “pluralism, multiculturalism,
ethnic and cultural heritage and diversity, tolerance, social cohesion,
collective and individual rights and responsibilities, social justice, national
identity and consciousness, and freedom among others” (Denis, Jo and Roy,
2000:208).
Incidents
of anti-social behaviour such as murder, vandalism, rape and assault are
becoming increasingly common, particularly among today’s youth. Public
spiritedness and civic virtues such as doing something for the common good and
concern for public facilities and infrastructure seem to be fast disappearing.
This situation has become a
source of worry and concern, and which is regarded by many as one of the
imminent factors hindering economic development in Nigeria.
The main purpose of the study is to ascertain teacher
attitude towards the teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary schools.
Specifically the study aims at determining:
1. the need
for Citizenship Education in secondary schools in Isiala Mbano Local Government
Area of Imo State.
2. teacher’s
perception towards the teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary schools Isiala
Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
3. teacher’s
competence in the teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary schools Isiala
Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
4. the
role of teacher training in improving the teaching of Citizenship Education in
secondary schools Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
It is
hoped that the findings will benefit curriculum planners, teachers, students
and parents by coming up with practical insights about the
teaching/learning of citizenship education. The findings could assist teacher
training institutions and universities to improve practice and guide
policy makers in coming up with a viable Citizenship Education curriculum.
The
findings will yield a greater understanding on how to instill good behaviour in
students. The reason is because civic education lays emphasis on positively
improving the affective domain of students (Olubor and Ogonor, 2007). In other
words Citizenship Education will be of great significance to students because
it will bring about improvement in their qualities of character and conscience.
The
findings from this study have implications for theory and practice of Citizenship
Education in Nigeria,
specifically with regards to teacher orientation, attitudes and competences in
delivering Citizenship Education curriculum.
The scope
of this research work is mainly aimed at finding out teachers’ attitude towards
the teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary schools. Basically the study
will focus on the importance of Citizenship Education and teachers’
beliefs towards the teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary schools. The
study will also focus on how teachers’ competence affect the the effective
delivery of Citizenship Education in secondary schools and the role of teacher
training in ensuring effective teaching of Citizenship Education in secondary
schools.
The following research
questions guided the study:
1. What are
the need for Citizenship Education in secondary schools in Isiala Mbano Local
Government Area of Imo State.?
2. What
are teachers’ beliefs towards the teaching of Citizenship Education in
secondary schools in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.?
3. How
does teachers’ competence affect the teaching of Citizenship Education in
secondary schools in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State?
4. What
is the role of teacher education in improving the teaching of Citizenship
Education in secondary schools in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo
State.?
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