Assessment of Implementation of Social Studies Theme in Context of Secondary School Religion and National Values Curriculum in Ibadan Metropolis

This study examined the implementation of Social Studies theme under the umbrella of Religion and National Values curriculum in upper basic schools in Ibadan Metropolis. The study adopted a descriptive survey research of ex-post facto design, self-designed questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Assessment on Social Studies Questionnaire” (TASSQ) (r=0.83) which was used to collect data from sixty sampled respondents, using a multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts, simple percentage, Mean and standard deviation were used to answer three research questions. The study revealed that Social Studies promotes acquisition of knowledge necessary for solving social problems confronting Nigeria (Mean=3.65) and also promotes dutiful and responsible citizenship (Mean=3.65) among others. It was also discovered that the challenges confronting effective implementation of the curriculum include inadequate provision of teachers’ guide (Mean=3.32), unwillingness of the students to learn (Mean=3.18) and inadequate quality Religion and National Values textbooks (Mean=3.18) and so on. The study, however, revealed that Social Studies curriculum if well implemented could help to promote Nigeria’s moral/social values, solve contemporary social problems and increase students’ interests in learning Social Studies. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that Social Studies should maintain her formal status as a single subject, teaching facilities should be made available, curriculum implementation should be monitored, curriculum distribution should be timely and decentralized, in-service training should be frequently organized for Social Studies teachers on 21st century skills for effective teaching of Social Studies.