CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The schools in Ondo City are either being controlled and maintained by government or private individuals few notable secondary in Ondo City are Arogbo Secondary, Adoloseino Secondary School and Erubin Secondary Schools. The 6-3-3-4 system of education is made up of 6 years primary education, 6 years secondary school and 4 years university/tertiary education. The secondary education is made up of three years each of the junior and senior secondary education. Each level of education has its general and specific objective as well as measures out tuned to promote the realization of the objective. The above system of education differs from the old system of education, where the primary education has a duration of 6 years, secondary education lasts 5 years while university education has a duration of between three and four years as the case may be. (6-5-2-3 or 6-5-2-4).

Social studies as a subject has several attractive characteristics. The factors that stand in the way of effective teaching of social studies. Effective teaching is crucial in order for students to reach educational success in the classroom. Unfortunately, there are factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies in the secondary schools. Teachers need to be aware of the factors militating against the effective teaching in order to create positive learning environment for all students to learn. Classroom management, if a teacher loses control of classroom, even for a few minutes during a transition from one activity to the next, chaos can result. It can be difficult to gain students attention and get back on the track forward meeting learning objectives. Teachers should maintain an organized classroom. Communication, if a teacher does not maintain clear communication with parents, staff members and students, effective teaching is difficult to achieve. Teachers must speak clearly and loudly enough. Additionally, the teacher should frequently check for understanding to make sure she is getting the point across. This also includes answering any question properly. Teachers should have clear classroom objectives for students to achieve, and students should be fully informed about what they are expected to learn and where they are in their progress. If a teacher is unclear in her instruction, all students will be unable to learn and move on to new materials.

Lack of content knowledge, if a teacher is not well versed in the content area, she/he is unable to fully educate students on all areas of learning in the subject. Teachers need to be knowledge on the subject that they teach. Teachers should be able to answer all questions that students may have or be able to show students how to conduct the appropriate research in order to find the answers. If a teacher does not know the content area she/he is not credible and could lose the respect of her students, colleagues and parents of her students. Disruptive behaviour  this can include students talking out of him, talking to many restroom breaks, tardiness, cell-phone use, not doing class work or sleeping in class. Teachers should establish class with clear consequences of if students break the rules. This will help prevents disruptive behaviour in the classroom and allow students to get best possible education.         

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Social studies in the school curriculum is faced with some worse teaching problems. The problem in this study therefore is to analyze some of the factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies in the Ese-Odo Local Government Area. These problems have raised a number of questions which when fully surveyed and critically analyzed will be of immense help in solving this main problem.  

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study is to analyze the factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies in Ese-Odo Local Government Area. 

1. To examine the factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies
2. To investigate the quality of teachers teaching social studies
3. To provide information on how to improve the schools teaching social studies
4. To examine the facilities in the school made available
5. To investigate the role teaching social studies teachers of some ensuring successful teaching.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is hoped that the findings of this study will identify some factors that may have affected the successful teaching of social studies in secondary schools. This study will also act as a guide towards solving the problems of providing the necessary human and materials resources for the successful teaching of social studies. The findings will act as reference work for further investigation in this particular area by other researchers.

1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To guide the process of gathering data for his study, the following research questions are raised.

1. What are the factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies in the study areas?
2. What is the quality of teachers teaching social studies in the study areas?
3. How can the teaching of social studies be improved upon?
4. What are the facilities needed available in teaching of social studies in the school?   
5. Does your school have well equipped materials?

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research work has been narrowed down to examine the factors militating against the successful teaching of social studies in the Arogbo City Academy Arogbo in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State. The schools are located in different areas of the local government. They are all government educational agencies that have embarked on the implementation of the secondary school structure as recommended by the Nigeria policy of education.