An Evaluation of the Implementation of the Lower Primary School Social Studies Syllabus: The Case of North Shewa Administrative Zone
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Date
1994-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The test of a curriculum plan is ascertained through a thorough inquiry into its
practicality and ultimate worth. In view of this, the purpose of this study is to
evaluate tbe implementation of the lower primary school social studies syllabus and
to identify the outcome as well as problems encountered in translating it into practice.
To this effect, fifteen primary schools were se lected as sources of information
from tbe five Provinces of North Shewa Administrative Zone. Within tbese schools
all social studies teachers of the lower primary grades which are forty-two in number,
the school directors, the SPC Coordinators, and a tOlal of 1445 students were taken
as actual sources of info rmation. In addition, the school inspectors and the APC
Coordinators of the fi,'e Provinces were also included as informants of the study.
Questionnaire, interview, classroom observation, and achievement tests were the data
collection instrume nts used to obtain information from the sources.
The results of the study in (licate that there are a considerable proportion of
teachers who are assigned to teach social studies in the lower primary grades without
their interest. The specifications of the syllabus are not also implemented in full.
Most of the lessons are conducted wi thou t making any reference to the particular geohistorical
conditions of the District, Province, or Administrative Zone in which the
children are brought up. Though the dominantly used teaching strategy in the classrooms is the inquiry-oriented
approach, there is a failure on the part of teachers to give appropriate guidance to the
students as to how to proceed through this approach.
Even though the School Pedagogical Centres have attempted to prepare and
collect teaching aids relevant for the subject under study and the teachers are not
overloaded with teaching duties, it is hard to say that there is a complete conducive
teaching-learning atmosphere in the schools for the implementation of the syllabus.
Ill-equipped classrooms with some of the necessary furniture, inavailability of
Teacher's Guide in some of the schools, the existence of some less concerned school
directors about the instructional problems of teachers are the prominent problems
identified in the schools. Consequently, the implementation process of the Syllabus
is not as effective as it should be in enabling learne rs to have mastery of the subject
matter. Particularly, in grades two :1nd three the majority of the students have not
attained the instructional objectives indicating the ineffectiveness of the
implementation process. Moreover, disparity in the attainment of some of the
instructional objectives is noted among the provinces pointing out the existence of
differences in the relative emphasis given to the implementation of the specifications
of the syllabus.
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Evaluation of the Implementation, Lower Primary School Social Studies Syllabus