INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING BUSINESS EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

1.1 Introduction

Innovative teaching techniques are instructional approaches that support the goal of business education. According to the academics, the main goal of education is to develop creative practices that might serve the needs of both the students and the institution. Giving pupils the abilities they need to meet human needs is the aim of business education. It's evident that the volume of both local and foreign company transactions is rising, which makes honing your business acumen much more important than before. Regretfully, it appears that these high school students are not paying much attention to world issues. They would prefer to study the arts than business studies. Not because of the unfounded fear of shorthand that children now harbour.

This chapter will address the background information that motivated this study, the challenges that prompted it, its aim, and its objectives as a preface to subsequent sections of the study. Additional factors include the study's significance, scope, limitations, research questions and hypotheses, and the definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

The National Policy on Education states that business education is a social science subject that should be taught in all Nigerian post-primary institutions. This topic has been addressed. There are several topic areas that make up business education. Put another way, it is an amalgam of several courses; at the junior secondary level, it is presented as an integrated subject that includes shorthand, typing, office practice, commerce, and bookkeeping. But at the Senior Secondary level, the courses are divided into areas like as accounting, bookkeeping, economics, shorthand, and typewriting in order to provide students more job alternatives.

The (NBTE) Business Education curriculum had several features that were intended to produce teachers who be adequately suited for teaching Bossiness Studies at the secondary school level. Courses were specified in modules with the performance objectives for each module clearly specified common core subject which every student had to study for the first 2 years, were specified. Specialization in either accounting or secretarial options was reserved for the third and final year.

Effective teaching is necessary for the student to experience a measurable change, and effective teaching is characterized by the teacher's ability to use new approaches to communicate with the learner in a way that is clear, compelling, and applicable. The instructional materials utilized in teaching and learning are these cutting-edge methods. The goal of education is to make learning simple and applicable so that students can comprehend the material.

Business education materials span from standard textbooks to more advanced equipment, genuine chalkboards, items, or their representations, which are used by the instructor to facilitate successful student-teacher communication. These resources help learners acquire continuity of thought and strengthen their learning. The schools that teach business education subjects should have access to instructional resources and tools that help students acquire the necessary skills. Business education constitutes a subset of specialized education within the overall framework of formal and informal education. To fully comprehend the researcher's discussion in this paper, it is important to note that in Nigeria, the terms "commercial subject" and "business education" refer to the same thing.

Obi and Akume (2001) cautioned that comprehensive instruction in the use of the appliances must be a part of any course offered by a school that wishes to provide a modern Business Education curriculum. In order to provide this kind of education, the school also has to have the equipment needed to provide instructions. To elaborate, they said that sufficient provision of material and human resources is necessary for the teaching process to function properly in general.

The advancement of global technology is impacting Nigerian education. Schools need to keep up with this by making sure that their kids get adequate instruction, maintain the right tools, and make prudent use of their supplies. When faced with an overwhelming workload of theoretical and practical lessons, even the most skilled teachers may find it challenging to perform their tasks in the absence of adequate equipment, materials, and facilities, such as cost labs, classrooms, and workshops.

Nigeria needs to understand that solving practical problems is what will drive growth and development. Business education in the nation should not be viewed as the domain of a select few, but rather as a shared responsibility. Churches, other religious organizations, government agencies, corporate entities, philanthropists, and others must collaborate to tackle these problems. As soon as this is resolved, business education will be given the respect it deserves in the country's educational system for being the key to saving contemporary society.

According to Nanassy (2003) business education is an aspect of the total education, which provides students with the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes and values to enable them enter into various occupational field.

Ulinfun (2001) also defined business education as education for business, or training in business skills, which are required for use in business offices and clerical occupations and business policy analysis. The idea of business education in Nigeria started as far back as 1882 by colonial masters. The main purpose was to get people to interpret the scared book known as Bible, and also people to work as clerks, and interprets of Holy Book, so their education was confined to knowledge and skill such as typewriting and filling, which would achieve these goals.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Innovative Techniques of Teaching and Learning Business Education in Secondary School.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the problems in teaching Business Education like any other subject have been attributed to the lack of materials for teaching; sometimes some teachers are not qualified to teach the subject. In some cases however, there are qualified teachers but they lack the necessary teaching materials without, which efforts, become futile. Also sometimes the student or learner is rather not interested in the subject and hence they perform below expectation.

Despite the federal government's emphasis on achieving self-reliance through acquisition, there are still several flaws in the system, including poor maintenance and storage of already-obtained raw materials and an inadequate supply of new ones. Obi and Akume stress the need of teaching materials in schools, arguing that students cannot master business education since it is a skilled topic by just sitting, folding their arms, and nodding their head.

The majority of institutions that provide Business Education courses don't appear to have the necessary materials, despite the fact that the schools must have them in order to deliver this instruction. The teaching and learning process may be made simpler, deeper, and more straightforward with the use of resource resources (Uzoegwu, 2001).

These resources include real items, a machine, and a chalkboard in addition to textbooks. On the other hand, teachers design instructional aids primarily to assist them in communicating the lesson more clearly and efficiently. Included are drawings on cardboard and actual things brought into the classroom for students to touch and see (visual aids). The study's goal is to assess the resource materials' usability, availability, and effectiveness for teaching and studying business education courses in Enugu North Local Government Area.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Innovative Techniques of Teaching and Learning Business Education in Secondary School. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the innovative techniques for teaching and learning Business Education subject in Secondary Schools;
2. To ascertain the adequacy of materials and equipments for the teaching of Business Education;
3. To determine the utilization extent of the innovative techniques by Business Education Teachers;
4. To find out the extent to which the innovative techniques are functional; and
5. To examine the teaching aids and textbooks use by teachers and students to facilitate the learning and teaching of Business Education.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Are there adequate materials and equipments for the teaching of Business Education?
• How functional are the available resource used for teaching and learning of business subject in the Secondary school in the study area?
• To what extent is innovative techniques utilized by Business Education Teachers in the study area?
• What are the innovative techniques for teaching and learning Business Education subject in Secondary Schools?
• What are the teaching aids and textbooks use by teachers and students to facilitate the learning and teaching of Business Education?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Innovative techniques are not significant for teaching and learning of Business Education in the Secondary School in the study area
• H1: Innovative techniques are significant for teaching and learning of Business Education in the Secondary School in the study area

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no significant innovative techniques and professional qualifications needed by teachers to excel in teaching Business Education
• H1: There are significant innovative techniques and professional qualifications needed by teachers to excel in teaching Business Education

1.7 Significance of Study

The findings of this study will assist educators and students in identifying the challenges that occur when there is an adequate or plentiful supply of resources for the teaching and learning procedure. When teaching and learning are combined with resource resources, students' understanding and application of the content are improved.

The strain of explaining concepts to students for an extended period of time is lessened for teachers by the use of resource resources. Additionally, the study will help teachers better understand what they need to do to manage and make the most of the resources at their disposal to improve their ability to teach.

Furthermore, the research intended to raise awareness among educational policy makers and curriculum planners about the need of emphasizing resource material utilization and improvisation.

Ultimately, since the study promotes the use of resource materials for more hands-on teaching and learning, graduates in business education and other fields will be well-prepared for their job performance, which will lessen the difficulty employers face in providing on-the-job training for employees and increase productivity.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Innovative Techniques of Teaching and Learning Business Education in Secondary School using Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State as a case study.

The selected schools in the study area include:

• City Girls Secondary School, Enugu.
• Metropolitan Girl Secondary School, Enugu
• Queen's School Enugu.
• Government Technical college, Enugu
• Government Secondary Schools, Enugu.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:

1. Time Constraint:The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
3. Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.

1.10 Definition of Terms

Business:

It refers to the study of the management of individuals organizing to maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals (usually to generate profit).

Techniques:

Is the process by which the learner is associated with the learning task by the teacher, techniques are generally used within a method. They form part of a method of approaching a topic.

Method:

It is the way in which people are organized in order to conduct an educational activity with the purpose of achieving a set goal.

Problem:

It is something difficult to deal with or understand.

Prospect:

It is the possibility of something occurring or chances for success.

Teaching:

This is simply the process of impacting knowledge, it means the process of giving instruction to somebody or causes somebody to know or be able to do something.