THE PROBLEMS SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS ENCOUNTER IN TEACHING ECONOMICS

1.1 Introduction

Education is an important aspect of economic development when citizens of a country are educated, that is a key to social, economic and political stability. According to Eyibe (2006) education is a cultural process. Onebunne, J. et al (2020, 85) has it that, “Education the world over has been adjudged an instrument for societal development and advancement of human knowledge for harmonious relationship and interactions with his environment”. It is a cultural process and a developmental process. It is a cultural process because children and adults who are exposed to education are involved in a process of cultural transmission and cultural change in the school. Secondly, it is a behavioural process because school children and adults who are benefiting from education are involved in a process of change in behaviour to do well.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

In the recent time, there are growing agitations and calls on developing countries to focus their attention on economics education in order for them to turn around the economic status of their various Countries. It is against this background that the various Nigerian governments have been placing emphasis on the acquisition of economic education in the educational system. This issue led to the formulation of the new national policy on education (NPE, 2006) which seems to place high emphasis on economics as a subject.

Under the new policy economics is to be taught right from secondary school. The aim here is to inculcate into the secondary school student the basic necessity for the learning of economics at the higher levels of education. According to the national policy on education (NPE, 2006) the aim is to provide the students with “a sound basis for economical and reflective thinking” (FEM, 1981 : 146). In essence, the secondary school is considered as the foundation upon which the future of economy in Nigeria is based. It is at this level that the student is introduced into the field of social science to explore it.

Secondary school students are known to be curious and it is at this stage that curiosity can be tapped to advantage to develop the right economic attitudes in the students.

In recent times also there have been complains by examiners teachers and even parents about poor student’s performance in economic more especially at the secondary level. There are also cries of students’ lack of interest in social sciences. This study intends to examine whether these trends are due to shaky foundations laid right from the secondary school. Studies such as this could help in revealing the fundamental faults if any, associated with the teaching of economics, and the prospects for improvement.

The prospects of study economics cannot be over emphasized based on the fact that is a single integrated subject, only recently the Nigerian institution of learning right from the secondary to the tertiary level and it is currently gaining a nationwide acceptance. The planning and organization rested mainly in the lands of experts and specialists within the social science discipline, drawn from the universities and who are largely out of touch and reach with the schools. As in the case of new subject, those who teach it are confused, many are on the problems bound to arise for instance, the problem of dealing with a new subject which is quite different but has emerged from other well established ones, the problem of lack of a clear out definition, the problem of lack of a definition majority of the present teachers who can teach the subject are unfamiliar with the result that they continue to teach the old concept and ideas under the new subject heading economics. All these and other constitute problems in teaching economics.

The finder or the researcher sincerely hopes that economics students has build up for themselves their initiative, originalities and judgment to become intelligent and use social.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Investigation revealed that economics education in secondary school has been facing many problems, despite the indispensable contribution of the discipline, it has been observed that this subject is confronted with a lot of problems in Awgu Local Government area.

Since the main issue in Nigeria is how should we be united, many researcher had come up with the opinion the significance of economics to Nigeria can be appreciated when we look back to the experience of the two and half years civil war taught all Nigerians the lesson of age long adage which says united we stand, divided we fall unity for strength learnt from the war, it has been translated into all aspect of our life political educational, physical and economical etc.

Mostly due to insufficient qualified economics teachers, lack the materials for teaching economics subjects, the nature scope and lack of clear definition of the subject and lack of knowledge of the method of teaching the subject, in the present day Nigeria, a lot of problem had come in between economics and social subjects, which are physics and chemistry because of the importance of science and technology, it make some schools to pay less attention to economics in the secondary and tertiary level of study, the problem of teaching economics in secondary school in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu state would be carefully pay attention studies in this work.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the problems secondary school teachers encounter in teaching economics in Awgu Local Government Area. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To find the problems involved in teaching of economics in secondary schools.
2. To suggest appropriate solutions to any of the problems in teaching economics in secondary schools.
3. To find out the prospect of teaching and learning economics in secondary schools.
4. To find out how instructional material can be include in the teaching of economics in secondary schools.

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 enough economics materials like, textbook, maps, globes in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area?
• What are the problems of teaching economics in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area?
• What are the solutions of the problems of teaching economics in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area?
• What are prospect of teaching and learning economics in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area?

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: There are no significant factors inhibiting the teaching economics in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area
• H1: There are significant factors inhibiting the teaching economics in secondary schools in Awgu Local Government Area

1.7 Significance of Study

This research is of significance to the domain economics education and as well throw more light on appropriate methodology and choice of instructional material. These aims and objectives however cannot be achieved if there are no sufficient and effective means of running these subjects into our Nigerian institution of learning.

The finding of the study would help to expose the problems and betters ways of teaching economics, the introduction of economics subject in Nigerian school curriculum is not without aims and objectives. The rationale behind this introduction is to meet the state and nation man power needs.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the problems secondary school teachers encounter in teaching economics in Awgu Local Government Area. This present an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches in Awgu Local Government Areas and specifically centered extensively on (16) sixteen secondary schools found in the area. It also identifies the consequences and some possible solution to the problems as well as using non-formal educational programme to meet up the needs of the students.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

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. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. 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).

1.10 Definition of Terms

Economics: Economics is a social science that studies an aspect of human behaviour as earlier pointed out. It helps students to think critically and become effective members of the society.