Students’ Perception of Difficulty Levels of Senior Secondary School Civic Education Curriculum Content in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The learnability of school curriculum has been attributed to students’ perception of different school subjects which also determines the level of students’ performance and ultimately the achievability of the intended curriculum objectives. Studies had been conducted in other subject areas. However, studies of that type are not common in Civic Education which is relatively new in the Nigerian Secondary School curriculum. This paper examines students’ perception of difficulty levels of the Nigerian Senior School Civic Education Syllabus (SSSCES) and the factors associated with their perception. The population for the study comprised all Civic Education students in Osun State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and a researcher-designed instrument titled Civic Education Syllabus Perception Questionnaire (CESPQ) was administered to 487 students drawn from 25 Senior Secondary Schools in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The three research questions raised for the study were answered using percentage, mean and standard deviation statistics. The results showed that the Senior Secondary School Civic Education Syllabus (SSSCES) topics are perceived by students to be of varying difficulty levels ranging from difficult to very simple with an absolute of them being predominantly very simple. The observed difficulty levels were associated with inadequate textbooks, teachers’ presentation of lessons and wide content coverage. These imply that Civic Education is learnable and curriculum objectives are achievable. Based on these findings, it was recommended that teachers should enhance the learnability of the few perceived difficult topics by students through the use of predominantly learner-centred strategies and more learner-friendly strategies to teach the subject.