CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study was carried out to  assess the challenges and opportunities in Business Education curriculum development  in Rivers State. Two specific objectives, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. Survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study was one hundred business educators in tertiary institutions in Rivers State. The sample of the study comprised forty (40) Business Educators.. A  structured questionnaire was used for study. The instrument was validated by two experts, one in business education and the other in measurement and evaluation. Cronbach Alpha reliability method was used. Co-efficient values of 0.95 and 0.94 and an overall reliability value of 0.90 were obtained. Data collected were analyzed using mean  and standard deviation. Result  of the study revealed that Business Education curriculum development have many challenges such as  inadequate provision of finance, lack of highly qualified professional teachers,  use of outdated content of curriculum, lack of modern facilities, politicized curricula, low public interest, lack of government support to business education , poor planning of business education curriculum, low emphasis on technology and poor monitoring and evaluation. Also, the result revealed that there are  opportunities in Business Education curriculum development. The paper recommended amongst others that curriculum development process evaluation should be done with positive intention to ensure critical analysis of the new challenges facing the business education  teachers and students. Also,  Federal and state ministries of education and other stakeholders should help provide the colleges of education and universities offering Business Education  with needed instructional resources for effective implementation of curriculum.