EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR BASIC SCIENCE IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study focused on the evaluation of the implementation of the national curriculum for basic science in the junior secondary schools in Rivers State. Evaluation are descriptive survey design were adopted for the study. Three research questions are three corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The population comprised 10,628 head-teachers and teachers in the junior secondary schools in Rivers State. The multi stage sampling procedures was used to draw head-teachers and teachers from the 23 local government areas of the State, while the simple random sampling techniques was used to select 600 respondents (head-teachers and teachers) as the sample size of the study. The instruments used for data collection were tittle Basic Science-Implementation Evaluation Questionnaire for Head Teachers (BSI EQHT_s) and Basic Science Questionnaire for Teachers (BSIEQT_s­) respectively. The reliabilities of the instruments are 0.80 while these of sub-scales are 0.88 for BSIEQHT and 0.71 for BSIEQT using Rulom statistics tools. Face and validity were used in this study. Mean () and standard deviation were used to answer the research question while t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 5% probability level. The results obtained showed that (i) no significant differences between the head-teachers and teachers mean responses on the implementation of Basic Science Curriculum in Rivers State (ii) Availability of instructional materials/facilities showed significant difference in the mean () responses of male and female teachers. Therefore, recommendations for more provision of Basic Science teachers in Rivers State. Finally, more provision of Basic Science materials facilities and the inclusion of head teachers and teachers in the implementation process among others.