TITLE:
Senior High Students and Teachers’ Attitudes towards Social Studies Subject: The Case of Nanumba North District of Northern Region, Ghana
AUTHORS:
Gilbert Naa Emmideme
KEYWORDS:
Pedagogies, Intervention Measures, Learner-Centred Approach, Good Citizens, Social Studies
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.10 No.9,
September
25,
2023
ABSTRACT: This study adopted cross-sectional and descriptive designs to examine Social Studies students and teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching and learning of Social Studies in the Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region of Ghana. A sample size of 46 SHS students and 10 Social Studies teachers were selected using a simple random sampling technique for the study. From the perspectives of the study participants, the study assessed their attitudes, the causes of the nature of their attitudes as well as the intervention measures for improving their attitudes towards the subject. Questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were the instruments used for data collection. The study revealed that unlike the teachers, the students had a negative attitude towards the subject. While students perceived Social Studies subject as one that is boring and irrelevant to their future career among others causes, the teachers, on the other hand, perceived Social Studies subject as one that can make students good citizens in future. The students, therefore, proposed that Social Studies teachers should adopt teaching methodologies that are learner-centred, interactive and practicable for improving students’ attitudes towards the subject. From the teachers’ viewpoint, Ghana Education Service (GES) should organize programmes to sensitize students on the roles that Social Studies can play in their lives. They further suggested that GES should organize national competitions on Social Studies as well as institute policies that bind teachers to adopt instructional methods that are learner-centred as a way of forcing Social Studies teachers to adopt instructional pedagogies that will involve the students during Social Studies lessons.