Teachers Perceived Problems of Curriculum Implementation in Tertiary Institutions in Cross River State of Nigeria
Teachers Perceived Problems of Curriculum Implementation in Tertiary Institutions in Cross River State of Nigeria
Teachers Perceived Problems of Curriculum Implementation in Tertiary Institutions in Cross River State of Nigeria
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ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.6, No.19, 2015
Abstract
The study investigated teachers’ perceived problems of curriculum implementation in tertiary institutions. The
need for this study was borne out of the concern over prevalent questions raised against the standard of the
education system. Three objectives were pursued; to identify perceived problems, causes, and possible solutions
to curriculum implementation. 480 purposively selected teachers of tertiary institutions constituted sample for
the study. A validated questionnaire with 3 sections constructed by the researchers formed the main instrument
of the study. Data generated were subjected to statistical analysis using frequencies, means and ranking. The
findings revealed the most frequently occurring problems, causes and possible solutions of the curriculum
implementation. Based on the results obtained from the study, it was recommended that heads of departments
and deans of faculties should be made to incorporate the task of monitoring their colleagues to the administrative
task, a review of the curriculum to meet contemporary need of the society and the need for a paradigm shift of
some educational policies to result oriented policies so as to enhance proper curriculum implementation.
institutions
1.Introduction
Since the inception of western type of education in Nigeria, several attempts have been made to formulate
policies in order to improve education practice. The problem facing our different level of educational system is
not the formulation of policy but the implementation. Even though large sums of money are spent on
implementing new curriculum, several of these efforts have failed. According to Alade (2011), the main reason
for the failure is the lack of understanding of the culture of the school by both experts outside the school system
and educators in the system. Successful implementation of curriculum requires understanding the power
relationships, the traditions, the roles and responsibilities of individuals in the school system.
The word implementation connotes operationalisation of a well-articulated and well intentioned ideas packed as
theory. Hence to implement is to put to action packed ideas or theories into reality. Mezieobi (1993),
conceptualized the term implementation simply as a process of putting an agreed plan, decision, proposal, idea or
policy into effect. It is the bedrock of any plan success or failure. It is the moving force of any plan without
which a plan is only good wish or intention. On the other hand, the word curriculum in a formal setting can be
seen as the planned learning experiences offered to the learner in school. Esu, Enukoha and Umoren (2004)
conceived curriculum as all learning experiences a child has under the guidance of a teacher. According to
Offorma (2005), curriculum is a programme which is made up of three components: programme of studies,
programme of activities and programme of guidance. It is therefore the blue-print or instrument by which school
seeks to translate the hope and values of the society in which it operates into concrete reality.
However, the term curriculum implementation had been defined in different ways by different scholars. Garba
(2004) viewed curriculum implementation as the process of putting the curriculum into work for the achievement
of the goals for which the curriculum is designed. Okebukola (2004) described curriculum implementation as the
translation of the objectives of the curriculum from paper to practice. In a nutshell, Ivowi (2004) sees curriculum
implementation as the translation of “theory into practice”, or “proposal into action”. In a similar vein,
Afangideh (2009), sees the concept of curriculum implementation as the actual engagement of learners with
planned learning opportunities. It is the actual carrying-out of societal culture and/or government policies spelt
out in the curriculum.
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Vol.6, No.19, 2015
It is a stage in curriculum process when in the midst of learning activities, the teacher and learners are involved
in negotiation aimed at promoting learning. This is the interactive stage of the curriculum process which takes
place in the classroom through the combined effort of the teachers, learner, school administrators and parents. It
also integrates the application of physical facilities and the adoption of appropriate pedagogical strategies and
methods. The quality of curriculum implementation of any society is the bedrock of its political, economic,
scientific and technological well being. Little wonder, it is always said that no society can rise above the
standard of its education system.
However, a major problem of the Nigerian education industry is how to operationalize the well intended and
articulated curriculum via feasibility and full-scale implementation commitment. In line with this, Mezieobi
(1993) opined that in Nigeria, a number of curriculum proposals or conceived curriculums have remained
virtually inert in the sense that they were not made functional. Of course, a curriculum may be beautifully
planned but will be of no relevance if it is not implemented. Here in Nigeria, there are beautifully planned and
worthwhile curricula which have been crumbled and failed to produce the intended output due to improper
implementation.
According to Asebiomo (2009), “no matter how well formulated a curriculum may be, its effective
implementation is a sine qua non toward achieving the desired goals of education”. This is because the problem
of most programmes arises at the implementation level. Acknowledging this, Mkpa (2005) remarked that in
Nigeria, it is at the implementation state that many excellent curriculum plans and other educational policies are
marred. Even in some cases where attempts at ensuring actual operation, curricula have not yielded satisfying
and recommendable dividends, hence the dissatisfaction of parents and significant others with poor performance
in the educational system which is characterized by crises and with curricula, marked by abysmal failure.
Writing on the failure of curriculum in Nigeria, Mezieobi (1993) maintains that curriculum with all its well
conceived goals is failing, largely as a result of implementation dormancy or fault. This “scenario” is general and
is assuming the status of “national culture” across every curriculum of Nigerian education system.
More so, Izuagba and Afurobi (2009) in a study reported that the increasing complexity of the Nigerian society
as a result of social change has had adverse effect on curriculum implementation at the tertiary level. As a matter
of fact, tertiary educational institution in Nigeria had inadequately satisfied the man power need of the society.
Unfortunately Izuagba and Afurobi (2009) state that in the last two decades graduate of this institution are found
to be grossly deficient in practical and professional skill by employers of labour in public and private enterprises.
Today, institutions of higher learning are not proud of their products because their performance is indication of
implementation failure of the curriculum. This is because the effectiveness of practical translation of a
programme is evident by the proper conduct, behaviour and the performance of the learner. The result of this is
bred of unemployable graduates, which has become one of the most pernicious problems staring the Nigerian
youths on the face. For this trend to be reversed there is a need for a paradigm shift.
Izuagba (2006) asserts that the privatization of tertiary institutions has introduced inequality in the social system
as it has created two different types of tertiary institutions – one is well funded and offers quality education and
is attended by the children of the rich while the second type, offers mass schooling and is attended by the
children of the common man. Ifedi (2008) supports this as he asserts that the expansion and privatization of
tertiary institutions has lowered standard as graduates of these institutions have failed to provide the expected
dynamic leadership for economic and political development of the country.
Laudable efforts have been made through research which pointed at teachers’ non-involvement in decision
making, teachers’ non-involvement and participation in curriculum development, lack of instructional materials,
inadequate fund and paucity of qualified subject teachers as well as poor application among other courses. These
attempts through research at providing possible solution to these problems of curriculum implementation failure
have not yielded the desire result. This study hence seeks to focus on the teachers who are in the field. The study
is therefore designed to examine teachers’ perceived causes and problems of curriculum implementation in
higher institutions in Cross River state.
Despite the wide recognition and acceptance accorded the role of curriculum as a career of the national
philosophy in Nigerian educational system, there seems to be problems in the implementation of this important
educational blue-print. Many laudable goals of the curriculum have failed to pass the planning stage of the
curriculum due to faulty implementation. Well conceived curriculum ideas have remained virtually inert and
dysfunctional. The outcome of this is the bred of graduates of higher institution who are found to be grossly
deficient in practical and professional competences (Izuagba and Afurobi 2009). The result of this state of affair
according to Idaka and Joshua (2005) is the production of half baked, ill trained and sometimes confused
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graduates. This problem and other related problems should be a cause for concern to all patriotic and serious
minded stake holder of the educational sub-sector. Against this background, this study was designed to
investigate teachers’ perceived causes and problems of curriculum implementation.
3.Research questions
Every project requires money for its effective implementation. Confirming this, Onyeachu (2006) noted that, no
organization functions effectively without fund. Unfortunately, fund allotted for education is grossly inadequate.
This affects implementation of a well designed curriculum. Izuagba and Afurobi (2009) state that as a matter of
fact, it was the upsurge in enrolment against the backdrop of a sharp fall in the finances of tertiary institutions
that adversely affected curriculum implementation. A situation where there is no money for payment of teachers
salaries, purchase of equipment, books, furniture and other facilities, teachers cannot perform effectively. The
result of this is the unstable and epileptic nature of Nigerian education system characterized by frequent strikes
and students’ rampage.
5 Research method
The research design for this study was the survey design. The adoption of this design was because the study
aimed at finding out the perception of the sample on the causes and problems of curriculum implementation.
This design is very useful to this study because to Isangedighi, Joshua, Asim & Ekuri (2004), survey is important
for opinion and attitude studies. The population for the study comprises all the academic staff of the four
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government own higher institution in cross river state. The sample of the study comprises 500 lecturers drawn
from the population using purposive sampling technique. It was purposive because the sample was accidentally
drawn from the four institutions.
The research instrument use for the study was a questionnaire developed and validated by the researchers and
two educational evaluators. The instrument has four sections, A, B, C and D. Section A was designed to seek
information of the personal data of the respondents, Section B required the respondents to indicate their
perceived problems of curriculum implementation and Section C sought information on the possible causes of
the problems of curriculum implementation. Section D on the other hand was designed to elicit information on
the possible solutions of the problems of curriculum implementation. In sections B, C, and D, each item has a
two-point rating scale of Agree (A) and Disagree (D).
The administration and the retrieval of the questionnaire were done by the researchers within the period of two
weeks. Sixteen copies out of the 500 copies administered where invalidated, four of which were not returned by
the respondents while the other twelve because respondents could not complete the response. However, four
copies were randomly thrown out to give the sample a round figure of 480. For the analysis of the data collected
for this study and to answer the three research questions posed, frequency, means and ranking statistical tools
were used at 0.05 level of significance and a mean of 1.50 (ie 0.05 +1.50), which is the cut -off- point, was
therefore fixed at 1.55. The interpretation of this is that items with means of 1.55 and above where considered as
been significant while those below it as not significant. Agree was coded 2 while Disagree was coded 1.
Results
The result presented in Table 1 shows that teachers perceived 13 of the 15 problems of curriculum
implementation stated as been significant while 2 were not significant, hence, not considered crucial problems.
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The degrees of these problems are as presented in table 1 in a descending order. The implication of this result is
that items with a higher means constituted more problems of curriculum implementations than items with
smaller means.
The result presented in table 2 revealed that 15 of the 16 perceived causes of the problems of curriculum
implementation are significant and ranked in the order in which they appeared on the table with lack of
monitoring strategy being the first perceived cause identified. One of the 16 items was found not to be significant
hence does not really constitute cause of the problems of curriculum implementation in the research area.
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Judging from the results on Table 1, there is indication that majority of the items had mean responses of 1.55 and
above which shows that these items significantly constituted problems to curriculum implementation. This
agreed with Offiong (2005), Lassa (2007) and Alade (2011) that pointed at teachers’ inability to apply ICT in
teaching, lack of facilities among others as problems of curriculum implementation.
The results in Table 2 revealed that 15 of 16 items had a mean of 1.55 and above and are ranked in the order of
degree from the highest with a mean of 2.00 to the least of 1.55 mean. Only one item was considered not to be
significant with a mean of 1.50. The finding of this supports the earlier position of Izuagba and Aforobi (2009)
that as a matter of fact, it was the upsurge in enrolment against the backdrop of a sharp fall in the finances of
tertiary institutions that adversely affect curriculum implementation.
Results in Table 3 on the other hand, indicated that items 1-10 are significant possible solutions to the problems
of curriculum implementation in tertiary institution. Item 11 is not considered significant, hence can not address
the problem of curriculum implementation.
5.2 Conclusion
Curriculum implementation is a very important aspect of the curriculum process. Hence, it is the bedrock of any
school success or failure. However, Nigeria tertiary institution curriculum is bedeviled with porous
implementation. The failure is attributed to implementation dormancy as well as faulty educational policy. The
study however concluded that there is need for a paradigm shift of faulty policy to result oriented policies that
would meet the challenges of curriculum processes.
5.3 Recommendations
Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations were made.
i. There is a need for a paradigm shift of some education policies such as lecturers’ emphasis on seminar and
conferences, methodology, the ‘customized’ poor budget allocation to education among others, to result oriented
policies that would ameliorate the deplorable state of curriculum implementation in the research area.
ii. It is also recommended in this work that heads of departments and deans of faculties should be made to
incorporate the task of monitoring of their colleagues to the administrative task. With this heavy monitoring,
teachers should be sufficiently motivated for noble role.
iii This study called for a review of the curriculum to meet contemporary need of the society, with the provision
of more qualified and competent teachers to meet the challenges of the envisaged curriculum. In the new
curriculum, examinations should be de-emphasized while competency should be tested by employers of labour.
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