Implementing History Curriculum in Basic Schools: Techniques and Challenges

Abstract

Effective nurturing and adding worth to our customs, traditions, and culture signalise the significance of History in the school curriculum. History is a potent subject that requires the employment of diverse techniques to motivate learners' desire to understand the subject. Nevertheless, History as a subject has been plugged with a myriad of challenges that need to be addressed swiftly. The study sought to inquire about the effective implementation of the History curriculum in basic schools. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. A convenience sampling technique was used to gather data from 32 public school History teachers who resided in the municipal educational circuit with the researchers. Three independent experts in History education who did not have an interest in the study scrutinised the questionnaire items to ensure face, content and construct validity. Data were analysed using frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study showed that History teachers most of the time employed discussion, brainstorming and lectures during instructional delivery. However, debates and field trips were the least practised instructional delivery techniques. Also, inadequate teaching and learning resources, poor continuous professional development of teachers, inadequate funds for field trips, and limited content knowledge of History teachers were some challenges that limit the effective teaching and learning of History in basic schools. The study recommended that adequate provision of teaching-learning aids, in addition to continuous professional development for teachers, would improve their content knowledge in the subject. This would further improve the implementation of the History curriculum.