Exploring the Global Emergence of Social Studies at Junior Secondary School: A Glance on Literature Review

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Exploring the Global Emergence of Social Studies at Junior Secondary School: A Glance on Literature Review

Setwin Mutau Mufalo¹*, Gistered Muleya², Francis Simui^3
1Mishikishi Secondary School, Masaiti, Zambia
²’³Institute of Distance Education, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
*Corresponding Author

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to review literature on the emergence of the contemporary Social Studies on a global scale. It has been established that there is a controversy among Scholars on the global emergence of Social Studies, its definition, content and purpose. The paper has also established that Social Studies was being taught by teachers who are specialised in other social science subjects such as History, Geography, Civic Education among others. It has also been noted that Social Studies teachers face a number of challenges during their course of duty such as lack of teaching and learning materials, marginalisation of the subject by relevant authorities, limited instructional time and substandard text books used among others. Therefore, the established challenges have even contributed to poor academic performance of learners in Social Studies which is being experienced globally more especially in developing countries. Consequently, it is recommended that the government through Ministry of General Education (MoGE) should train and recruit qualified and competent Social Studies teachers to teach the subject at junior secondary school across the country to mitigate the challenge of the subject being taught by teachers trained in different subjects. Also, the MoGE and the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) should collaborate and allocate more periods to the subject from the current 6 periods per week. Furthermore, it is recommended that the MoGE should strengthen Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activities in schools in order to reinvigorate pedagogies among Social Studies teachers. In addition, the government through the Ministry of Finance (MoF) should allocate more financial resources to the MoGE so that teaching/learning materials are procured for various schools across the country. Lastly, it is recommended that Social Studies teachers should integrate a variety of methods, techniques and strategies during the teaching process to enhance subject delivery.

Keywords: Curriculum Reforms, Emergence, Junior Secondary School, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Social Studies

I. INTRODUCTION

The literature review in this article is an excerpt from the doctoral thesis of the principal researcher. The paper explores the global emergence of the contemporary Social Studies at junior secondary school. Therefore, the review begins with the understanding of curriculum reform because to some extent it is connected to the contemporary emergence of Social Studies in certain countries

Read More