A REVIEW ON CHALLENGES OF TEACHING LEARNING ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Education is defined as the systematic process of physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially growing oneself for the benefit of oneself and the society in which one lives. The primary goal of education is to pass on wisdom and information from one generation to the next, preparing young people to be members of society and to sustain and enhance it. Education also has a favorable impact on population, nutrition, and the value and efficiency of labor (Singuh, 2018). The country's unemployment issues may be solved by providing young people with skills that can lead to self-employment. The curriculum should thus provide learners with skills, particularly entrepreneurial skills, indicating the relevance of economic education in the school curriculum. According to Nwagu (2003), most economics instructors in our schools are trained in the same way as other subjects such as geography, social studies, history, and so on are. They have not been schooled in the substance and technique of economics, and as a result, some of them may not even know the course material. According to Nwagu (2018)'s comment, a research should be conducted to evaluate the problem of teaching economics by instructors who have not studied the topic. For the sake of convenience, the researchers opted to focus on teacher activities, because Henriett (2020) believes that when the learner does not learn, the instructor does not teach. According to Onebunne (2020), education outcomes are the standard by which education is measured. It is not accessed based on the quantity of money given by the learner or the class of clothing these students wear. That is why the motto "In character and in learning" is accepted all around the world. Economics is a subject with many scholars and writers on text, the books are available but most of the time, teachers find it very difficult to select from the available or existing ones, he also found it most confusing to give assignments to students whose problem is more pronounced where the subject has to be taught by a teacher who did not study the subject as a discipline in higher education. As previously said, economics is a social science that investigates some element of human behavior. It teaches kids to think critically and become contributing members of society. It is concerned with what we encounter in our daily lives. As a result, it should be taught well in secondary schools because problems teachers face when teaching economics may directly or indirectly affect students and society, so teachers should be qualified in the subject concerned because the personality of the teacher has a significant influence on students' performance.

Importantly, due to the current prevalence of unemployment in Nigeria, several graduates have abandoned their specialty and entered the teaching area with little or no knowledge of what teaching entails. Everyone is probably aware that becoming a teacher takes time and needs obedience to an established program of training. So, what exactly is education? In reality, teaching involves a wide range of related tasks such as institution, training, educating, and schooling. The number of these activities varies depending on the educational situation, but instructors exert influence in a variety of ways regardless of the context. As a result, in order for teachers to have a positive and long-lasting influence on students of economics, they must first learn economics and become masters of it.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

A large number of persons have made significant contributions to the advancement of economics over the years. The study has grown significantly, embracing all concerns and difficulties connected to how society uses its resources to achieve a desirable quality of economics in nation building. As established by Udoudo (2019), its role is growing increasingly crucial in that various transactions of a contemporary corporation would be impossible without it. The Federal, State, and Local governments employ economics through taxation to create income for everyday operational running's.

On the other hand Nsiegbe (2020) asserts that there are several challenges that economics professors face while developing successful teaching methods. Because students are not only passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in teaching and learning activities, it is the teacher's obligation to give his lesson in a way that allows students to engage actively. If this is not done actively, learning does not occur, then the entire goal of educational policy is undermined and defeated from the start. It is thought that the teacher has several issues when teaching economics, and this study is oriented at analyzing some of these problems, which include: How qualified are the economics instructors in senior secondary schools? How motivated are secondary school instructors, and what are their attitudes about teaching economics? What teaching methods/techniques do they use while teaching economics?. In a bid to answer this question the researcher delved int o the study

1.3 Objectives  of the Study

The main purpose of the study is  to ascertain challenges teaching learning economics in secondary schools.  Specifically, the study sought to:

i.          Examine  whether qualified  teachers  affect the teaching and learning of economics in secondary schools.

ii.        Investigate whether  motivation of teachers  has effect on  effective teaching of economics in senior secondary schools

iii.      Ascertain whether teaching method an impediment of effective teaching of economics in secondary schools.

iv.      Establish whether inadequate instructional materials obstructs effective teaching and learning of economics  in secondary schools.

1.4 Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.

HO1: Unqualified teachers have no significance influence in effective teaching of economics.

HO2: Motivation of economics teachers has no significance relationship with proper teaching process.

HO3: Teaching method and the time allocated to teaching economics has no significance influence on effective teaching of economics.

HO4: Inadequate instructional materials does not obstructs effective teaching and learning of economics  in secondary schools.

1.5       Significance of the Study     

It was expected that successful completion of this study would be of immense value to teachers, students, scholars, government policy makers, and teacher training institutions with the challenges facing the teaching of  economics and solutions suggested would help improve the performance in the subject.  The findings of the study would provide equipped teachers with the solution related to teacher inefficiency and managing students’ posed factor by implementing suggested recommendation for effective teaching and learning of  economics

Furthermore, the study would benefit students by providing practical solutions to some of the reasons of poor attitudinal, low performance and study techniques to improve the understanding of the subject matter and improving students’ achievement scores. The study would serve as an additional literature to scholars studying about economics and form a base to further studies on the subject and aiding research and contribute to the existing body of knowledge

Finally, the findings of the study would also provide policy makers with a basis for policing and implementing the suggested recommendation for improving the students’ achievement in economics The study would provide valuable information to teacher training institutions on what to include in teacher education curriculum for economic teachers.

1.6   Scope of Study

This scope of this study borders on   challenges teaching learning economics in secondary schools. The study is however delimited to secondary schools in Osisioma Local government area in Abia State.

1.7 Limitation of Study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering secondary schools in Osisioma Local government area in Abia State.Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other private schools in other states within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

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