SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION AND GENDER-BASED ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: THE INFLUENCE OF UNTAUGHT CURRICULUM CONTENTS

Abstract

The work investigated the influence of untaught topics in the junior secondary school Social Studies curriculum on the students' academic performance. It also examined the outcome of students based on gender. The Ukwuani Local Government Area in Delta State, Nigeria, was the study's focus. This study employs an ex post facto research design. The study was directed by three research questions, two of which were hypotheses. The population of the study was of 5,508 junior secondary school students from which 280 students were sampled using multi-stage sampling procedure. A validated checklist was used to collect data on untaught topics; while a pro-forma was designed to collect student's record on academic performance. Simple percentage was employed to answer the research questions while the hypotheses were tested using chi-square statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The analysis revealed that several Social Studies topics were untaught, and this significantly hindered students' academic performance. Meanwhile, gender did not significantly influenced student' academic performance due to untaught topics. The study recommended among others that Post- Primary school board supervisors and school administrators should be strengthened to monitor and ensure comprehensive curriculum coverage and that more training and motivation be given to teachers to increase their commitment.