An analysis of the development of social studies learners’ textbooks for junior secondary schools in Zambia

Abstract

iv ABSTRACT The revision of the Zambian school curriculum in 2013 brought about the integration of the three learning areas namely; Civics, Geography and History at Junior Secondary School resulting in one subject, Social Studies. Hence, there was a need to develop Social Studies learners’ textbooks for Junior Secondary School in order to facilitate the implementation of the revised curriculum. During the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) meetings and subject associations, teachers and other education stakeholders such as NGOs complained that the quality of curriculum materials such as textbooks developed following the 2013 revised curriculum were of poor quality. However, no study seems to have been done to establish the extent to which such materials were of quality. Therefore, this study sought to assess the quality of Social Studies learners’ textbooks for junior secondary school in Zambia, analyse the procedure of developing Social Studies learners’ textbooks for Junior Secondary School in Zambia, establish the criteria applied to select who were involved in the development of the Social Studies learners’ textbooks for junior secondary school in Zambia, analyse the steps that should be followed in developing and evaluating Social Studies learners’ textbooks in Zambia. The researcher employed a mixed methods approach to conduct this study. An embedded research design used in this study was more based on qualitative than quantitative methods because the study was descriptive in nature. Questionnaires were administered to teachers of junior secondary school of Social Studies. Additionally, interviews were conducted with the Curriculum Specialist, Chief Curriculum Specialist, Senior Education Standards Officer and textbook publishers. Data that was collected from interviews and questionnaires for Social Sciences were analysed using themes and descriptive statistics. The findings of the study showed that the Social Studies learners’ textbooks were of poor quality indeed; lack of teacher involvement in textbook development; lack of coordination in textbook development; failure to adhere to a national textbook policy; political interference in textbook development were found to be the main contributing factors to this situation. Based on these findings, it is recommended that MoGE through CDC should broaden the scope of teacher involvement in textbook development, revise the Social Studies learners’ textbooks for junior secondary school, adhere to a national textbook policy that should guide textbook development and privatization of textbook development should not be continued. Key words: textbook development, quality, Social Studies.