COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
CHAPTERS: Chapter 1-5
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ABSTRACT
This study sought to explore the influence of religious education on moral development of secondary school students in AMAC, Abuja. The study was guided by the following objectives: to find out whether teachers characteristics influence moral development of secondary school students, to find out if teaching methodologies employed in Religious Education influence moral development of secondary school students, to establish whether parents attitude towards Religious Education influence moral development of secondary school students and to establish if the curriculum content in religious education influence moral development of secondary school students in AMAC. The study was based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development which ascertains that in order for a child to advance to a more developed level of morality, he or she must develop an equivalent level of intellectual ability. The study used descriptive research design. The population of the study targeted forty public secondary schools in AMAC. Purposive sampling method was used to identify the individuals to participate in the study. Data was collected using questionnaire, focus group discussions, and documentary analysis guide and observation schedule. The data collected was coded and entered into statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software and statistical analysis was done using descriptive statistics on cross tabulations. Finally, non-parametric tests were done using Chi-square. The results showed that teacher’ characteristics (gender, age and qualification) and teaching methodologies do not influence the moral development of secondary school students. The study findings further established that secondary school teachers’ experience, parental attitude and content taught influence the moral development of preschool children. The study recommends that the government through the Ministry of Education should offer in-service training to all practicing teachers especially those who lack the basic secondary school training. Teachers should also strive to employ teaching methodologies that enlist the participation of the learners. Worthwhile forums to guarantee good association should be encouraged to enhance interaction and creation of positive attitudes among parent. The Nigeria Institute of Curriculum Development should have a regular review of the curriculum content for religious education offered in the secondary schools.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
According to Thungu (2010), education is the transmission of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. The acquired knowledge, skills, attitudes and values should enable the individual to develop into a good member of society. Education should therefore bring about some changes that are acceptable to society. Education transmits what is worthwhile in a morally acceptable manner (Ngaroga, 2006). Also Ngaroga in his book “Education for Primary Teacher Education” wrote that education reflects the values and standards of a society and its educators. Education should therefore be worthwhile in terms of the transmitter, content and methods which help the child to relate to his or her society.
Early childhood is the period from birth to eight years of age. According to Wanjohi (2010), the concept of Early Childhood Development and Education takes into account the child in the mother’s womb soon after conception, through secondary school and the transition up to eight years. During the early childhood the child is educated or enlightened so as to cope with life as he or she transits from one stage to the other. Educationally, religion initiates the children into a search for truth, appreciate oneself and become aware of the implications of their actions on others (Ashton, 2000).
According to Thungu (2010), moral and religious education in Nigeria was formally incorporated into the curriculum way back in 1924 as a recommendation of the Phelps – Stokes commission. Upon establishing formal education, the missionary groups took up the responsibilities of not only starting schools but also developing of curriculum for education. The missionaries trained and employed their own teachers, formulated their own content, learning resources and teaching methodologies. Consequently, Religious Education operated in different names like Catechism, Bible Knowledge, Religious Knowledge, Scripture, Bible Study and Christianity (Shiundu and Omulando, 1992). In 1952, the Binns Commission was appointed to make recommendations. Religion was recommended to continue being the basis for African education. Further, it was recommended that there be scrapping of the examination oriented curriculum to reduce dropouts and also to reduce the number of Africans who would proceed for clerical jobs. In 1976, the Gachathi report was required to formulate a specific programme for realizing the educational objectives and policies. Among the recommendations that were made, the teaching of social education and ethics was to be integrated into Religious Education. This gave teaching of Religious Education an advantage of being taught in schools
(Thungu, 2010).
According to Thungu (2010), at independence, Nigeria education system reviewed
Religious Education to make it more relevant to the needs of children and society. The Ominde Commission of 1964 recommended that Religious Education should continue to be part of the school curriculum. The Republic of Nigeria Publication (1980) which was reviewed in the year 2012 required the churches to transfer their schools to the government. Churches consequently assumed the role of sponsorship so as to maintain their religious traditions.
Njuguna (2012) in his book “Christian Religious Education” commented that learners are expected to learn different aspects which include learning about God, creation, prayer and places of worship, rituals, scriptures, religious festivals, religious ceremonies and the good people from the Holy books. These activities integrate Religious Education and moral values to the secondary school students (K.I.E., 2008). The Ministry of Education through the Nigeria Institute of Curriculum
Development has adopted both the general and specific objectives in teaching of Religious Education. Some of the general objectives include: the acquisition of the qualities of sharing, respect for and working with others, appreciation of significant aspects of the life of good people in the holy books, appreciation of significant aspects of simple bible stories and recognition and appreciation of the significance of God in their lives (K.I.E, 2008).
According to Boeree (2003), educators influence children’s moral development not simply by being good role models as important as it is but also by what they bring in their daily relationships with children. In order to teach morality and enhance the moral development of children, a teacher must set up classroom rules that require moral behaviour (Narvaez, 2006). These rules should be fair in their creation and execution; where everyone’s needs are held at the same standard. The rules should reinforce positive behaviour and seek to eliminate negative behaviour. Rules of this nature involve respect for people and property, as well as responsible behaviours.
Apart from teachers affecting secondary school students moral development, Boyer (1995) suggested that children identify with and adopt their parents’ methods for evaluating their own behaviour. With consistent positive attitude of parents, this can direct children to a positive processing for assessing their own behaviour. Boyer (1995) further suggested that a parent with negative attitude can negatively affect the child’s processing of their own behaviour, such as causing anxiety over physical attack or loss of a parent’s love. In turn, children may adjust towards simply trying to please, rather than actually learning from the situation. When children are caught in a damaging environment, they learn to soothe their anxiety by adopting their parents’ negative attitudes, behaviours and mind sets, which help them to be critical of their mistakes and punish themselves for making them. They become accustomed to a parent’s defective conflict resolution of using physical force to get rid of anger and other upsetting emotions.
The moral, ethical and spiritual development of children is a fundamental goal of education (KIE, 2006). Moral development is clearly not confined to one area of the curriculum. Teachers across all areas of curriculum have a responsibility to inculcate in their learners positive values and a capacity for moral and ethical judgment. This is in line with research conducted by Narvaez (2006) who found that if the content of religion did not focus in some way on what young children perceived to be the main spiritual and moral issues of the day, then they tended to regard descriptive content as religious paraphernalia, more concerned with institutional maintenance than with people’s search for meaning and values.
In spite of the introduction of Religious Education in secondary schools, which ought to give a good moral foundation, immorality and cases of indiscipline have been noted among young children in institutions in Nigeria. There are cited cases among four to eight years’ old children which are alarming, even though Limuru has a rural environment with little urban influences. Reports from children’s office and probation offices in Limuru affirms that cases of bullying, running from homes and living in streets, truancy and drug abuse are present among the young children of 4 years to 8 years olds (Daily Occurrence Book, Limuru, 2013). This has sometimes resulted in many cases of school drop-outs and need for rehabilitation of young children. The most recent case is one of 7 year old boy. In the month of May 2013 the boy attempted to poison his family using a strong pesticide. Since then the boy has been in remand home at Kirigiti in Abuja. This could be due to perversion of religion which has been cited as a primary cause of social disintegration, intolerance, hatred, sexism, poverty, oppression and warfare throughout the ages (Margaret, 1992).
1.2 Statement of the problem
Despite the general and specific objectives of teaching Religious Education, there is no evidence on the ground to prove the effectiveness of the same. This has caused an outcry in AMAC where moral decay among the young children has been attributed to the characteristics of the teachers who teach religious education in preschools, parents’ attitude towards the content of religious education, teaching methodologies used by the teachers and the content taught in religious education.
According to Margaret (1992) perversion of religion has been a primary cause of social disintegration, intolerance, hatred, sexism, poverty oppression and warfare throughout the age’s oppression. Such problems could imply that secondary school students in AMAC are subjected to inadequate teaching of moral values. Such secondary school students could be an example of pupils who lacked social values such as, sharing, honesty, obedience and self-control in their day to day lives. It would be necessary for proper teaching of Religious Education which could help the secondary school students to acquire both the values and knowledge to help them develop morally in the right way. The acquired values and knowledge could be necessary to help preschool children to cope well with others and be able to deal with life situations in the right way.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Religious Education on moral development of secondary school students in AMAC, Abuja.
1.4 Objectives of the study
The study sought to:
- Find out how the characteristics of religious education teachers influence secondary school students’s moral development in AMAC.
- Establish how the teaching methodologies employed in religious education influence moral development of secondary school students in AMAC.
- Determine how the parental attitude towards religious education influences moral development of secondary school students in AMAC.
Establish how the curriculum content in religious education influences