CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education reformers in poor countries continue to look at curriculum innovation as an essential part of the change process, which is why it’s so vital to understand how these innovations can be verified. Many nations have had to alter their curriculum in response to changing global economic and technical realities in order to increase the output of graduates who meet 21st-century social demands and stay up with the more market-driven economy. Nigeria is no different. Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education has launched a curriculum reform to make school curricula more relevant to current needs. The primary goal of this research is to learn more about teachers’ perspectives on their role in curriculum development, as well as the demographic and cognitive variables that influence them.

However, the impact of curriculum extends beyond problems of curriculum design. It encompasses teaching, learning, administration, and the school’s culture (Shao and Bruening, 2005). Significant curricular changes, according to Reed (2000), need the entire attention of the school community and all school employees. In many areas of the globe, it is widely acknowledged that the teacher, for example, plays a critical role in any educational reform. Teachers are critical to the success of educational reform initiatives and are the most important link in any process of development and change (Gordon and Yocke, 1999). Teachers are increasingly being seen as the core of educational reform rather than just the executors of policies imposed on them, according to researchers (Duke, 2004). Teachers’ personal traits and abilities that may influence curriculum reform implementation are now being considered.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Teachers make the ultimate decisions on which policies to adopt and which educational leaders to accompany them (Shao and Bruening, 2005). As a result, teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum should be regarded a critical factor in ensuring that a new curriculum is implemented successfully. What people know and their background are thought to affect their views. As a result, according to Reed (2000), teachers must be deeply engaged in the conception and direction of school curriculum changes. This means that the teacher isolation system must give way to a collaborative decision-making process. Isolationism must give way to collaboration among teachers, administrators, and legislators.

Teachers’ knowledge should be integrated into the transformation process. Fine and Raack (2012) observed that the teacher is frequently taken for granted and occasionally ignored for reasons that border on lack of professionalism, in their study of the failure of educational research and best practices in classroom instructional improvements and student performance. To put it another way, most systems lack the professional development protocol needed to create a successful professional development system that translates research into classroom practice. In a continuously changing and globalized educational system, failing to provide teachers with chances for concurrent professional development to learn, reflect on, and implement new methods is more often than not the cause of system failure.

This study seeks to examine the demographic and cognitive factors in teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The primary aim of this study is to examine the demographic and cognitive factors in teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state. Thus, the following objectives;

1. To determine the demographic factors affecting teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state.

2. To determine the cognitive factors affecting teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state.

3. To determine how these factors affect the educational system in Jigawa state.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions guide this study;

1. What are the demographic factors affecting teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state?

2. What are the cognitive factors affecting teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state?

3. How do these factors affect the educational system in Jigawa state?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will create awareness on an otherwise under the carpet issue facing the educational system in Jigawa state, the demographic and cognitive factors on perception of teachers in curriculum innovations will be looked into. This study will also be helpful to other researchers who wish to delve deeper or broaden the scope of this study.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will only cover the demographic and cognitive factors in teachers’ perception of curriculum innovations in Jigawa state. Therefore, this study will only cover Jigawa state and all other states will be overlooked.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

During the course of carrying out this study, the researcher was faced with a limitation in the necessary funds needed to delve deeper and broaden the scope of this study.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. CURRICULUM INNOVATIONS: A deliberate actions to improve a learning environment by adapting a method of presenting material to students that involves human interaction, hands-on activities and student feedback, according to the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.

2. DEMOGRAPHIC: segment of the population identified by demographics trying to reach a younger demographic.

3. COGNITIVE: relating to or involving conscious intellectual activity such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering.