Analysis of Value Content of Civic Education and Social Studies for Citizenship Values in Nigeria

Abstract

The link between Civic Education and Social Studies is a unique one, the Social Studies curriculum consists of citizenship and societal values, which are also related to Civic Education. This makes the two subjects to be seen as a strong and effective tool to facilitate the production of responsible citizens. Teaching and learning of Social Studies will be meaningful when it is value-based, teachers are expected to guide the students to acquire value education inherent in many topics in the two subjects. However, it must be noted that the purpose of education is for citizenship. But to ensure that students develop an understanding of their country’s most cherished values becomes a debate between Civic Education and Social Studies in the Nigerian educational system. Values are to be rated as important contents of both subjects offered to students at the Basic level in Nigeria. Hence, the need to ascertain the subject that communicates the good values that can contribute to training the learners to assume the status of being a citizen.  This study examined the value content of civic education and Social Studies towards citizenship values in Nigeria education system based on the topics taught in the two subjects. The study adopted an ex post facto research design in analyzing the curriculum content of both Civic Education and Social Studies. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and the findings showed that the value content of Social Studies is greater than that of Civic education. This further testifies to the general agreement that Civic Education is a dimension and subset of Social Studies. The study, therefore, recommended that Social Studies be promoted over Civic Education at all levels of education for effective citizenship value in Nigeria.