An Evaluation of the Implementation Synergy between NCE-Integrated Science and the 9-Year Basic Science Curricula in Nigeria

Abstract

The Curriculum of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) has implications for the Curriculum of the 9-year
Basic Education (BEC) programme in Nigeria. Hence the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE)
came up with a vision of producing well motivated teachers with high professional integrity and competence. Both
the in-service and pre-service teachers need to be conversant with the content of the 9– year Basic Education
Curriculum (BEC). Are there implementation synergies in the topics, laboratory exercises and nature of assessment
in the NCE integrated Science and the 9-year basic science curricula as perceived by the in-service and pre-service
teachers who are recipients of the NCE-integrated science curriculum and who also implement the 9-year basic
science curriculum? 4 research questions and 4 research hypotheses guided this study. A sample of 180 pre-service
and in-service basic science teachers who are recipients of the new 2012 NCCE Curriculum in Integrated-science
from the South – South Geo-political zones in Nigeria were used. A 4-point Likert scale ’24-item questionnaire’
called the Curriculum Implementation Synergy Questionnaire was used to obtain data. A cronbach alpha reliability
co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained. Results showed that a larger proportion of both pre-service and in-service teachers
agreed that there was high level of synergy in both curricula. It is recommended that the few topics and laboratory
exercises not found in both curricula should be added and the present basic science teachers who are not recipient of
the present curriculum should be trained in line with the present curriculum.