Abstract

AN ANALYSIS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS? RECEPTION OF THE DESIRED CURRICULUM CHANGES IN MATHEMATICS AT SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN NIGERIA

Adeneye O. A. Awofala, PhD

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Abstract This study investigated mathematics teachers? reception of the new senior secondary education mathematics curriculum for Nigerian senior secondary schools within the blueprint of descriptive survey research design of an expost facto type. 200 senior secondary school mathematics teachers randomly selected from the six education districts of Lagos State participated in the study. Data collected with the aid of Teachers? reception of the new senior secondary education mathematics curriculum inventory (TREBEMI with Cronbach?s coefficient alpha, ?=.94 for internal consistency reliability) were analysed using descriptive statistics of percentage, mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics of an Independent samples t-test. The results showed that the new senior secondary education mathematics curriculum for Nigerian senior secondary schools is well received by in-service mathematics teachers irrespective of their gender, academic qualification, and years of mathematics teaching experience. It was therefore recommended among others that since teachers of mathematics are the actual implementers of curriculum reforms in the classrooms, they should be more involved at every stage of curriculum review/development in Nigeria so as to promote their positive attitude and lower their resistance to innovations. More so, strategic agency like the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) should be grossly funded since poor financing of the agency in the past had adversely affected teacher training, workshops, materials production, trial research and follow-up evaluation and monitoring of curriculum reform programmes in the country. Keywords: Mathematics teachers; mathematics curriculum; senior secondary school; curriculum reception

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