Abstract:
This paper examines teacher trainees' perception of the nature, usefulness and
adequacy of the official Social Studies curriculum prescribed by the syllabus issued by
the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service. Using simple
random sampling and stratified sampling methods, a sample of 233 students was
selected from six Teacher Training Colleges in the Ashanti Region. A questionnaire
consisting of mostly Likert-type items was used; and trainees were made to indicate
the extent to which they agreed with the statements about the official Social Studies
curriculum and the resources available for its implementation. The results show that
over 90% of the trainees agreed the objectives of he social studies curriculum are valid
and very necessary for the programme; they were very much aware that the purpose of
Social Studies education is to train them to teach at the basic level; and agreed that the
subject equips them with skills to teach at the basic level. On the content of Social
Studies, the trainees agreed tremendously about its relevance. They were however
undecided about the limitless scope of the subject which makes it uncomfortable to
learn. The trainees also showed a high level of agreement with the need for a Social
Studies room with materials like globes, charts, bulletin boards; and demonstrated
grave disagreement with the adequacy of Social Studies textbooks and other reference
materials.
