ASSESSMENT OF HISTORICAL LITERACY AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ILORIN SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KWARA STATE

الملخص

This study assessed historical literacy of senior secondary school students in Ilorin South Local Government Area. In this study, in the historical literacy of senior secondary school students in Ilorin South Local Government Area based on gender was examined. This study made use of descriptive survey method. The population for this study were all senior secondary school history students in Ilorin, Kwara State. 200 students were sampled for the study using simple random sampling technique. A researcher’ self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection while the data collected for this study were analysed using the percentage and mean rating to answer the research questions while independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses postulated for this study at 0.05 level of significance.Findings from this study revealed that majority of the students performed below average in the historical literacy test; there was no significant difference in the historical literacy of senior secondary school students based on gender; there was a significant difference in the historical literacy of senior secondary school students based on parents’ socioeconomic status there was no significant difference in the historical literacy of senior secondary school students based on parents’ educational status. It was therefore recommended among others that efforts should be geared by all stakeholders in education towards improving historical literacy of the secondary school students. Historical literacy will not only give students idea of what transpired in the past but also make them to develop interest in reading and writing generally. Students should be made literate historically so as to able to think critically and have a good sense of judgement of events; government should re-introduce history as a subject into the secondary school curriculum because of its importance in secondary school education.