On origins of Social Studies, Adeyinka (2000) writes that Social Studies had its origins in the United States and that it was subsequently adopted and popularised in the United Kingdom and only at a later stage infiltrated into Africa. In Africa, Social Studies spread partly as a result of the British influence on the curriculum activities in its colonies and partly as a result of the efforts of the Africans themselves to keep pace with educational developments in the Western world. It must be noted however that Social Studies is also an African ideology. That is, Africans from time immemorial have transmitted Social Studies elements to their children (curriculum Development & Evaluation, 2000:12). These they did through family socialisation and initiation schools.
As a formal school subject Social Studies started in the western world and has been contextualised for Africa to suit African conditions on realisation that the subject can have immerse input in instituting democratic citizenry (Mautle, 2000:26). The major influence to the infiltration of the subject was however brought by the Mombasa Social Studies Conference of 1968. The conference emphasised the urgent need for education in Africa to relate specifically to the African culture through the teaching of Social Studies (Adeyinka, 2000). It was therefore after this conference that series of national seminars, symposia and conferences aimed at restructuring the education systems of the various countries with an endeavour to develop curriculum packages that would embody Social Studies as a subject were held. It is a result of these efforts that at present Social Studies is one of the core subjects and in some cases optional in most African countries such as Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria.
57
On the rationale behind the introduction of Social Studies, the Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation (1990:2) points out that Social Studies as a subject was originally conceived soon after the turn of the 20th century on the belief by those who founded the subject that the modern world which emphasised development was putting strain on humankind. Simply put, a century ago the world began to experience numerous changes such as mass movement of people from traditional villages to urban areas and growth in industrialisation and interdependence for better survival. These changes were also accompanied by new developments in terms of problems in culture, societal setups, communities and families (Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, 1990:2). With time it also emerged that environmental problems, population problems, health problems and political problems could not be solved unless citizens were properly prepared to participate in their nation’s decision making and problem-solving process. For this reason Social Studies emerged to prepare citizens for these challenges.
According to Merrifield and Muyanda-Mutebi (1991), specific goals for the teaching of Social Studies in the African context were agreed upon at the Mombasa Conference and they are stated as follows:
To enable students to understand people’s interaction with their cultures, social and physical environment.
To help children appreciate their homes and heritages.
To develop skills and attitudes expected of citizens.
To teach learners to express their ideas in a variety of ways.
These are the fundamental guiding goals or foot upon which different countries use in their development and implementation of Social Studies. Though different countries have autonomy to contextualise these goals to their specific needs and conditions, they are expected to ensure that they do not deviate from them. Botswana likewise has a challenge on continuous bases to examine and cross-examine its Social Studies curriculum, teaching and learning relative to the above goals. This cross-examination of the Social Studies programme ought to be done at all levels ranging from the primary school to tertiary for easy of linkage.
58
Social Studies was introduced in Botswana in 1969 at primary school level as part of standard 1 and 2 curriculum. It was only in 1982 that the subject was introduced to the whole primary school curriculum. At junior secondary school it was introduced in 1986 while at senior secondary school it came in 2000. The primary school syllabi focuses on learners’ immediate environment and helps them to acquire and use information to think critically, logically and rationally in dealing with various socio-economic, political and environmental issues (Republic of Botswana, 2005:10). The secondary school curriculum on the other hand covers the immediate environment, regional, global and goes further to address contemporary issues.
Mautle (2000:56) indicates that the rationale for introducing Social Studies in Botswana was to focus on issues and problems relevant to the experiences of the learners. This was in view of the fact that some subjects that were in the school curriculum such as history focused on issues that had on obvious relations and relevance to the students. “These separate subjects, though providing great quantities of information did little to help citizens integrate their knowledge” (Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, 1990:11). Though these subjects were valuable in the education of learners on academic issues, they were largely inappropriate when it comes to the education of citizens for effective decision making on challenges and problems that confront them and their communities.
The curriculum for the separate subjects was also criticised for lacking contemporary issues and hence could not develop in learners the capacity and skills to handle problems and challenges faced by their communities and themselves. It was hence deemed imperative to introduce a subject relevant to learners’ immediate environs (Mautle, 2000:41). The second reason for introducing Social Studies was the fact that it is an integrated discipline which is a combination of various fields such as history, geography and sociology. This corrected the tendency to teach the previous subjects separately. Mautle (1990:78) indicates that the Botswana Social Studies goals are squarely based on the African Social Studies Programme which are listed as follows:
citizenship education.
knowledge of one’s physical and social environment.
59
development of desired attitudes and behaviours.
The aims of Social Studies curriculum in Botswana at all levels can be summarised as covering the following broad areas:
Citizenship education.
Knowledge of the learners’ physical and social environment.
Development of skills, e.g. analytic skills.
Development of desired attitudes.
Understanding of development issues relevant to Botswana.
The most serious social problems facing humanity.
It appears from the above goals that Botswana’s Social Studies Curriculum aims to promote citizenship education. It is clear the aims of the curriculum are based on a philosophical view that the subject must play a leading role in developing the individual learner into a functional citizen of Botswana. This means that Social Studies is expected to promote the development of both skills and attitudes capable of enabling young citizens to reach self fulfillment and be able to improve their societies. It is against this backdrop that the Social Studies curriculum starts from the leaner’s’ immediate environment and elongate to cover issues reaching the world at large. In this era of global connectivity it is found imperative for the Social Studies programme and activities to break the boarders and cover wide range of global issues. One needs to hasten to argue at this juncture that in view of the Social Studies curriculum in Botswana it is not yet clear whether this function is well catered for.
Efforts of educating on interdependence through Social Studies need to be appreciated. For instance Adeyemi (2007) states that the concept of interdependence is adequately represented in the junior secondary school Social Studies syllabus. An examination of the aims of the junior certificate Social Studies syllabus in Botswana depicts eight (8) aims and of these aims, one of them fits well with the concept of interdependence which is critical to citizenship education:
60
To promote an understanding of Botswana’s place in Africa, in terms of regional, political, and economic grouping and its bilateral relations with other countries (Ministry
of Education, 1987:1).
With reference to this aim, the junior certificate Social Studies syllabus tabulates two units, topics/sub-topics, prescribed number of lessons and comments as can be seen on the table below.
COLUMN A