THE CHALLENGES OF EVALUATING THE AFFECTIVE OUTCOME IN SOCIAL STUDIES WITHIN NIGERIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM AND THE WAY FORWARD

Abstract

Evaluating the affective outcome in Social Studies is one of the criticisms against Nigerian education system. The major goal behind the teaching of Social Studies is that it is meant to foster affective concerns amongst learners. This paper described the place of evaluation in Social Studies instructions, the affective objectives of the S o c i al S t u d i e s e d u c a t i o n, g e n e r al p r i n c i pl e s g u i d i n g e v alu a t i o n i n S o c i al S t u d i e s education. It also explained problems of evaluating the affective outcome in Social Studie s education which include the expression of specific objective in lesson notes, teachers knowledge and application of the methods, influence of societal factors, the issues of subjectivity in the evaluation and the use of affective objectives evaluation re sult of Social Studies Education in the affective area should be utilized for many purposes in the Nigerian society such as decision making, job placement, promotion, certification or admission into institution of learning. No evaluation devices should be selected of evaluation until the purpose of evaluation has been carefully defined.