Abstract

Jekayinfa, Alice Arinlade and Yusuf, Abdul Raheem*

This paper presents the report of a research carried out in Kwara Sate of Nigeria to seek the opinions of teachers on the incorporation of Environmental Education (EE) in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum. The descriptive survey method was employed for the study. 200 teachers were selected through stratified random sampling technique to cater for variables of gender, type of school, qualification and experience. The sampled teachers responded to a 36 items researcher – made questionnaire. Two research questions were raised and four hypotheses were formulated for the study. Frequency counts and percentages of responses were used to answer the research questions while the SPSS computer software X2 statistic was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the findings indicated that: teachers were aware of the incorporation of EE in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum and they have been teaching it; variables of gender and type of school did not affect the opinions of teachers but experience and qualification did affect the opinions of teachers significantly on the incorporation of EE in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers, who are the implementers of any curriculum should be given the opportunities to undergo refresher courses, seminars and workshops that will expose them to new innovations in the curriculum. EE should be explicitly introduced into the Nigerian Curriculum at the tertiary levels; EE should also be taught through the mass media throughout the country.