PHILOSOPHICAL EXAMINATION OF EDUCATIONAL THEORIES AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Résumé

This paper dwelled on the structure of the curriculum both at the pre independence and post-independence in Nigerian Education with the analysis that methods of teaching in pre-independence Nigeria encouraged creativity as students learned informally through imitating and practicing the roles of the elders in contrast to the methods adopted from the colonial masters which appeared to be strange to the learners. It is observed through the method of philosophical analysis that the theories propounded by the psychologists of learning were predicated on idealized theoretical positions and experiments outside the human culture. The earliest psychologists carried out their experiments on animals and these became the foundations of human learning. The paper criticized curriculum built as a result of one’s experience on animals since the brain structures of animals and that of human beings are different. The paper submitted that curriculum should be a reflection of what the people think, feel, do and believe within a given society. This will reflect their ways of developing and shaping an individual, in terms of skills and attitudes. Therefore, each culture will have different philosophy, which results in different ways of doing things especially in educating the next generation.