ADEQUACY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE CORE CONCEPTS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This research investigated the adequacy of social science core concepts in meeting the current national security challenges. The eleven core concepts were rigorously reviewed using Shashi’s (2010) International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences. This work discussed insecurity and related it to the state failure theory mainly and the relative deprivation theory complementarily. Descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted. Three research questions were raised and answered by Seventy-five (75) lecturers in the three (Federal, State and Private) Universities’ Departments of Social Science Education in Kogi State, Nigeria. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to the subjects on a four-point Likert scale. The pilot study was conducted outside the study location. The exercise was repeated after two weeks and the correlation coefficient of 0.82 was attained. Having administered the instrument to the subjects;
frequency counts, percentage analysis and mean scores were used to process the data. Consequent upon this, the results indicated that: 10 of the 11 social science concepts are being adequate for meeting the national security challenges and all the 9 items of instructional process complimenting the teaching of the 11 social science core concepts were acceptable to the respondents with “the use of suitable teaching methods” ranking 1st and “emphasis e-learning and internet browsing” ranking 9th. Based on these findings, recommendations were made to the Federal Government and other education stake-holders to priotise education for eventual growth, peace and security for sustainable development.