The effects of the 2013 revised senior Geography curriculum on pupil learning at Chinkankata Secondary School in Chikankata District, Zambia

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

The purpose of this study was to establish the effects of the 2013 revised senior secondary school geography curriculum on learning at Chikankata secondary school in Chikankata district of Zambia.
Six teachers of geography who were directly involved in the implementation of the revised geography curriculum took part in the study, the Head teacher, the Deputy Head teacher and the Head of Department for social sciences also took part by filling in the questionnaires. Additionally; twenty nine pupils were part of this study, for the above thirty eight respondents, the use of questionnaires was preferred because they reduced biasness as the researcher's own opinions did not influence the respondents to answer questions in a certain manner, further, ten parents whose children were taking geography were interviewed in order to get their views on the 2013 revised senior secondary school geography curriculum.
The study was guided by the following research questions;
1.	Why was the Senior Secondary School Geography Curriculum revised in 2013?
2.	Were there teaching and learning resources for the 2013 revised senior secondary school Geography Curriculum?
3. What were the challenges laced in the implementation of the 2013 revised Senior Secondary School Geography Curriculum?
4. For what extent did the 2013 revised Senior Secondary School Geography Curriculum improve pupil learning?
The data that was collected was analysed using a comparative analysis following statistical guidelines used in descriptive statistics. This method helped to describe, show and summarised data in meaningful way.
In view of the research questions outlined above, the researcher had the following findings discussed chronologically in the way that the research questions follow each other.
The researcher established that the school lacked adequate teaching and learning materials such as textbooks and teacher reference books. As a consequence of that, it was difficult to fully realise the objectives of the revised geography curriculum as the teaching and learning materials influenced the accomplishment of an effective and efficient implementation of a curriculum.
It was observed that the major reasons for the revision of the geography curriculum was to ensure that curriculum was relevant to both learners and society at large, this was done in the bid to have a curriculum that would produce learners who would be able to improve their own quality of life and be able to actively participate in the unfolding of development of their country through upholding the norms and values of their society, further, the curriculum was too bulky and hence posed a lot of challenges in implementing it.
The research also revealed that there was inadequate funding from the Ministry of General Education towards the implementation of the curriculum, Hence, the school also faced challenges in the acquisition of leaching and learning resources such as textbooks for learners and reference materials for teachers.
The study established that while all the teachers of…