The Status of the Characteristics of Junior Secondary Schools, for Teaching/Learning Integrated Science in Sierra Leone and Related Implications

Abstract

The study examined the status of the characteristics of Junior Secondary Schools for teaching/learning integrated science in Sierra Leone and related implications. A descriptive research design of a survey type was used for the study. The target population for the study included all junior secondary school pupils offering integrated science in the selected junior secondary schools, Integrated Science teachers and Integrated Science Heads of Department of JSS in Sierra Leone. A sample size of 1,300 respondents was selected for the study. This comprised of 1000 students, 200 integrated science teachers and 100 integrated science HODs from the selected schools. The schools were selected using stratified random sampling technique while the participants were selected using purposive sampling technique. Questionnaire titled "Self-Administered Integrated Science Questionnaires (SAISQ)” was used to sought information from the participants on their perceptions on the status of the characteristic features of JSS for the teaching and learning of Integrated Science. The data collected were summarized into raw scores and tabulated into frequency counts, and later converted into percentages. They were .analysed using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) software.

The study revealed that in Sierra Leone, mixed sex schools predominate in all the districts and regions of the survey. The Northern Region has the highest followed by the Eastern Region and the Western Area has the least. The study further showed that three of the districts; Kambia, Koinadugu and Bonthe lack purely boys schools.

In terms of shift system, there are more Normal Schools in the Eastern Region, followed by the Southern and the Northern Region respectively. In the Western Area there are more Afternoon schools as compared to the other regions, with the highest percentage in Western Urban District of Freetown.

In the Northern Region, most of the schools are owned by missions, followed by private individuals with few owned by the state Government. There are no privately owned schools in Koinadugu and Tonkolili District, and no Government Schools in Kambia, Koinadugu and Port Loko District as the study reveals. There are privately owned schools in the entire districts of the South, no Government owned schools in Bonthe and Pujehun. In the Western Area, the study reveals that most of the schools are owned by missions. It was only the Rural District that does not have Government owned Schools.

On the basis of the location or setting of the schools, the findings shows that majority of these schools are located in the Urban Setting with few located in the Rural Areas. Of these locations, the Southern Region has the highest, followed by the Western Area and Eastern Region respectively. The North had the least percentage