Abstract

• The main purpose of this study is to explore the attitude of teachers towards social studies and students’ achievement in this subject. This focused on all Junior social studies teachers and Grade Eight students’ achievement in social studies subjects (geography and history) from selected schools in selected townships. The total of (196) participants from (24) schools in (8) townships were participated in this study. The scores in geography and history of (240) students were also collected in order to find out the relationship between teachers’ attitude towards social studies and their students’ achievement in social studies. As the research instruments, Questionnaire from Attitude of Teachers towards Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Benue State developed by Ngbede (1993) was used in this study. This questionnaire consists of 17 items with four-point Likert scale. According to the study, the results pointed out that 67.8% of teachers’ attitude towards social studies among selected townships was at the moderate level, 16.3% of teachers’ attitude towards social studies among selected townships was at the high level, and 15.9% of teachers’ attitude towards social studies among selected townships was at the low level. This result showed that students’ achievement in social studies from No. (1), Basic Education High School, Yankin Township, 13 Mile Tarkone (Middle Branch), Twantay Township, No. (3), Basic Education High School, No. (5), Basic Education Middle School (High Branch) and No.(10), Basic Education Middle School, Mingaladon Township was the highest as they all have the same mean score of 5.00 and that from Basic Education Middle School (High Branch), Khanaung, Dalla Township was the lowest among the selected schools in eight townships.