EXPUNGING CORRUPT PRACTICES AMONG PRE –SERVICE AND PRACTICING TEACHERS THROUGH SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION

Jimoh, A.S. PhD & Ibhafidon, H. E

Abstract

Corruption is a social vice that hampers effective socio-economic development of any society where it thrives in its system. The thrust of this study therefore, is to investigate the knowledge, perception and factors that motivate pre-service and practicing teachers’ involvement in corrupt practices. The respondents for the study comprised of two hundred undergraduates from the Lagos State University, (LASU) Lagos and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (at 100 each), fifty academic staff members of the two tertiary institutions (at 25 each) and one hundred practicing teachers from Education District V in Lagos State totaling 350 respondents in all. The descriptive survey research design was employed using a self-constructed closed - ended questionnaire tagged Teachers’ Nobility and Corruption Questionnaire (TENOCQ). The instrument was validated through the triangulation and peer appraisal while the reliability was determined through the split half method which gave a correlation coefficient of 0.85. Four questions were answered and only one hypothesis was tested in the study. The data collected were analyzed through frequency counts, mean calculations and MANOVA. The results showed that practicing teachers were aware of the various acts of corrupt practices in the school, the factors that promote the practices and could categorize them into pardonable and non pardonable offences. Results also showed that gender and school status have no effect on motivating factors and teachers’ suggestions for remedy. Some remedial measures were suggested based on the findings.