Overloaded Curriculum, Excessive Daily Academic Activities and Students’ Learning Effectiveness

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between overloaded curriculum, excessive daily academic activities and the learning effectiveness of Junior secondary school students (JSS). The researchers used the ex-post facto research design to carry out the study. The study sought to determine the relationship that exist between overloaded curriculum, excessive daily academic activities and the learning effectiveness of JSS 3 students in public secondary schools in Uyo Education Zone. A sample of 220 JSS 3 students was randomly selected from the 36 public secondary schools in Uyo Education Zone. Data were collected using a researcher-designed instrument titled “Overloaded Curriculum Questionnaire, OCQ” and an adapted version of Kirkpatrick’s Learning Effectiveness Scale. Cronbach alpha technique was used in calculating the reliability of the instruments. Reliability scores of .79 and .87 were yielded for the OCQ and KLES respectively. Data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, PPMC. The findings of the study indicated that duplication of learning contents and academic overload have significant relationship with learning effectiveness of young learners. The recommendations made based on the findings include that curriculum planners should use curriculum mapping to reduce redundancies inherent in our overloaded curriculum.