Student's Attitude Towards History as a Subject Among Senior Secondary School Students in Ilorin Lga Kwara State

This study critically investigates students’ attitudes towards the history subject among senior secondary school students in Ilorin South Local Government Area, Kwara State. It explores students' general perceptions of history, the influence of factors such as gender and school type, and the extent to which these factors affect engagement with history education.
It is a descriptive survey research, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 149 students selected through stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The questionnaire consisted of two sections: Section A focused on demographic data of respondents, while Section B assessed attitudes toward the history subject. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics (mean, percentage, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-tests) at a 0.05 significance level. Four research questions were answered, and two hypotheses were tested.
The analysis revealed no significant differences in students’ attitudes based on gender. However, a significant difference was found based on school type, with students in private schools showing more positive attitudes than their public-school counterparts. The findings of the study revealed that: a. Senior secondary school students in Ilorin South exhibit moderate attitudes toward history, recognizing its cultural and contemporary relevance but showing limited enthusiasm. b. Factors such as extracurricular activities, engaging teaching methods, curriculum relevance, and assessment styles significantly influence students’ attitudes. c. While gender does not significantly influence students' perceptions, school type does, with private school students expressing more favorable attitudes. d. Major challenges in fostering interest in history include outdated pedagogy, lack of interactive learning, limited extracurricular opportunities, and insufficient curriculum relevance.
Based on the findings, the study concludes that while students acknowledge the importance of history, their moderate engagement is influenced by pedagogical approaches and school type disparities. Recommendations include adopting interactive teaching strategies, enhancing curricular relevance, promoting extracurricular history activities, and improving resources in public schools to foster more positive attitudes toward history education.