• Curriculum and educational content

Curriculum and educational content

This report presents the results of the EQUIP1 study on educational quality in Nigerian Islamic (or Qur’anic) schools. This study aimed to assess the basic characteristics and nature of predominant instructional practices in, Islamic schools in Nigeria; school personnel perceptions of educational quality; the participant schools’ approach to addressing religious and secular curricula; and parents’ involvement with the life of Islamic schools.

The report presents the overall purpose and significance of the study and provides background information on Islamic schooling and Islamiya schools in Nigeria. The methodology used to conduct the study is also presented. The results of the study, in particular the analyses of data derived from the five instruments used in the study are provided and general conclusions are made.

Seventeen schools participated in the study, carried out across the Nigerian states of Kano, Lagos, and Nasarawa. The schools participating in this study had received support from USAID’s Literacy Enhancement Assistance Project (LEAP), a three year effort (2001–2004) to improve education, particularly the attainment of English language literacy and numeracy, in public and Islamiya schools in Nigeria.

The study aimed to answer the following questions:

• What are the predominant instructional practices in Islamic schools in Nigeria?
• What are some of the basic characteristics of Nigerian Islamiya schools, in terms of class size and the availability of resources?
• What are teachers’ and Head Teachers’ perceptions of educational quality in the participant schools?
• Are teachers utilising the instructional strategies introduced through the USAID-supported LEAP programme?
• How do these schools accommodate both religious and secular curricula?
• Are PTAs and community members active in the educational improvement process even in the absence of direct assistance from USAID projects?
• How do parents perceive and evaluate educational quality?
  

It is concluded that Islamic schools in Nigeria, which are institutions rooted in their local communities and responsive to their needs, and highly regarded and supported by parents in these communities, could serve as a major conduit for the improvement of educational quality in this country. This is especially the case since traditional Islamic education once supported some pedagogies that could be considered student-centered in nature, and that Islamic education is sympathetic to secular education that emphasises helping students to navigate a variety of civic contexts and challenges. Any investment in supporting Islamic schools is thus believed to be a worthwhile endeavor.

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