Background to the Study
Business education like many other subjects in the school system has been defined in several ways by several scholars, to suit different situations and purposes. Some scholars define it from the way it is practiced in the field, while others define it from the angle it is taught in schools and colleges. Jubril (2010) defines business education as a specialized area of vocational education that provides educational training, skills development, attitudes adjustment towards business orientation and academic challenges.
While Bilyaminu (2011) views business education as an aspect of total education programme that provides the knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding needed to perform in the business world as a producer and/or consumer of goods and services. Hence from the definitions, business education can be summarized a programme designed to provide students with the basic processes of educational training; decision making; the philosophy, theory, and psychology of management; practical applications; business start-up and operational procedures.
Curriculum is cluttered by an array of definitions of the concept. It is defined as prescribed course of studies, which students must learn in order to reach a certain level of education. Coles (2013) defined curriculum as the sum of all the activities, experiences and learning opportunities that institution(s) and teacher(s) have responsibility for either deliberately or by default to make learning take place. Thus, curriculum can be said to be a plan activities of learning opportunities for a specific time frame guided towards changing learners’ behaviour.
Business education curriculum is part of continuous process of planning and development, that involves selection of learning experiences calculated to help in the attainment of goals and objectives of the programme. According to Coles (2013), Business Education curriculum was designed to educate students in the skills, processes, understandings and responsibilities necessary for success in the world of business. Dike (2009) viewed business education curriculum as an educational process of action about opportunities for engagement of students to be educated in business and educational related discipline. Business education curriculum in this context is responsible for equipping students with skills, attributes, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours required for teaching, entrepreneurship, administrative and clerical work.
Lapan, Tucker, Kim and Kosciulek (2000); Nabi (2003) and Senior (2009) indicated that, a good curriculum should provide students with skills on:- effective communication; supervision; coordinating; planning and think strategically; clear vision; Information and Communication Technology; creativity/self-confidence; good self-management and time-management which are consider as requisite skills for job opportunity. Lee Harvey (2013) highlighted that the job opportunities of graduates come from a complex mix of skills; knowledge; aptitudes; abilities; self-confidence; self-awareness; work and life experience of the candidates.
Bearing in mind that Business education being one of the vocational programmes in Nigeria was targeted at empowering students with skills for the world of life and creates for them employment opportunities. As attested by Federal Republic of Nigeria (2014) that maintained that, business education is to among others impart skills, knowledge and abilities necessary for gainful employment or self-reliant economically. The curriculum focused on fostering student’s acquisition of skills in managerial, communication, ethics and human relations, scientific and 21st century technological needs for teaching, administrative/clerical fieldwork and self-reliance. Strengthen this view, Chukwurah (2010) and Stephen (2010) maintained that business education curriculum was prepared to provide students with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values required for graduates gainful employment or self-reliance. This has necessitated the study into the inadequacies of curriculum content in business Education.