Review Article Open Access May 15, 2025

Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers

1
Department of Business & Social Sciences Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Page(s): 89-101
Received
January 20, 2025
Revised
March 23, 2025
Accepted
April 28, 2025
Published
May 15, 2025
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Scientific Publications
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APA Style
Kwenin, I. A. (2025). Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers. Universal Journal of Food Security, 5(2), 89-101. https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6100
ACS Style
Kwenin, I. A. Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers. Universal Journal of Food Security 2025 5(2), 89-101. https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6100
Chicago/Turabian Style
Kwenin, Isaac Atta. 2025. "Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers". Universal Journal of Food Security 5, no. 2: 89-101. https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6100
AMA Style
Kwenin IA. Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers. Universal Journal of Food Security. 2025; 5(2):89-101. https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6100
@Article{ujfs6100,
AUTHOR = {Kwenin, Isaac Atta},
TITLE = {Teaching Social Studies in an Integrated Manner: The Lived Experience of Out-Of-Field Social Studies Teachers},
JOURNAL = {Universal Journal of Food Security},
VOLUME = {5},
YEAR = {2025},
NUMBER = {2},
PAGES = {89-101},
URL = {https://www.scipublications.com/journal/index.php/OJER/article/view/6100},
ISSN = {2836-4600},
DOI = {10.31586/ojer.2025.6100},
ABSTRACT = {This study investigated the pedagogical implications of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies. The Out-of-field Social Studies teachers could encounter several challenges in their preparation and the implementation of the integrated Social Studies curriculum. This study sought the lived experiences of the out-of-field teachers concerning the causes of out-of-field teaching in social studies, problems encountered by the out-of-field teachers and the mechanisms they employ to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The study chose the qualitative phenomenological research design. Data were collected from all the 17 out-of-field Social Studies teachers through in-depth structured interview. Data were transcribed and analysed, through the inductive thematic analysis approach, unveiling of themes and concepts from the narratives of the research participants. The study revealed that out-of-field teaching in Social Studies occurs as a result of teacher shortage in integrated social studies programme. It is also caused by the perception that any teacher could teach Social Studies irrespective of the teachers’ qualification. Out-of-field teacher encounter problems such as inadequate content and pedagogical knowledge, lack of classroom managerial techniques and inability to deliver lessons through the integrated approach. Engaging in professional development courses, peer coaching, in-service training and workshops were some of the mechanisms employed by out-of-field teachers to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The pedagogical implications of this phenomenon are that when teaching the Social Studies, the out-of-field teachers place more emphasis on aspects of the Social Studies curriculum where they have much knowledge and skip or put less emphasis on other aspects they lack in-depth knowledge, thus, the integrated approach to teaching Social Studies is not adopted effectively by out-of-field teachers. This waters down the content of Social Studies at the Senior High School level. Addressing the problem of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies requires training and recruiting more teachers who have background training and experience in the integrated approach to the teaching of Social Studies.},
}
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AB  - This study investigated the pedagogical implications of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies. The Out-of-field Social Studies teachers could encounter several challenges in their preparation and the implementation of the integrated Social Studies curriculum. This study sought the lived experiences of the out-of-field teachers concerning the causes of out-of-field teaching in social studies, problems encountered by the out-of-field teachers and the mechanisms they employ to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The study chose the qualitative phenomenological research design. Data were collected from all the 17 out-of-field Social Studies teachers through in-depth structured interview. Data were transcribed and analysed, through the inductive thematic analysis approach, unveiling of themes and concepts from the narratives of the research participants. The study revealed that out-of-field teaching in Social Studies occurs as a result of teacher shortage in integrated social studies programme. It is also caused by the perception that any teacher could teach Social Studies irrespective of the teachers’ qualification. Out-of-field teacher encounter problems such as inadequate content and pedagogical knowledge, lack of classroom managerial techniques and inability to deliver lessons through the integrated approach. Engaging in professional development courses, peer coaching, in-service training and workshops were some of the mechanisms employed by out-of-field teachers to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The pedagogical implications of this phenomenon are that when teaching the Social Studies, the out-of-field teachers place more emphasis on aspects of the Social Studies curriculum where they have much knowledge and skip or put less emphasis on other aspects they lack in-depth knowledge, thus, the integrated approach to teaching Social Studies is not adopted effectively by out-of-field teachers. This waters down the content of Social Studies at the Senior High School level. Addressing the problem of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies requires training and recruiting more teachers who have background training and experience in the integrated approach to the teaching of Social Studies.
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