Distributed Leadership as a Driving Force to the Teaching of Social Studies as an Integrated Subject in Federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria

Abstract

The involvement of more than one subject approaches to social studies teaching are well in order and started from the complicated way of social studies challenges and the integrated problem-solving responses they demand. These approaches require academic teachers to come together across disciplines to integrate because the subject itself is integrated with virtually all the social sciences courses. Yet the divisions typical of colleges of education impedes collaborative teaching practice. This paper reports on the outcomes of a distributed leadership project in four Nigerian Colleges of Education aimed at enhancing the use of more than one subject approach in social studies teaching. Communities of teaching practice were created in four Nigerian Colleges of Education with participants drawn from a wide range of disciplines. The establishment and operation of these communities relied on a distributed leadership methodology that facilitates acts of initiative, innovation, vision and courage through group interaction rather than through designated hierarchical roles. Each community of practice found the distributed leadership approach overcame barriers to interdisciplinary social studies teaching. Cultivating distributed leadership enabled community members to engage in peer-led professional learning, collaborative curriculum and pedagogical development; and to facilitate wider institutional change. The detailed outcomes achieved by each community were tailored to their specific institutional context. They included the transformation of social studies curriculum, professional development in interdisciplinary pedagogy, innovation in student-led learning activities, and participation in institutional decision-making related to curriculum reform. This paper demonstrates that the distributed leadership model for sustainability education reported here is effective in building capacity for interdisciplinary social studies teaching within disciplines. The model is flexible enough for a variety of institutional ceilings.