ABSTRACT

The study investigated the availability and utilization of instructional resources in the implementation of Business Studies curriculum at upper basic education level in Owerri Education Zone. In the light of the stated purpose of the study, five research questions and two null hypotheses provided focus to this study. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The population for the study comprised 95 Business Studies teachers in Owerri Education Zone. The entire population was used. Two instruments were used, a Checklist and Instructional Resources Availability and Utilization in Business Studies Questionnaire (IRAUBSQ). The instruments were validated by experts and also trial tested. The reliability of Checklist and IRAUBSQ was established using Kuda-Richardson (KR-20) and Cronbach Alpha which was found to be r= 0.99 and r0.86 respectively for internal consistency. Percentage rating and mean statistic were used to answer the research questions while Chi-square was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. From the findings, it was observed that: most of the instructional materials were utilized at a very low extent, gender has no significant influence on Business Studies teachers utilization of available instructional resources. Equally, school location has a significant influence on Business Studies utilization of available resources. The study revealed that lack of interest and poor performance of learners in Business Studies could be attributed to unavailability and non-utilization of instructional materials Based on the findings, the researcher recommended among others that teachers should be encouraged to be creative and resourceful, being implementers and facilitators of teaching and learning activities. The government through federal and state ministries of education should provide the required instructional resources to actualize the objective of Business Studies. Based on the recommendations, conclusions were drawn and suggestion for further studies made.