The Best Practices and Pedagogical Strategies for Teaching Political Theory and Philosophy

Abstract

Political theory and philosophy are among the most challenging and rewarding courses to teach in tertiary institutions. They require students to engage with complex and abstract ideas, to critically examine their own assumptions and values, and to develop skills of argumentation and analysis. The purpose of this paper is to explore the best practices and pedagogical strategies for teaching political theory and philosophy in tertiary institutions in Lagos state. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design type as the information collected from the participants (undergraduates) were used for the purpose of predicting, describing and interpreting the subject matter. The population consists of some selected undergraduates and lecturers in the Department of Political Science in Three (3) purposively selected tertiary institutions in Lagos state. A total of One hundred and fifty (150) participants were randomly selected. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validation by experts in the field of Political science. The main instrument for data collection is a self-structured questionnaire based on the research objectives raised in the study. The coefficient value of the scores for the student’s questionnaire showed 0.875. Findings from the study was able to examine the main goals and objectives of teaching political theory and philosophy; the main challenges and difficulties of teaching political theory and philosophy; explore the best practices and pedagogical strategies for teaching political theory and philosophy and finally, it was able to determine students’ perception on the effectiveness and impact of teaching political theory and philosophy. The study concludes that teaching political theory and philosophy is not only a rewarding but also a demanding concept in political science. The study recommends that there is a need to align the learning objectives, assessments, and activities of the course in order for lecturers to plan and organise their teaching materials and methods. Also the researcher recommends that the lecturers should learn to use a variety of teaching methods and media that will cater for different learning styles and preferences