The National Curriculum Statement states that Education is a lifelong learning process. In Solomon Islands, an outcome based education approach was adapted to develop the social studies syllabus and learning and teaching materials. The social studies syllabus has been designed using learning outcomes which identify the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that all learners should achieve and demonstrate by the end of Year Six. The social studies syllabus integrates local knowledge as a tool to ensure that it provides relevant skills and knowledge for all learners. Social studies is one of the national curriculum learning subjects that critically focuses on the teaching and learning of fundamental knowledge and skills from Early Childhood level of education and their environment.
Learning social studies is fundamental to understanding the world in which we live and work. It helps to develop the learner’s ability and assist to shape their behaviours and attitudes. Thus, it involves investigating the societies; explore issues, making decisions and work cooperately well with others. It also provides an opportunity for learners to investigate other areas constantly evolving body of knowledge and make important contributions to the decisions which are shaping our world and that for future generations. The syllabus also provides learners with time and space to reflect on the learning processes about the diverse systems of indigenous knowledge development and transfer of skills as being practiced for many years in the past. Learners can be able to explore inter-relationships between contemporary models of social studies and traditional ways of constructing knowledge in order to value both systems that sustain culture and life.
The syllabus emphasizes the importance of learners working individually, in pairs and in groups, in planning and conducting investigations. They evaluate issues and problems, identify questions for inquiry and draw evidence based conclusions from their investigations. Through this problem solving process they develop their critical thinking skills and creativity. Learners are provided with experiences in making informed decisions about the environment, the natural and technological world and in communicating their understanding, ideas and perceptions. The practical nature of the subject must be emphasized through hands on activities that will occupy a substantial amount of time. All learners will be required to undertake research projects, “hands on” practical investigations and other individual tasks. The social studies curriculum is designed to encourage all learners to continue their participation in social studies education as a compulsory subject and beyond with ability and interest in social studies.
Assessment is an important component of teaching and learning and is integrated into the teaching and learning activities of social studies. The emphasis is on continuous assessment and as such will provide feedback to learners and the teacher on learner’s progress towards achieving the learning outcomes. It helps learners to improve their standards of achievements by knowing what they require to effectively undertake and what they need in order to make improvement. In social studies, those continuous assessments will provide relevant and appropriate quantitative and qualitative data to support the purpose of evaluating the performances of the teacher and the learner. This will enable the cohesive improvement of the teacher’s teaching approach and also strengthen the progress of the learner’s learning process.
In order to promote a contemporary and comprehensive social studies education, the curriculum has been organized into five learning strands. The five strands are: Place and Space, Culture and Society, Governance and Leadership, Resources and Economic Activities and Time, Continuity and Change. These strands provide the broad learning contexts and are further subdivided into sub-strands as units or topics in the Primary Social Studies curriculum.