Social Studies Teachers’ Perception of Concept of Integration in Social Studies Curriculum Dada Adekunle Babatunde 1 , Titus Adesegun Benedict 2 and E. O. Adu 3* Faculty of Education, University of Fort Hare, South Africa E-mail: 1 <201608504@ufh.ac.za>, 2 <201613959@ufh.ac.za>, 3* <eadu@ufh.ac.za> KEYWORDS Curriculum. Integration. Junior Secondary School. Social Studies Teachers’ Perceptions ABSTRACT Social studies is seen as a more digestible integrated or interdisciplinary subject by the mode at which its contents are drawn from certain numbers of subject disciplines. This study seeks to determine the perceptions of teachers about the concept of integration in social studies curriculum. This descriptive study was carried out with 80 social studies teachers at the junior secondary schools level in Ekiti state, Nigeria. An instrument was used to establish the extent at which the concept of integration is perceived by social studies teachers. The results of the study showed that majority of the social studies teachers are not knowledgeable about the concept of integration, therefore, making its application in the teaching of social studies difficult. The researchers concluded that teachers should be resourceful and innovative in order to make learning more relevant for the benefit of the child being taught in the classroom and the nation as a whole. INTRODUCTION Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. The primary purpose of social stud- ies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (National Council for Social Studies, USA 2010). The definition of social studies as given by NCSS has really showcased how the subject should be taught in the classroom, however, many aca- demic scholars of social studies did not view the subject from the angle of an integrating school subject. As a way of locating the integra- tive threads that can be found in certain objec- tives, which are common to several courses, which require the correlation of facts and broad princi- ples of theories and problems or which combine knowledge feelings, beliefs and values (Ajiboye et al. 2010). Ajiboye et al. did not mention what should be done with the integration threads after they have been located in the objectives, which have been presumed common to the several courses, of which these objectives are merely sub divisions within the same discipline. The teachers’ role in the development of a child could not be overemphasized as many scholars see teachers as links that connect stu- dents to the curriculum they are required to learn (Dada 2008). Results of researches have also shown that the mode at which the children learn really displayed that learning is connected with life challenges, and this has, therefore, prompt- ed the teachers and curriculum planners all over to reassess their methods of teaching the young- er ones about their society and how they should be properly adapted (Bamusiime 2010). Following the above submission, the sylla- buses and teaching and learning techniques are being transformed in many nations. Separate teaching of subjects in especially primary schools is becoming uncommon so also in teachers edu- cation institutions because of the adoption of social studies syllabuses by many countries. It was supported that the content in social studies curriculum should be unified as against the teach- ing of the subject as a separate academic disci- pline. Separatists’ approach to the teaching in social studies lessons should be deemphasized in order for teachers to blend different contents of academic disciplines into their teachings for learners’ to be able to grasp knowledge holisti- cally. It justifies the proper understanding and application of the integrated mode of teaching and learning in the schools. The subject, social studies as a school disci- pline for the young generations was introduced basically to enable learners adapt to their envi- ronment and be able adjust to the stress of rap- idly changing society, quite a lot of research findings have reported problems regarding the methodology used to teach the subject by school teachers (Abdu-Raheem 2010). The key © Kamla-Raj 2016 Int J Edu Sci, 14(1, 2): 1-6 (2016)