Assessing the effects of integrated education on holistic education factors in selected Islamiyyah Madrasahs in north-central Nigeria

Abstract

Education in Nigerian Islamiyyah Madrasahs is sternly criticized for its rigidity, dichotomy and disintegration. Several studies in the last decade have suggested that what is needed in Islamiyyah madrasah is the integrated and holistic education (IHE) paradigm. This study attempts to empirically test whether the hypothesized model fit the data collected by filling a gap in the existing body of knowledge related to integrated and holistic education (IHE) in the context of Islamiyyah madrasahs in Nigeria. Therefore, a theoretical framework and conceptual hypothesized model were developed to assess the effects of integrated (exogenous) variables on holistic (endogenous) education factors. Quantitative research design was used in the study. A survey questionnaire was employed to gather data from a total number of 371 Islamiyyah madrasah students in the North-Central part of the country, out of which only 344 were used for the final analysis. For the procedure on data analysis, descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and path analysis of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using SPSS (version 16.0) and AMOS (version 20.0) to assess the effects of the identified variables in the study. The findings of the study show that the identified constructs measured integrated education factors (curriculum, pedagogy and technology for teaching and learning) and holistic education factors (spiritual, cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains). The fit statistics of the revised model, especially the significant difference between Chi-Square (179.669) of the initial hypothesized model and the Chi-Square (1.231) of the revised model and also RMSEA of 0.000 less than .05 suggest better improvement of the model fit. This was a justification for retaining the model and proved that the collected data fit the hypothesized model. The results from the model indicate that there were interrelatedness among the exogenous variables but there were distinctiveness between curriculum and pedagogy; r=.54; between pedagogy and technology for teaching and learning; r=.69; and between curriculum and technology for teaching and learning, r=.59. Also, there was an invariant of gender and years of studying in madrasah on the integrated and holistic education (IHE) model. Likewise, the findings have further shown that there is no positive effect of students’ level of Islamiyyah madrasah experience on the implementation of integrated and holistic education synthesis (IHES) as a new paradigm to address the conservativeness of the Islamiyyah madrasahs in North-Central Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that, the new paradigm of integrated and holistic education (IHE) in the Islamiyyah madrasahs should unreservedly be implemented. The policymakers, curriculum designers, implementers and various agencies can use various measures of integrated and holistic education.