Instructional Alignment in Nigeria using the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum

Quantitative evidence on education system coherence is limited, but research suggests that alignment of instructional components is crucial for children's learning. The study uses the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum methodology to investigate the alignment of instructional components in Nigeria's primary education system. The analysis focuses on curriculum standards, national exams, and classroom instruction for mathematics and English language across all primary grades. The study reveals that key foundational skills are covered by all three components, but there are omissions in the English language exams. The components place high emphasis on low cognitive demand processes and low emphasis on more demanding cognitive processes. The curriculum standards and classroom instruction show a slow pace of content progression across grades. Despite the high alignment, low student performance in exams suggests that the education system may be operating in a low-achieving equilibrium.