By Professor Salisu Shehu, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)
Paper Presented at the maiden international conference of the Department of Art and Social Science Education, Federal University, Dutse. Jigawa State held on the 13th January 2016
Introduction
It is with great enthusiasm that I wish to thank the organisers for inviting me to the maiden International Conference of the Department of Arts and Social Science Education, Federal University, Dutse. I am delighted to be delivering a paper on “Policy, Pedagogy and Practice: Reforming the Curriculum for Moral and Digital Competence”. This maiden conference is of particular significance because of its focus on upholding moral responsibilities in the face of rapid penetration of information technology in the world of today. It is no news to anyone that although information technology has positively impacted on our world, making life a lot easier than it was some decades ago, it comes with a myriad of challenges that sometimes undermine our moral values, age long principles of good living and our most cherished societal norms.
Without a doubt, education is the sector of the economy that holds the key to transformational national development. It remains the gateway to human capital development, social reengineering and total rebirth of a society confronted with many ills arising, largely from the wrong use of information technology. The unprecedented integration of digital technologies into daily life in recent times has raised important issues regarding responsibility, ethics, and the effects on society. Digital competence, encompassing abilities in information literacy, data security, and the responsible use of AI, must now intersect with moral competence, which encompasses values such as civic engagement, respect, and accountability. To fulfil these two imperatives and ensure that education not only transmits knowledge but also develops responsible digital citizens, curriculum reform remains indispensable.
Globally, contemporary curriculum reform is increasingly informed by internationally recognised frameworks such as Global Citizenship Education (GCED), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and the European Union’s Digital Competence Framework (DigComp). These foreground ethical responsibility, social justice, sustainability, global interconnectedness, and ethical engagement in digital environments (EU, 2018). These global frameworks have also influenced our national curriculum reforms with the aim of refocusing our education system and preparing learners for responsible participation in a rapidly changing world. However, the influence of these frameworks on curriculum reform process has been gauged with our uniqueness as a people.
The accelerating integration of technologies into education has also heightened concerns around misinformation, cyberbullying, data privacy breaches, online radicalisation, and digital addiction. Consequently, moral education, digital citizenship, and ethical use of technology are no longer optional but have become central pillars of contemporary curriculum design. In parallel, persistent global challenges of equity, access, and inclusion continue to shape reform agendas. Curriculum transformation must therefore address disparities in digital access and learning opportunities, particularly within developing contexts. In this regard, Nigeria’s curriculum reform efforts are geared towards striking a careful balance between global best practices and our local socio-cultural realities.
More broadly, curriculum reform has become a global imperative as nations strive to respond to the rapid technological change, moral uncertainty, economic restructuring, and the pressures of globalisation. Today’s education no longer focuses solely on knowledge transmission, but on fostering competencies that enable learners to function effectively, ethically, and responsibly in complex, digitalised, and pluralistic societies (UNESCO, 2015; OECD, 2019). As a result, moral competence and digital competence have emerged as critical learning outcomes in our revised national school curricula.
The revised national school curricula also represent a deliberate shift away from content-heavy instructional models toward the development of functional skills, values, attitudes, and competencies that align with our national development priorities and global competitiveness. In the new school curricula, moral competence and responsible technology use are highly emphasised. As digital technologies are integrated into learning, it is our responsibility as educators to ensure that learners are not only digitally proficient but also morally grounded in the ethical use of technology.
Arising from the foregoing, this paper argues, and correctly, that meaningful and sustainable curriculum reforms must deliberately integrate moral and digital competence across policy formulation, curriculum design, pedagogy, and classroom practice. Drawing on global curriculum trends and using the NERDC curriculum review process as a reference point, the paper advances the position that moral and digital competence should be conceptualised and implemented as core curriculum outcomes not as extracurricular activity.
Statement of Position and Central Argument
For curriculum reform to produce functional and adaptable learners for the 21st century, it must deliberately prioritise moral and digital competence within an outcome-based competency framework. Disciplinary and subject knowledge are increasingly insufficient in addressing contemporary social, economic, and technological challenges. There must be a deliberate integration of values and digital skills into curriculum design.
The central argument of this paper is threefold. First, moral and digital competence constitute foundational capacities for lifelong learning, employability, social participation, and responsible citizenship in today’s world. Learners who possess technical skills without ethical grounding are ill-equipped to navigate complex moral dilemmas, misinformation, and digital risks. In fact, such learners constitute a danger to the society, in all ramifications. Second, curriculum reform that concentrates primarily on policy redesign and content restructuring, without corresponding alignment in pedagogy, assessment, and classroom practice, risks remaining rhetorical rather than transformative (Fullan, 2016). Meaningful reform requires coherence between curriculum intentions and everyday teaching and learning processes. Third, the long-term effectiveness of the NERDC curriculum reform initiative depends on the extent to which moral and digital competence are systematically embedded across subject areas, instructional strategies, assessment approaches, teacher professional development, and school culture. Without such integration, curriculum reform may not meet the intended impact on learning outcomes and national development.
Policy landscape for moral and digital competence in the Nigerian education sector
Educational policy provides the normative, regulatory, and structural foundation for curriculum development and implementation. In Nigeria, the National Policy on Education places strong emphasis on the holistic development of learners who can contribute to national development (Federal Republic of Nigeria [FRN], 2014). Consistent with this policy orientation, our curriculum reviews reflect a deliberate shift toward functional, learner-centred teaching and learning.
It is on this premise that our revised school curricula explicitly integrate 21st-century skills, including critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and digital literacy. This aligns our policy direction with global curriculum reform trends that prioritise transferable skills, adaptability, and problem-solving capacities over rote memorisation and content accumulation (UNESCO, 2015; World Bank, 2020). It is also done in recognition of the need to prepare learners for the rapidly evolving labour markets, civic participation, and lifelong learning in our digitalised world.
Despite these advances, significant policy gaps persist, particularly in the linkage between education policy, national digital transformation strategies, and youth development frameworks. It is against this backdrop that this paper argues that there should be greater coherence between education policy, national digital transformation strategies, and youth development frameworks to ensure policy alignment and systemic implementation for impact at the school level. Without such integration, the transformative potential of curriculum reform risks being undermined in implementation.
Pedagogical Imperatives for Moral and Digital Competence
Curriculum reform cannot yield meaningful outcomes without a corresponding pedagogical transformation. Traditional teacher-centred instructional approaches, which are largely characterised by rote memorisation, passive learning, and examination-driven practices, are fundamentally incompatible with competency-based education. This is because the competency-based approaches prioritise the development of transferable skills, values, and applied knowledge (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020). To effectively cultivate moral reasoning and digital competence, learning environments must be learner-centred, participatory, and reflective. Learning must also enable learners to actively construct meaning and apply learning in their daily lives.
Furthermore, there must be emphasis on the use of pedagogies that foster moral competence and sustained engagement with values, ethical reasoning, and real-life moral dilemmas. These strategies (such as values clarification, character education, moral dilemma discussions, service learning, and civic engagement) would provide learners with opportunities to reflect on ethical issues, negotiate moral conflicts, and internalise socially desirable values, and are achieved through practice and social interaction (Nucci, Narvaez, & Krettenauer, 2014). These approaches shift moral education from abstract moral instruction to lived moral experience, thereby strengthening learners’ capacity for ethical judgment and responsible citizenship.
In a similar vein, the development of digital competence requires pedagogical approaches that promote creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Learner-centred strategies such as project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, collaborative learning, and blended or technology-enhanced learning environments allow learners to engage meaningfully with digital tools while simultaneously developing ethical awareness, media literacy, and responsible online behaviour. Through these pedagogical models, learners are not merely users of technology but reflective digital citizens capable of evaluating information, managing digital risks, and applying technology responsibly.
Furthermore, assessment practices must also be aligned with the principles of outcome-based competence education. Teachers should use portfolios, project work, performance-based tasks, peer assessment, and formative feedback to evaluate moral and digital competence (OECD, 2019). These assessment approaches would capture learners’ ability to apply knowledge, demonstrate ethical judgment, and assess how skills are transferred across contexts.
A major challenge to this is funding. Limited professional development opportunities, insufficient monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, teachers’ resistance to change, limited capacity for innovative instructional practices, and deeply entrenched examination-oriented school cultures are affecting curriculum implementation. Additionally, technological constraints, such as infrastructure and unequal access to digital resources, are affecting the effective integration of digital competence.
Socio-cultural factors also present challenges, including divergent value systems, parental concerns, and ethical anxieties surrounding learners’ exposure to digital environments. Without deliberate planning and sustained support, there is a risk that moral and digital competence may be treated superficially, resulting in symbolic compliance rather than genuine pedagogical transformation and meaningful learning outcomes.
Strategic Directions and Suggestions
To address these challenges, this paper proposes several strategic directions.
- Curriculum policy implementation and monitoring must be strengthened to ensure alignment between intended and enacted curricula.
- Moral and digital competence should be explicitly defined as compulsory learning outcomes across educational levels beginning from the teacher training institutions.
- Improved and sustained investment in teacher professional development is essential. This should include comprehensive pre-service training in teachers’ training institutions to build foundational skills in moral and digital competence from the outset, as well as ongoing in-service training programmes for practising teachers.
- Establishment of sustained partnerships with technology firms and the community. This would support resource provision and also provide opportunities for experiential learning.
- Curriculum reform should be viewed as a continuous, evidence-informed process responsive to societal change.
Conclusion
Reforming the curriculum for moral and digital competence is necessary in the context of Nigeria’s educational transformation. The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council curriculum review is a significant step toward outcome and competency-based education. However, its success depends on the adoption of innovative pedagogies and effective classroom practice.
Preparing learners for ethical and functional participation in a digital world requires coordinated action among policymakers, educators, communities, and other stakeholders. Curriculum reform must therefore be intentional, holistic, and sustained if it is to produce morally grounded, digitally competent, and socially responsible citizens.
Other Resources
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