PEACE EDUCATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AMONG BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The development of conflict resolution skills is a thing of topmost important most especially to Business Education students who are being prepared for the world of work. It is based on this that study investigated the impact of Peace Education on the Development Conflict Resolution Skills among Business Education Students in Public Universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study anchored on two theories namely: Transformative Learning Theory and Human Needs Theory. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted. The population of the study was 732 Business Education students in 300 and 400 levels from the three public universities in Lagos State offering Business Education as a course of study. Sample size was 208 participants and the sampled school was drawn using sampling random technique; however, only 173 participated. One research instrument titled ‘Peace Education and Conflict Resolution Skills Questionnaire’ was used for the study with a reliability coefficient of 0.86. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test Hypothesis One; a Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test Hypothesis Two while Dependent sample test (paired sample t) was used to test Hypotheses Three with the aid of Statistical Product and Service Solution version 27.0. Findings of hypothesis one with a correlation coefficient (r = 0.709) shows that there is a strong positive relationship between peace education and conflict resolution skills development; hypothesis two indicated that there is no significant interaction effect of peace education and gender on conflict resolution skills development among Business Education students in public universities in Lagos State while hypothesis three indicated a significant difference in conflict resolution skills development based on the level of integration of peace education into the Business Education curriculum in public universities in Lagos State. The research therefore concluded and recommended that, peace education should be integrated into Business Education curriculum.