Values and skills required for good citizenship

Values and skills required for good citizenship

A section of the research survey included twelve items that elicited from the teacher trainees and tutors their perceptions about which values were to be developed in citizenship education and how effective their classes were in developing the various values. For it was conceptualized that the appropriate values tutors have in citizenship education will affect their teaching for the purposes of national development.

In discussing the results, general descriptive analysis will assume there is general agreement between the tutors and the teacher trainees when there is less than 0.5 differences between the mean scores for each group. When there is 0.5 or greater, there seems to be evidence of a disparity in perceptions by the two groups. Table 13 summarizes the data from the survey items.

Table 13: Important and effective values in citizenship education

How important is each of the following values in citizenship education?			How effective is each of the following values in citizenship education?
Teacher trainees MR SD	Tutors MR SD		Teacher trainees MR SD	Tutors MR SD
4.3 1.1	4.5 0.49	Valuing and practicising Ghana traditional and culture.	4.5 0.68	4.1 0.32
4.1 1.1	4.7 0.46	Love for the nation.	4.5 0.70	4.6 0.49
4.5 0.76		Bravery and willingness to uphold the nation’s sovereignty	4.5 0.52	4.6 0.49
4.5 0.76 .	4.4 0.50	Cooperation for achieving well being in Ghanaian society.	4.4 0.53	4.5 0.49
4.3 1.1 Table 13 cont’d	4.3 0.48	Tolerance of other ideas, people, religions and cultures.	4.6 0.53	4.7 0.46
4.2 0.82 4.3 0.77	4.7 0.46 4.2 0.44	Integrity in conducting public responsibilities. Dedication to human rights.	4.4 0.70 4.3 1.0	4.7 0.46 4.2 0.44
4.3 0.75	4.4 0.50	Dedication to rule of law.	4.6 0.55	4.6 0.49
4.6 0.77	4.2 4.3	Responsibility to respect the public spaces (e.g. building parks, schools)	4.3 0.73	4.6 0.49
4.4 0.76		Disapproval of discrimination on the grounds of gender, race and religion.		4.5 0.49
2.4 1.5	4.3 0.49	Resolve conflict peacefully in national and international issues.	4.2 0.99	4.7 0.44
4.4 6.8	4.4 0.50	Standing up against injustice and inequalities	4.4 1.0	4.7 0.44

Field study 2010

Table 13 shows that the tutors’ mean ratings of the importance of the values, ranked by the tutors’ means, ranged from 4.1 to 4.7, including an overall support for the teaching of all the values in question. Three values, “love for the nation, “integrity in conducting public responsibilities,” and “valuing and practising Ghana’s traditions” were rated as three of the most important values to be included in citizenship education. All the three values relate to the creation of a national pride. Interestingly, the teacher trainees’ ratings on “love for the nation and integrity in conducting public responsibilities” were 0.5 lower than the tutors. In general, it may be that young people perceive these “patriotic” values as being less important than tutors because they do not have the experience of seeing the full range of responsibilities that are normally expected from the citizens. The tutors have more national and worldly experience in those areas where patriotic acts are acknowledged, if not expected. In addition, tutors are agents of the “state” and are expected to encourage trainees to love their country, practice their traditions and be responsible citizens. Alzidjali (2002), in her study of the necessary values for citizenship education in Oman from the viewpoint of the practising teacher, came up with similar results. Patriotism, appreciation of the government’s efforts and its role in reviving Omani community and obedience towards one’s parents and authorities were the first three important values rated by the sample.

The lowest group of value statement means, when ranked by the tutors, ranged from 4.1 to 4.2. The values of “dedication to human rights,” “responsibility to respect public places,” and willingness to sacrifice for the nation” were three of the values that were rated as lower in importance, marginally lower than other values. The trainees tend to have a bit higher mean scores than the tutors, especially on “dedication to human rights” and “responsibility to respect the public places”. This result is a bit surprising, one would have thought that these values would be rated more highly by the tutors, since they have gained more responsibility in their work and their families and have had more experience in perceiving the importance of these values to their society. However, in this study the tutors who had more responsibility as professional educators and greater worldly experience have perceived these values as less important to citizenship education than the teacher trainees. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana makes provision for the protection of human rights, so it is unusual that human rights were not viewed as more important. Silman and Caglar (2011) argue for the importance of human rights as a critical topic in citizenship education. They maintain that “if human rights are protected, illegal behaviour will decrease, trust in people and the state will increase, citizens will be more conscious, responsible and proud, and parliaments, state organisations, and non-governmental organisations will function more effectively”(p. 679).

Seven of the statements were rated very similarly by the tutors, with the mean ratings ranging from 4.3 to 4.4. The trainees mean scores were very similar to those of the tutors, in areas “bravery and willingness to uphold,” “cooperation for achieving well being,” “dedication to the rule of law,” “disapproval of discrimination on the grounds,” “standing up against injustice” and “tolerance of other ideas, people and religions”.

The value of “resolve conflict peacefully in national and internal politics,” was perceived quite differently by the tutors and teacher trainees, with the tutors apparently perceiving this citizenship value as rather important, with a mean of 4.3, but the trainees were not in agreement, with their mean score of 2.4 being 0.9 lower. Perhaps, the teacher trainees have not witnessed the devastating effects of conflicts in their lives and therefore do not understand its importance in the citizenship education class. Zins, Weissberg, Wang and Walberg (2004) have provided valuable evidence that programmes that enhance students’ emotional competence, such as conflict resolution, help to create an enabling environment for nation-building. The conflict resolution values are probably an area where the tutors of colleges of education in Ghana need to give much greater attention because trainees rated it very low among all the values surveyed.

In general, the tutors and the trainees were similar in their beliefs that the classes were teaching the values effectively, with the exception of the value “resolve conflict peacefully in national and international politics.”As noted in Table 13, the trainees perceived this value much lower than the tutors, and they also perceived that the teaching effectiveness of the classrooms was less effective than their tutors, with a difference of 0.5 lower.

Teaching the values of “bravery and willingness to uphold the nation’s sovereignty” was perceived by teacher trainees and tutors as being effective in the classroom possibly because in citizenship education, some historical events are taught where great bravery and defense of Ghanaian sovereignty are stressed. For instance, how Yaa Asantewaa exhibited courage in the fight against the British is taught in colleges of education to remind trainees to stand for their rights at all times. These lessons and values they embodied may have stirred the tutors’ and teacher trainees’ pride in their country. Buah (2008) writes that the courage exhibited by Yaa Asantewaa need to be emulated by students in schools and colleges

The teacher trainees and tutors agreement on the classroom effectiveness in developing the willingness to sacrifice for the nation might be attributed to the fact that the textbooks they use stress the need for sacrificing for the nation because they have only one country. Tutors are probably teaching with much emphasis on such values and students are religiously accepting it because they have perceived its importance for national development. Again, the hoisting of the Ghana flag in the colleges has also reminded them of how others have sacrificed for national development. Levstik and Groth (2005) emphasized that all schools in Ghana have been required by the government to fly the Ghanaian flag as a sign of honour to the forefathers.

With the disapproval of “discrimination on the grounds of gender, race and religion,” “standing against injustice,” “tolerance of other ideas, people and religions as well as standing against injustice” were values that both groups perceived as being taught effectively. This may be attributed to the fact that the groups have seen the need to develop values that will unify Ghanaians as one nation, one people, and one destiny (Boateng & Darko, 2005). This idea needs to start from the classrooms so that students can learn about them while they are young still in school. There is the tendency that once the teacher trainees have identified such values in class, they will effectively use them in their teaching after graduation from college.