Kankam boadu
REPRESENTATION OF THE INTERVIEW DATA
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- Interview schedules
- The analysis of the interviews of the Head of Departments and teacher trainees (class leaders) of social studies
- Meaning of ‘good citizen’
- The concept of citizenship
- Development of citizenship through school the school curriculum
- The importance of citizenship education in Ghana
- Values and skills to be developed in citizenship education
- Emerging issues
REPRESENTATION OF THE INTERVIEW DATAIntroductionThis chapter presents the analysis of the data obtained from the interviews with the Head of Departments of social studies and class leaders of social studies of the colleges of education in Ghana. The number of participants who took part in the interviews consisted of eight tutors and sixteen teacher trainees. In choosing the interviews, gender was not a criterion. For instance, any Head of Department in the eight colleges of education irrespective of gender was chosen. In the same manner any trainee who happened to be a class leader was interviewed. It turned out that of the eight Head of Departments, two were females and six were males. The two females came from Wesley and Bimbila Colleges of Education. On the part of the teacher trainees, ten of the interviewees were females while six were males. The female trainees outnumbered the males because two of the colleges were female institutions and females were automatic class leaders. These two categories of people were selected because they appeared to have some major involvment in the social studies class. For instance, the heads superintend over the other tutors of social studies whereas the class leaders oversees the teacher trainees in class. Therefore, to a follow-up interview to expand the results of the quantitative phase and to provide greater depth information, the two categories of people were deemed to be appropriate. Interview schedulesAll the interviews were structured and were conducted face to face, and the responses were recorded. The interviews lasted between 40 and 50 minutes on an average. Two different interviews were scheduled for the Head of Departments (HoDs) and teacher trainees (class leaders). The interviews allowed probes that provided an opportunity to ask the participants to clarify or elaborate responses (Interviews protocol Appendix B). The interviews covered diverse aspects of citizenship education: the concept of citizenship, views on being a ‘good citizen,’ how citizenship education can be developed through the school curriculum, what subjects might best be suited for citizenship education, and why citizenship education is growing in importance in Ghana. In addition, approaches to be used in delivering citizenship education, values, skills and topics which are most important and must be included in citizenship education were also considered. The analysis of the interviews of the Head of Departments and teacher trainees (class leaders) of social studiesThis area considers the opinions of some of the interviewees of social studies in the colleges of education regarding citizenship education. Major issues that came out from the analysis of the interviews are discussed as follows: Meaning of ‘good citizen’Generally, the transcripts revealed that a ‘good citizen’ is someone who obeys rules and regulations of a country. Although, they see a good citizen as someone who obeys rules and regulations and as well as thinks of the well being of the country he/she lives in. From the viewpoint of one of the tutors, a citizen cannot be ‘good’ unless he/she demonstrates his/her love for the country in practice: …good citizen is any person who observes the rules and regulations of the country as well as thinking of the development and advancement of the country [HoD, College of Education]. The teacher trainees also came out with similar meanings on the phrase of a ‘good’ citizen. Some of the outstanding opinions were: …good citizen performs the responsibility as a member of a country, pays taxes, protects property, votes and helps the police to do investigations [Class leader, teacher training]. … it entails a lot, but to me the best of it is the sense of respect for oneself and other peoples. It runs through almost every activity of a good citizen. If I respect myself and others, there is no way you would not accept or at least give a look at some else opinion [Class leader, teacher training]. The responses by the interviewees suggest that being a ‘good’ Ghanaian citizen is about being law abiding and developing national consciousness. There is some indication that the interviewees were not considering ‘good’ citizens to be only mindful of what they gain from their country but what they also do for the country to develop. In the questionnaire, the teacher trainees and the tutors rated law abiding as the most influential feature of a good Ghanaian citizen. This finding is supported in the interviews, because the majority of the interviewees admitted that abiding by the law is the mark of a good citizen. The concept of citizenshipThe interviewees also expressed their views about the concept ‘citizenship’ as any person who is accepted as a member of a country legally. They added that one’s citizenship is acquired through birth, marriage and adoption. …citizenship is any person who is accepted as a member of a country, either by birth, marriage, or adoption [Head of Department, college of education] …citizenship is a right given to a person to become a member of a particular country. This right becomes the citizenship right. [Teacher trainee, class leader] One of the interviewees saw ‘citizenship’ as showing commitment to his/her country. This is how he puts it: …is the act of showing commitment and protection of resources in a community and performing ones responsibilities and ability to live peacefully with others [HoD, College of Education]. As the interviewees explained the meaning of citizenship, they provided insights into what justifies one to become or gain citizenship. In the interviews, the interviewees brought up issues such as adoption, birth, marriage and naturalization as a means of acquiring citizenship. They expressed different reasons for their choices as: A nation will only develop where there is peace and people obeying the laws of the land and showing respect to others’ views [Class leader, teacher trainee]. … for me, to be called a citizen, you must be born into that country or either a member of other country who have come to naturalise to be part of a member of another country [Class leader, teacher trainee]. …the hallmark of citizenship is the interaction of man and his physical and social environment, it therefore behoves the man to develop right attitudes, skills of using them and value them as well [HoD, College of Education]. An interviewee who understood citizenship to mean “a sense of belonging to a country or city /town” justifies his understanding as follows: “Because one cannot become a citizen when s/he is not a legal member of a country” It is seen that the interviewees have knowledge on what is meant to be a good citizen in Ghana and how one gains his/her citizenship in Ghana. These views are in conformity with what is spelt out in the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. It is hoped that the teacher trainees especially, will be able to teach others after graduating from college once they have demonstrated such knowledge.
Citizenship can be developed through the school curriculum by integrating the topic “citizenship” into various subjects such as social studies [HoD, College of Education]. … by introducing it into the curriculum, topics that can instill into students values that can help championing national development [Class leader, teacher trainee]. An interviewee mentioned the development of citizenship in line with the physical and social environment. This is how he makes his argument: In relation to the physical, citizenship can be developed through the exploration and interpretation whilst the social environment can be developed through mingling with the institutions of man [Class leader, teacher trainee]. As a follow-up item to the introduction of citizenship in the school curriculum, the interviewees were asked about the subject areas which were best suited for citizenship education; they came out with a number of subjects such as social studies, religious and morale education, science and creative arts. Although the interviewees expressed support for citizenship education as a cross-curricular theme, they also found a strong relationship with social studies, civic education and citizenship. A number of the interviewees rated social studies as the most suited subject for the citizenship education for these reasons: “Social studies because in the subject, students are taught issues related to neighbours and countries” [ HoD, College of Education]. A teacher trainee class leader also added “Social studies because it talks about the behavioural change in living, how to care of school property, the classroom and weeding their plots and then teach how to vote.” Two of the students attached citizenship to creative studies. They explained that creative studies are concerned with the practical side, whereas social studies is concerned with the theoretical side. Other suggestions were that there should be a specific subject called citizenship education to cater for citizenship issues as it is done at the upper primary level of education in Ghana. The interviewees were further probed to find out their understanding of citizenship education. The common trend in their understanding was that it was a way of preparing the young people to take up their citizenship roles in the future. Some of these specific definitions were given as:
It is some form of education which could be formal or informal, given out to pupils with the intention of preparing them to participate effectively in the activities of social life. Teaching a person to know the various rights and responsibilities which bestowed on him/her as a citizen in that particular country. It can also be formal or informal. Formal education is what happens in the classroom situation. Informal is about what happens on the T.V, radio, newspapers and other media to teach us about the various rights and responsibilities. It is a subject meant to train pupils, and students to become good and law abiding. After demonstrating their understanding on what citizenship education should be, they further came up with the issues that should be included in citizenship education. For instance, the HoDs stressed “sense of patriotism, sense of identity, importance of a good citizen, fundamental human rights and protecting natural resources.” The class leaders also shared similar views on issues to be included in citizenship education with the HoDs. Surprisingly, one class leader expressed a totally different view with regard to the role of school in citizenship education. She thought citizenship education cannot be developed by a school, as school subjects concentrate on memorization, and regular examinations and are an end in themselves. The interviewees were further asked whether they anticipated any future change in the subjects focused on citizenship education. They held different opinions on this question. Almost half of them said they anticipated a future change in the subject they had mentioned. This was how one of them expressed his views: …I am anticipating that civic education would be made a core subject in SHS, a liberal in the universities, a compulsory course in the colleges of education as well as in the in basic schools [HoD, College of Education]. An interviewee (student) who also shared a similar anticipation of change added that in the future, a special programme should be mounted to deal purposefully with national issues and peaceful co-existence with other countries. However, some of the interviewees who did not anticipate any change at all, expressed these feelings:” No! If anything at all, it would be something that would rather strengthen social studies.” [HoD, college of education]. “The subject must be continuously taught and made a core for the first and second cycle of education” [Class leader, teacher trainee]. The importance of citizenship education in GhanaIn Ghana, citizenship education is taught as a subject on its own at the upper primary level, taught under social studies at the junior high schools, senior high schools and the colleges of education. The interviewees were asked whether citizenship education was becoming important in Ghana. From the interviewees’ perspectives, citizenship education was helping to nurture democratic principles among the youth with the intention of achieving or consolidating national unity. From their perspectives, this unity is the key ‘ingredient’ in democratic governance that Ghana strives to develop. An HoD submitted that by citizenship education aiming at promoting unity, it will encourage a spirit of mutual assistance and working interaction among Ghana’s diverse peoples. Interestingly, he alluded to what Buah(1998) emphasized that unity emanating from physical proximity reflects the historical development of Ghana, which placed diverse ethnic groups together and expected them to work together as nation. Interestingly, a teacher trainee leader mentioned that citizenship education was of importance because “members of a country must learn and know what is expected of them as citizens of Ghana, the available rights and responsibilities. They should also know what is happening in other countries.” It also came out from a class leader that citizenship education is growing in importance because people are not obeying the laws of the country and therefore the young should be taught to value the role of being responsible citizens, and encouraged to become such.
On the skills needed to be developed, the tutors mentioned critical thinking, observation skills, and interrogative skills, analytical and reflective skills. The class leaders also mentioned skills such as communication, listening and critical thinking. There was a follow-up question on topics that needed to be developed in citizenship education. Here, different views were expressed .While some interviewees mentioned topics such as nation building, improving the constitution, and fundamental human rights; others suggested our “community, protecting the natural resources, freedom of speech and democracy.”
Generally, a good Ghanaian citizen can be described as being patriotic and law abiding. Citizenship education is seen as an important area in schools because it helps to nurture the young ones to be responsive to democratic issues. The interviewees held the view that citizenship education is broad area that can be delivered by all subject areas. Yet, they considered social studies as the most appropriate area for introducing citizenship education. The next chapter considers summary, conclusion and recommendations made from the questionnaires and interviews. It aims to build a broad perception of tutors and teacher trainees on the provision of citizenship education in Ghana in general and teacher education in particular. Directory: jspui -> bitstream -> 123456789 123456789 -> College day annual report 123456789 -> A. gw student and alumni numbers summary 3 123456789 -> Clustering Microarray Data within Amorphous Computing Paradigm and Growing Neural Gas Algorithm 123456789 -> Навчальний посібник Для студентів економічних І правових спеціальностей немовних вузів Суми двнз "уабс нбу" 2014 123456789 -> Министерство сельского хозяйства и продовольствия республики беларусь 123456789 -> Personal informations: Nationality: Sudanese Date and place of birth 123456789 -> So far, administration of Koutthep village-fund group (Phonnady) is worked by boards, it has a common coordination and discussion Download 2.03 Mb. Share with your friends:
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