Tutors’ and teacher trainees’ perceptions on a good Ghanaian citizen

Tutors’ and teacher trainees’ perceptions on a good Ghanaian citizen

It can be said that regardless of the instructional and motivational strategy chosen, certain perceptions by teachers and students must be in place to support the successful implementation of that strategy. Callahan and Kellough (1992) therefore, concluded that students’ perception on learning depends on an enabling classroom environment, teachers’ cordial relations, possibilities and challenges, tasks as well as rewards anticipated. It is mentioned that when teachers’ and students’ perception of a given environment are favourably congruent, it makes the atmosphere within that environment more friendly, thus, allowing each one the freedom to explore his or her perception without ridicule (Painta, Hamre, Stuhlman, 2003).

A positive perception and attitude of a programme enables teachers to plan for effective instructional delivery (Kwenin, 2010). It is against this background that the researcher formulated research questions two and three. Consequently, items on the perception of a good Ghanaian citizen in both tutors and teacher-trainees questionnaires were designed to collect relevant data.

These statements range from ‘‘abides by the rule of law to participate constructively in public life.” Responses to each statement were scored as follows: 2 = Positive (Agreement) and 1 = Negative (Disagreement). These were calculated as frequencies and percentages. Tutors’ and teacher trainees’ perceptions on a good Ghanaian citizen are shown in Table 8.

A Pearson chi-square test was performed to analyse this information further to determine whether there were differences in the perceptions of tutors and teacher trainees on the characteristics of a good Ghanaian citizen. According to the data in Table 8, there were significant differences between the perceptions of tutors and the teacher trainees on the following items: a good citizen shows loyalty towards the president; respect the symbols of the country; maintains traditional norms and customs; knows how the government works; know important events in the nation’s history; fulfils his family’s responsibilities; protect the environment; participate constructively in public life; and stands for his/her rights. According to Cohen (1988), the effect sizes in the Chi-Square table, which are below .2, are considered small. This would indicate that although there were significant differences between between the two groups on the nine items, the difference between their responses was not that great.

Table 8 shows that generally there were nine (9) out of the twenty-three (23) items where tutors and teacher trainees showed significant differences indicating a general agreement on the items that describe a good Ghanaian citizen. On the statements ‘a good Ghanaian citizen abides by rule of law,’ there was a 100 % agreement by both tutors and teacher trainees on the statement. This supports a study done by Leenders, Veugelers & De Kat (2008) on teachers’ view on citizenship education in secondary education in the Netherlands where participants showed agreement on the statatement “abiding by rules on the land”. A similar confirmation was found in Groth (2006) on the adolescents’ perception on a good Ghanaian citizen. The finding might be a good sign for Ghana as it tries to maintain its sense of nationhood, abiding by law will make Ghana a peaceful place to live.

On the statements “ a good Ghanaian shows loyalty towards the President of the country”; “ votes in every national election;” “knows how the government works”; “Can make wise decisions;” “protects the environment”; “participates constructively in public life”; “provides the government with some criticisms about its policies” and “stands for his/her rights,” the there was 100% agreement among the tutors while the teacher trainees respectively had 199(78%); 233(91.4%) ; 233(91.4%); 179 (70.2%) ; 241(94.8%); 224(87.8%); 203(79.6) 208(81.6%) and 214(81.65). It is clear from the findings that tutors levels of agreement were higher than the teacher trainees. Mathews and Dilworth’s (2008) on their study on teacher education teachers’ perception about the function of multicultural citizenship education in the social studies confirmed that the experienced and knowledgeable teachers were able to describe who a good citizen is.

Hopefully, once the tutors and teacher trainees have demonstrated a greater agreement on the definition of a good Ghanaian citizen, there is the likelihood that they will show commitment by translating it into their teaching both outside and inside the colleges. Zimbado (2003) stressed that the way a person perceives his environment determines his/her commitment. The findings confirm the study across Hong Kong, England and the United States of America where the teachers also perceived a good citizen in the study (Torney-Purta, & Richardson 2003). The finding further confirms Prior’s (1999) study in Australia where teaching staff described a good citizen as informed, demonstrates respect for laws and rules, has and individual value system, has a national rather than transnational orientation, and focuses on community. Prior’s (1999) study contrasted with the present study when it comes to a good citizen’s participation in national politics. Whereas in Prior’s study the participants considered a good citizen as the one who focuses on community services rather political participation, the participants in the present study agreed that participation in politics at national and international levels as a sign of a good citizen.

It is interesting to know from the findings that in both responses from tutors and teacher trainees on the statements “a good Ghanaian citizen is one who: participates in politics at national and international levels” and “communicates by using more than one language” the participants showed less agreement (See Table 8). These responses seemed to suggest that the respondents have not fully embrased the purpose of social studies education that seeks to educate young people to become well- informed and rational citizens in the culturally diverse and independent world (National Council for the Social Studies, 1994). Considering Ghana’s heterogeneous composition, Levstick and Groth (2005) argued that a good Ghanaian citizen should know his/her own language and customs to ensure national unity and international cohesion.