General approaches of introducing citizenship education

General approaches of introducing citizenship education

This section of the questionnaire sought to determine both teacher trainees’ and tutors’ views about how citizenship education should be approached in the teacher training institutions. The mean ranges from 5.0 to1.0, where 3 represents the middle range, 5.0 and 1.0 represent the highest and lowest mean scores respectively. The responses are shown in Table 10.

The results in Table 10 clearly shows that both teacher trainees and tutors felt that specific subjects (citizenship education, social studies, history and geography) are the most appropriate approaches to introduce citizenship education. Interestingly, the trainees had higher mean scores for other humanity subjects, scientific subjects, co-curricular activities and every part of the curriculum. This indicates that the trainees had a stronger belief than their tutors that citizenship could be learned in these areas. The higher mean score for the use of co-curricular activities as supported by trainees is in line with Dutt’s (1993) assertion in AlMaamari (2007) that education for responsible citizenship is a part of the job of all educators who influence elementary and secondary school students, not only the job of teachers of civics and government. The teacher trainees may be more cognisant of the trend in other countries, like the United State, where colleges and universities are increasingly recognising the importance of co-curricular activities in the development of good citizenship practices.

At the international level, a few scholars (Simmt, 2001& Herber, 1989) have referred to the use of the scientific subjects in developing citizenship. Harber (2002) argues that “Science subjects are not free from political issues. In physics, for example nuclear energy can be a controversial topic as can pollution or alternative uses of the environment in chemistry and biology” (p.5). It may be important to encourage tutors to understand how the sciences can help students better understand their citizenship rights and responsibilities on major issues that require a greater understanding of scientific principles.

It is worthy to note that both tutors and teacher trainees provided additional comment on the introduction of citizenship education, where they mentioned that a series of television (TV) programmes and cultural clubs could also serve as a means of introducing citizen education. The media undoubtedly, is playing a crucial role in citizenship education in different dimensions. Citizens gain a great deal of information about things happening in their nation and other countries through watching TV and by using the internet. Again, the government’s TV channels and radio stations in the developing nations, including Ghana, more often than not, present civic issues in developing the different sectors of life. They also create national feelings through broadcasting national celebrations and national songs.

Generally, what is obtained from the questionnaires of both teacher trainees and tutors confirms the position by Michael et al. (2003) that although all school subjects such as Mathematics, English, Integrated Science, Design and Technology, and other related subjects, are expected to contribute to the making of a well rounded citizen, social studies is more related to the promotion of citizenship education in schools. Internationally, preparing a good citizen has been acknowledged as the main aim of social studies (Janzen,1995; Griffiths,1990; Dinkelman,1999).In particular, Dinkelman (1999) asserts that “There is widespread agreement among social educators that preparing students to capably participate in democratic life provides the primary rationale for social studies in the modern school curriculum” (p.4). In contrast, Martin’s (2010) study in Australia on teacher educators emphasized citizenship preparation to different approaches that reflect a national organization’s foci.

In all, both teacher trainees and tutors held the view that citizenship education is a broad area that can be delivered by all subjects. However, they emphasized that social studies is the most appropriate place for introducing citizenship. The data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Study (IEA) on teachers suggests that teachers hold the view that integrating civic education in courses such as social studies or history makes it more effective and meaningful (Torney-Purta & Richardson, 2003).