Teacher trainees’ perceptions of citizenship education

Teacher trainees’ perceptions of citizenship education

On the statement “providing students with sufficient knowledge and understanding of national history and politics as a meaning of citizenship education,” it came out that all the teacher trainees in the colleges of education indicated high agreement on the statement. Out of the 255(100%) teacher trainees, 242(94.9%) responded in affirmation to the statement. Their responses stood as Komenda 28(96.6%); St.Monica 28(100%); Offinso 32(94.1%); Fosu 30(93.8%); Bimbilla 33(94.3%); OLA 29(100%); Bagabaga 30(88.2%) and Wesley College 32(32%) showing their agreement on the statement. Darling-Hammond (1998:12) puts it “What teachers know and can do makes the most difference in what children learn”. An effective tutor must be able to integrate content knowledge with the specific strengths and needs of students to ensure that all students effectively obtain and apply the knowledge and skills to and perform at higher levels. It is therefore anticipated that the teacher trainees will be able to affect pupils positively with their knowledge.

In addition, the teacher trainees showed their understanding on citizenship education as a means of inculcating certain basic skills and tools in solving societal problems. On this statement, of the 255 (100%) respondents in all the eight sampled colleges, 247(96.9%) agreed to the statement. For each college, teacher trainees reported their understanding about statement. Komenda 29(100%), Wesco 34(100%), in ST. Monica’s 24(85.7.9%) respectfully indicated their agreement to the statement. Offinso, 34 (100%), Fosu 32(100%), Bimbilla 35(100%) and Bagabaga 34(100%) similarly indicated high agreement to the statement. All the trainees have shown positive signs though; in the Colleges such as OLA, 4(13.8%) and Monica’s, 4(14.3%) had limited knowledge in the statement. Aggarwal (2001) mentions that even though social studies is supposed to offer citizenship education to learners, the understanding they gain depends upon how serious they take their lessons in class. On the whole, it can be said that the 247(96.9%) of the teacher trainees have indicated high agreement on the statements the meaning of citizenship education. The finding supports Mathews and Dilworth’s (2008) study on teacher education students’ perceptions about the functions of multicultural citizenship education within social studies classes.

As to citizenship education “providing the knowledge of the constitution and its application,” 231(90.6%) of the respondents indicated their agreement. In the eight colleges of education, all the 28(100%) trainees from ST. Monica’s and OLA 29(100%) indicated their total agreement to the statement. The constitution of Ghana contains the rights and responsibilities of Ghanaians (Afari-Gyan 2002). Their agreement to statement suggests that they are quite abreast with the Constitution of Ghana. The finding supports Groth’s (2006) study on the adolescents’ perception of citizenship and democracy in Ghana where the participants admitted that citizenship education is also meant to provide knowledge in the constitution.

On the issue of preparing the young for their roles and responsibilities, Table 6 reveals that out of the 255(100%), 212(83.1%) from the eight colleges of education admitted that is the meaning of citizenship education. Of such figure, Offinso 26(76.5%), Wesley 26(76.5%), Ola 29(100%), Komenda 23(79.3%), Monica’s (100%), Fosu 25(78.1%), Bimbilla 30(85.7%) and Bagabaga 25(73.5%) respectively indicated their understanding on the statement. These findings support Banks’ (2005) assertion that citizenship education through social studies is meant to educate learners to take up their roles and responsibilities in their communities. It is hoped that such knowledge that teacher trainees have acquired will develop in them positive attitude which will be translated into national development.

For citizenship education to mean “making conscious attempt to provide knowledge and respect for political institutions,” majority 190(74.5%) out 255 of the trainees in the college of education indicated their agreement on the statement. Table 8 shows that of the eight sampled colleges of education, Offinso 20(58.8%), Wesley 23(67.6%) ,OLA 29(100%), Komenda 19(65.5%), Monica’s 28(100%), Fosu 21(65.5%), Bimbilla 28(80%) and Bagabaga 22(64.7%) showed high agreement on the meaning of citizenship education. These findings supports Doppen, Misco, & Patterson’s (2008) of a statewide online survey of 198 randomly selected high school teachers in a Midwestern state where the participants exhibited similar knowledge.

A similar understanding is also demonstrated by the teacher trainees in all the sampled colleges of education on citizenship education being meant to making a deliberate effort to offer young generation moral, social, intellectual knowledge about cultural heritage. Out of the 255 respondents, 226(88.6%) agreed on the meaning of citizenship citizenship education. In the study conducted by Kwenin (2010) among the senior high schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana, the participants’ also acknowledged this fact. In regard to this statement, one can infer from the responses that it is likely the teacher trainees in the colleges of education will be able to live up to expectation when they are posted to teach at the basic education level upon graduation and that will auger well for national development.

For citizenship education to “developing skills of participation in both private and public spheres,” teacher trainees in the sampled colleges of education indicated their level of agreement to the statement. Their level of agreement stood as: Komenda College of Education, 25(71.4%) out of 29(100%); in ST. Monica’s 28(100%); in Offinso, 28(782.4%); in Fosu College of Education 28(87.5%); in Wesley College, 30(88.2%); Bimbilla 32 (91.4%) and Bagabaga 31(91.2%). The understanding displayed by the teacher trainees lends support to the findings of AlMaamari (2006) where student teachers in the Omani district also accepted this idea.