Citizenship education in colleges of education in Ghana: An exploratory study of the perceptions of student teachers and tutors of social studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of social studies teacher trainees and their tutors in the colleges of education in Ghana with regards to the meaning and teaching methods that are most appropriate to teach citizenship education. The research drew upon social capital, ecological, and cognitive psychological theories to generate the conceptual framework for analysing the quantitative and qualitative data. The perceptions of tutors and teacher trainees of social studies in their final year from eight colleges of education were surveyed, and small samples of the respondents were interviewed to further understand both groups’ perceptions of citizenship education. The major findings were: (i) Tutors and teacher trainees generally agreed on the components of citizenship education, chi-square test test showed that there was a difference in perceptions between tutors and teacher trainees (ii) Both tutors and trainees generally agreed on the characteristics of a good citizen. (iii) There was general agreement between the tutors and trainees that various classroom activities are important in the teaching of citizenship education and are being taught effectively. There were some differences between the groups on certain specific teaching methods and the effectiveness of the teaching of those activities. The study has made a significant contribution to the existing literature on citizenship education issues in the contemporary Ghanaian colleges of education. The study concludes with the recommendations to policy makers and stakeholders of education to consider the need to improve the quality of citizenship education materials.