Teaching and learning for nation building knowledge and practices of senior high school social studies teachers in the eastern region of Ghana

Abstract

It is impervious to note that the main goal of Social Studies has been mentioned as citizenship education which involves preparing citizens for active participation nation building. However, it appears Social Studies teachers give little attention to the inculcation of the spirit of nation building in their students. The purpose of this study therefore was to determine whether SHS Social Studies teachers in Ghana have knowledge of and do teach towards Nation Building as a process of fostering unity in their classrooms and in society at large. The study adopted descriptive survey design. A total of 260 Social Studies teachers were selected from Senior High Schools in the Eastern Region for the study. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation-PPMC. The study found that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers have positive knowledge about Nation Building. It was again found that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers have good practice of Nation Building. The results from the study showed that all the teaching techniques predict the teaching of nation building. It was also revealed that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers in the Eastern Region have positive perception about Nation Building. The study concluded that, most Senior High School Social Studies teachers in the Eastern Region have positive perception about practices of Nation Building. This implies that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers in the Eastern Region are able to breach the gap between theory and practice by putting into practice the knowledge in nation building for students to understand. In terms of application, it concluded that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers in the Eastern Region apply their knowledge in the teaching and learning of nation building in the classroom and this has positive impact on the students. It was recommended that to maintain effective teaching and learning of nation building as an integral part of the Social Studies content, policy makers should come out with guidelines that will guide teachers‟ classroom pedagogy towards achieving the former.