Teaching social studies for affective outcome at Tema Methodist day senior high school in the greater Accra region

Abstract

This study examined how Social Studies can be taught to lead to affective outcome among students of Tema Methodist Day Senior High School. The primary purpose of Social Studies is to help young people to develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of culturally diverse democratic societies in an interdependent world. Even though Social Studies has been studied as a core subject in Senior Secondary Schools since the late 1990’s, the said purpose (thus, attitudinal change) for its introduction has not been achieved. The Teaching Syllabus for Social Studies still identified some irresponsible behaviours of adolescents in Ghana to include: Pre-marital sex, prostitution, armed robbery, drunkenness, drug abuse, homosexuality (sodomy and lesbianism or “supism”), examination malpractices, among others. The target population comprised students and Social Studies teachers of Tema Methodist Day Senior High School. The study used concurrent design and sampled 250 students and 10 Social Studies teachers. Simple random and census sampling techniques were used to select the sample of students and teachers respectively to answer the questionnaire for the work. It was revealed that teachers set questions that enhance the development of students’ conceptual understanding or problem-solving skills. However, documentary analysis of their end of term examination papers revealed otherwise. Moreover, the study revealed that the conception of students and teachers were not entirely different from previous studies conducted. Students, to a higher extent, indicated, that Social Studies is meant to equip learners with knowledge. Half of the teachers agreed with the students while the other set disagreed. Majority of the teachers too strongly agreed and agreed that Social Studies is meant to equip learners with socio-civic, personal and interpersonal skills. Finally, assessment was the main challenge faced by Social Studies teachers. Higher percentage of the students disagrees or uncertain whether their teachers assess them effectively. Similarly, students were uncertain about the effectiveness of anecdotal records. There were discrepancies between what teachers said they assessed and what they actually assessed. It was recommended that there is the need to plan and conduct effective professional development initiatives, including both pre-and in-service training, to transform teaching to be in line with the current theories of teaching, learning and assessment in Social Studies. Social Studies teachers should predominantly employ student-centered approaches when delivering lessons to clear misconceptions students hold in order for them to achieve high academic outcomes. The Ghana Education Service (GES) should organize in-service training for teachers on regular basis on how to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) due to the role it plays in teaching and learning.