Perceptions on Citizenship Education in Social Studies in Senior High Schools in Ghana

This study was designed to examine citizenship education in social studies as perceived by teachers and students in six senior high schools in the Kumasi Metropolis. Four research questions guided this investigation which was grounded on the literature of models of citizenship and citizenship education. Cross-sectional survey was adopted for the study. Multiphase sampling procedure was employed to select six senior high schools out of 17 senior high schools and 300 third year students, but all the 49 social studies teachers were selected (census) for the study because the study was specific to social studies. Questionnaires were used to solicit responses from both students and teachers. Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS, version 21) was employed to analyze the data. Frequencies, percentages and tables were used to present the data. The findings revealed strong consensus among teachers and students that citizenship education matters a great deal for students’ political development and for their countries. For the teaching practices, the study presents that the discussing and debating methods dominate citizenship education classrooms. The study concludes with recommendations to education policy-makers to consider teaching citizenship education as a specific subject such as History and Geography at the SHS level.