Implementing quality education: The inevitability of a co-owned and contextbased conceptualisation as the best starting point

Abstract

This conceptual article argues for a co-owned contextual interpretation of the concept of quality education to create communal familiarity, co-agency and coherent communication necessary for its institutionalisation. The article analysed education policy documents including the current 2018-2030 education strategic plan which provides a blueprint for the development of education. The analysis revealed that quality education is an important policy concept that enjoys rhetoric. The 2018-2030 education strategic plan canonises quality education for its potential to equip Ghanaians adequately to meet the needs of the twenty-first century. However, quality education has failed to receive context-based conceptualisation perhaps because of the complex nature of the phrase. Drawing from Wittgenstein’s (1953) warning against imprecise use of language, the article argues for a co-owned contextual interpretation of quality education to facilitate its successful implementation in Ghana. The article then shares how the Leadership for learning and the Singapore triad models of interpreting and applying policy concepts can benefit communal familiarity and application of policy concepts. The Ministry of Education should organise workshops for stakeholders to provide a co-owned interpretation of quality education, draw an action plan and educate the Ghanaian citizenry to understand and align their efforts towards its achievement.