The Oguaa Educator

Mathematics classroom discourse in typical Ghanaian public school: how does it look like?

Ernest Kofi Davis — 2018-06-01

This paper reports on a study which investigated the nature of classroom interaction and how that affects the way pupils learn mathematical concepts meaningfully. Observation of mathematics lessons of three primary six teachers from one District in Southern Ghana were recorded. This was followed by analysis of the rationale, general aims and objectives of teaching mathematics and the general teaching approach suggested in the preamble of the mathematics curriculum. The data collected were analysed qualitatively and presented as narrative description with illustrative examples. The results from the study revealed amongst others that the traditional school mathematics microculture constituted the dominant public discourse in the three lessons developed. Discussion of the findings and implication for mathematics curriculum development and delivery and further research are provided.

A comparative study of the effect of the methods of decomposition and base complement addition on Ghanaian children's perfomance on compound substraction

Eric Magnus Wilmot — 2018-06-01

This paper compares the effects of teaching using the methods of Decomposition and the Base Complement Addition (BCA) on primary school children’s ability to solve compound subtraction problems in Ghana. Ninety-six (96) primary 2 children from two schools participated in the study. For four weeks, children in one of the participating schools were taught using the Base Complement method while their counterparts in the other school were taught using the Decomposition method. A pre-test and a post-test were organised for both groups before and after the teaching sessions respectively. In addition, four weeks after the teaching sessions a retention test was conducted. The study revealed that Base Complement Addition method of performing compound subtraction improved the performance of primary school children better than and had a higher power for retention than the Decomposition method. In addition, the differences in performance between the two groups as measured by the effect sizes (0.585 and 0.499 respectively at the post and retention-test levels), was medium and therefore non trivial. Interpretation of these effect sizes has been discussed. In addition, recommendations for teacher professional development, curriculum developers and for further studies have been made.

Predictive validity of students' entry qualifications into diploma in basic education programme in Colleges of Education in Ghana

Jonathan Osae Kwapong — 2018-06-01

The study was conducted to investigate the relationship between students’ West Africa Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE) grades and their performance in the Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) programme at the Colleges of Education level in Ghana. The purpose was to determine the extent to which the WASSCE results adequately predict performance of students at the College of Educational level. The stratified randomly technique was used to select a sample of seven Colleges of Education with a total of 1,443 students. The Pearson product Moment Correlation coefficient statistic was used to determine the validity coefficients. The results showed a statistically significant positive but low relationship between the two variables ( r= 0.209 at 0.01). It was also found out that using only the core subjects results will better predict performance at the CoE than using the core and some electives. This meant that though the WASSCE results can be used for selection, they do adequately predict performance at the Colleges of Education for the DBE programme. It is therefore suggested that for effective selection of students for the DBE programme, the College of Education may resort to additional predictors such as entrance examination and/or oral interviews beside the WASSCE result.

What is happening in Ghanaian Junior High School mathematics classrooms?: A look at students' perception

Eric Magnus Wilmot — 2018-06-01

In recent times, there has been public outcry about students’ poor performance in mathematics in Ghana. Since available literature is replete with the fact that students’ perception of their mathematics classroom environment influences their participation in classroom activities and hence their mathematics achievement, this study was designed to examine how junior high school students perceived their mathematics classroom learning environment. A total of 350 eighth and ninth graders (ie. Junior high schools forms two and three students) from four public and two private schools in a metropolitan community in southern Ghana participated in the study. The study adapted the What is Happening in This Class (WIHIC) questionnaire, a questionnaire designed to measure students’ perception of their classroom environment on four different subscales. The results revealed that, though in general, the perception of students were positive , ranging from sometimes to often, that of the public school students were relatively more positive than their private school counterparts in each of the subscales. Implications of this are discussed and recommendations for classroom teachers and future research are also presented.

Implementation of the school performance improvement plan in Ghana: What lessons can be learned?

Christopher Yaw Kwaah — 2018-06-01

This study investigated the implementation of the School Performance Improvement Plan (SPIP) through the Capitation Grant (CG) scheme introduced by the Government of Ghana in the 2004/2205 academic year for basic schools. The scheme was introduced to abolish all forms of fees paid by pupils in basic schools with the aim of improving access and enhancing the quality of education. The study, which was conducted in 2016 used the interpretive qualitative approach to obtain data from 48 teachers and 8 head teachers from 8 basic schools in one of the largest Municipalities in the Central Region of Ghana. The participants for the study were selected by simple random sampling from five circuits in the Municipality. Interviews were held with the head teachers in all the 8 schools while 8 focus group discussions were held with groups of 6 teachers in all the schools. The findings show that head teachers involved all stakeholders such as the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), School Management Committee (SMC) and teachers in preparing the SPIP to ensure transparency. Furthermore, the SPIP preparation ensured that schools budgeted all items they would need. However, lukewarm attitude on the part of some SMC/PTA members and some teachers towards the preparation of SPIP, the bureaucratic nature of accessing the CG, exorbitant fees charged by the Municipal Education Office and lack of transparency on the part of some head teachers in the disbursement of CG were some of the challenges that emerged. The study also found that delay in disbursing CG to schools affected the purchase of resources for teaching and learning. Recommendations for the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have also been suggested.

Analysis of Institutional Climate at High perfoming Schools: The case opf St. James Senior High School, Sunyani, Ghana

Michael Amakye — 2018-06-01

A mixed-method design adopting a non-experimental survey and a basic interpretive study was conducted to analyse the institutional climate of high perfoming schools with the focus on Saint James Senior High School. Data was collected using a clsoed-ended Likert type items from a defined population of all 43 academic staff and six managment members of the school and a semi-structred interview protocol from 10 purposeflly-selected heads and assistant heads of departments. The study revealed that there is a positive school climate showing respondents having a high level of institutional identity , strong collegiality, favourable supervisory styles and a good sense of professionalism. These four elements of the positive climate correlate strongly with instituttional effectiveness at St. James Senior High School. The study further revealed that St. James Senior High School has acheived a climate of success through professional development workshops, team refelctive practices and supportive school leadership.