Abstract
To account for structural durability in Ghana’s secondary school system, one requires a causal narrative that is context sensitive, analytically driven and logically coherent. Achieving such a goal requires empirical data that lends grist to causal narratives. A Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) allows for treatment of empirical data through systematic data reduction. By applying a path dependence approach, I established the legislative change that lowered the voting age in 1951 as the critical juncture that paved way for pro-independence nationalist parties to re-define the destiny of the country in the absence of the colonial power. Path stabilization occurred through the activation of mechanisms of institutional reproduction. The results show that academic/general type education was spurred by nationalist demands and its eventual designation as the superior channel of education that secures life’s chances. However, the structure of the labour market and interest groups have proved insufficient in destabilizing the existing institutional configuration that privileges academic schooling over TVET. To remedy the situation would require, among others, a reversal of the current supply-driven skills training regime to reflect labour market demands, whilst at the same time shoring up TVET through funding, enhanced remuneration for graduates and rebranding of the subsector altogether.
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Notes
- 1.
The Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) constituted a technical committee in May 2009 to set up the National TVET Qualifications Framework with eight levels. Level 1 is the lowest and covers traditional apprenticeship, whereas Level 8 which is the highest covers up to Doctorate in Technology. See http://www.cotvet.org/new/new-tvet-qualification.phpfor details.
- 2.
Following the launch of the Fourth Republican Constitution in 1992, presidential and parliamentary elections have been held in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
- 3.
Article 36 (5) of Ghana’s constitution mandates that ‘…within two years after assuming office, the President shall present to Parliament a coordinated programme of economic and social development policies, including agricultural and industrial programmes at all levels and in all the regions of Ghana’.
- 4.
The Agency is mandated to develop, coordinate, supervise and facilitate the creation of jobs for the youth in the country (see http://www.yea.gov.gh/index.php/about-us/the-act for the Act stablishing the agency).
- 5.
The political struggle for self-rule predates the events immediately before and after independence. However, the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947, the party on the back of which Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, rose to prominence, and the eventual break-away of Dr. Nkrumah to form the Convention People’s Party in 1949 led to fierce political struggles for the control of the political destiny of Ghana.
- 6.
See Foster (1965a) for a detail account of the chronology.
- 7.
C. O. 97/1 (Gold Coast Acts 1852–64) In Foster (1965).
- 8.
McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1974) observe that missionary education emphasized mostly reading, writing and translation of the Bible in to indigenous languages and less of an emphasis on holistic vocational education.
- 9.
The 1951 Accelerated Development Plan for Education is combined with the 1961 Education Act, Act 87, for analytical purposes: First, the two educational developments occurred consecutively under the same post-independence government. Second, Act 87, the first post-Independence Education Act actually gave legal backing to much of the policy positions contained in the ADP of 1951.
- 10.
Emmanuel Evans Anfom was appointed chairman of the education committee and, later, a commission that proposed recommendations for change in the entire education system in 1987.
- 11.
Similarly, Jophus Anamuah-Mensah was appointed chairman of the 2002 Education Reforms Review Committee which undertook a complete review of the entire education system and made recommendations for change.
- 12.
In a very popular refrain at the time, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah remarked among other things that … ‘after all we must show to the world that the African is somebody’ … and that ‘the black man is capable of managing his own affairs’.
- 13.
The Forward to the Accelerated Development Plan for Education 1951, Accra. In McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1975).
- 14.
Governor Burns’ Address to the Gold Coast Teachers’ Union, 7.1. 1943 In McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1975).
- 15.
Annual Report on the Gold Coast 1947 pp. 54 In Foster (1965a).
- 16.
J. S. Djangmah, a former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (1986–1988), contends education was one of the strongest tools that effectively ensured the dismantling of British colonial rule in Ghana.
- 17.
Enrolments in public technical and trade institutions far exceeded that for private technical institutes by 1959. For details, see Foster (1965a).
- 18.
I borrow this term from the new institutionalism literature on Institutional Stability and Change and adapt it to the Ghanaian context to explain the processes through which predominant secondary academic track educational persistence takes place. For a detailed discussion on this subject, see Hall and Taylor (1996), Campbell (2010) and Mahoney (2000).
- 19.
Parliamentary Hansard of Ghana: The 1961–62 Estimates of Expenditure: Consideration of estimates on day eighth. Parliament of Ghana (1961).
- 20.
Recruitment into Ghana’s public service is based on selection criteria that lay emphasis on academic qualifications and competencies with notice for such recruitments often required to be published in the News Papers with explicit accompanying detailed requirements.
- 21.
- 22.
Parliamentary Debates, 24 October, 1961. In McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1975).
- 23.
Alexander Adum Kwapong, Noah Komla Dzobo and Emmanuel Evans Anfom, respectively, chaired the education review committees of 1967, 1974 and 1987.
- 24.
McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1975) report that whereas there were 415 and 502 public primary schools in Northern and Upper Ghana, respectively, in 1965–1666, these had declined to 386 and 459 by 1968–1969. Those for Asante and Eastern Ghana declined from 1501 and 1424 (1965–1966) to 1414 and 1336 (1968–1969).
- 25.
The existing system under the Nkrumah government was a complete 10-year elementary education in which pupils studied the ordinary subjects at the end of which they could either progress to secondary school or find employment in the labour market. The new course made provision for pre-vocational continuation classes in the last 2 years of elementary school for those who do not gain admission in to secondary school.
- 26.
See GoG (1967) Report of Education Review Committee otherwise known as the Kwapong Committee Report.
- 27.
A study conducted in 1973 by Ivan Addae-Mensah, J. S. Djangmah and C.O. Agbenyega revealed that majority of places in the top secondary schools were going to products of the 6- or 7-year preparatory schools which were highly selective in access and attracted fees.
- 28.
I am most grateful to Yaw Adu Larbi, a policy analyst with the Convention People’s Party, for drawing my attention to this concurrent development alongside the introduction of the Junior Secondary School concept in Ghana, beginning in the early 1980s.
- 29.
The return to multiparty democracy in 1992 saw the emergence of 13 new political parties, namely, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Convention Party, People’s National Convention (PNC), People’s Party for Democracy and Development, National Independent Party (NIP), Peoples’ Heritage Party (PHP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), New Generation Party, Ghana Democratic Republican Party, Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere Party (EGLE), National Justice Party and National Salvation Party. Some of these parties have since gone extinct, while others have merged, aligned and reemerged under new names. See Ninsin (2006) and Yobo and Gyampo (2015).
- 30.
Chapter 3 of the 2000 New Patriotic Party Manifesto elaborates on how it intended to structurally transform education in Ghana. This can be found at http://www.ghanareview.com/NPP.html.
- 31.
Edusei-Sarkodie, chairman of Parliament’s Select Committee on Education, reiterated this on the floor of Parliament on 1 February 2002. Parliamentary Debates, Official Report Vol. 31(12), 2002. See also Report of the President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana, 2002.
- 32.
The Committee was tasked to review the entire education system in the country with the view to making it responsive to current challenges.
- 33.
The member of Parliament for Wa Central, Hon. Amadu Seidu, although generally agreeing with the decision to review the education system, had a reservation: ‘I only want to add that there is nothing new that will come out of it, in that, the educational system, as we find it, has undergone a lot of modifications since 1987 when it was introduced’. Parliamentary Debates, Official Report Vol. 31(12), 2002.
- 34.
As early as 20 May 2003, Hon. Kosi Kedem, member of Parliament for Hohoe, had made an urgent call, requesting the government to release the report of the President’s Committee on Review of Educational Reforms in Ghana. Parliamentary Debates, Official Report Vol. 41(9), 2003.
- 35.
On 28 September 2001, a National Forum on Strengthening Technical Education was organized jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA with the sole purpose to develop a Master Plan to Strengthen Technical Education in Ghana. This was followed by the development of a Draft TVET Policy under the Vocational Skills and Informal Sector Support project for Ghana in 2004.
- 36.
The mandate of COTVET is available at its home page http://www.cotvet.org/new/index.php.
- 37.
This was also a fulfilment of a National Democratic Congress Manifesto promise in the 2008 elections in Ghana. See an overview of the 2008 NDC Manifesto at http://www.africanelections.org/Userfile/file/NDC%20MANIFESTO.pdf.
- 38.
Competency-based training (CBT) is an industry- and demand-driven, outcomes-based education and training programme based on industry-generated standards (occupational standards) and being supported by JICA. Such industry standards form the basis upon which programme/curriculum assessment and learning materials are designed. See details on the website of COTVET at http://www.cotvet.org/new/tvet-policy-system-2.php.
- 39.
The ruling National Democratic Congress government made a manifesto promise to construct 200 community day senior high schools across the country beginning in 2013.
- 40.
In 2000 the New Patriotic Party published a manifesto entitled Agenda for Positive Change in the round-up to the general elections in that same year. The party won the general elections and subsequently governed for two terms.
- 41.
The Anamuah-Mensah Committee recommended the establishment of model senior secondary schools in all districts of the country. See Report of President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana.
- 42.
The respondent is a former Director General of the Ghana Education Service and a retired educationist.
- 43.
J. S. Djangmah makes the point that ‘The colonial people were preaching to us that that is what is good for us (TVET). But first of all, we had to get rid of them. You are not staying to tell me what is good for me. I want you out, and what is going to take them out? Philosophy and Law! What I mean is the so called grammar school education was what we needed to produce the big thinkers and so on to get rid of them’ (Personal interview in Accra on 04. 12. 2014).
- 44.
- 45.
From 19 to 20 May 2014, a national conference on bridging the gap between education/training and industry under the theme Achieving a Strong Partnership between Education/Training and Industry: The Way Forward took place at the Accra International Conference Centre, bringing together education and training institutions, industry players, policy-makers, youth and students.
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Aziabah, M.A. (2018). Analysis and Presentation of Results. In: The Politics of Educational Reform in Ghana. Critical Studies of Education, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93761-8_5
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