Articles

This study investigated the pedagogical implications of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies. The Out-of-field Social Studies teachers could encounter several challenges in their preparation and the implementation of the integrated Social Studies curriculum. This study sought the lived experiences of the out-of-field teachers concerning the causes of out-of-field teaching in social studies, problems encountered by the out-of-field teachers and the mechanisms they employ to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The study chose the qualitative phenomenological research design. Data were collected from all the 17 out-of-field Social Studies teachers through in-depth structured interview. Data were transcribed and analysed, through the inductive thematic analysis approach, unveiling of themes and concepts from the narratives of the research participants. The study revealed that out-of-field teaching in Social Studies occurs as a result of teacher shortage in integrated social studies programme. It is also caused by the perception that any teacher could teach Social Studies irrespective of the teachers’ qualification. Out-of-field teacher encounter problems such as inadequate content and pedagogical knowledge, lack of classroom managerial techniques and inability to deliver lessons through the integrated approach. Engaging in professional development courses, peer coaching, in-service training and workshops were some of the mechanisms employed by out-of-field teachers to cope with the teaching of Social Studies. The pedagogical implications of this phenomenon are that when teaching the Social Studies, the out-of-field teachers place more emphasis on aspects of the Social Studies curriculum where they have much knowledge and skip or put less emphasis on other aspects they lack in-depth knowledge, thus, the integrated approach to teaching Social Studies is not adopted effectively by out-of-field teachers. This waters down the content of Social Studies at the Senior High School level. Addressing the problem of out-of-field teaching in Social Studies requires training and recruiting more teachers who have background training and experience in the integrated approach to the teaching of Social Studies.

The purpose of the study was to examine technological pedagogical content knowledge of teachers and their formative assessment practices in Social Studies lessons in the Junior High Schools in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem (K.E.E.A) Municipality of Ghana. With a mixed method approach, the study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study included all Social Studies teachers at the public junior high schools in the in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipality. Purposive sampling technique was used to select all the seventy-four (74) public Junior High Schools and the Social Studies teachers for the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents because they constitute expert knowledge in the subject area and having the same characteristics. The two main instruments used to gather data for the study were questionnaire and observation. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study indicated that the assessment practices of teachers during Social Studies lessons were on the average. There was disparity between theory and practice as far as the dictates of the profile dimensions are concerned. Teachers mostly assess the cognitive aspect of the child with little attention to the affective domain. The study also concluded that there was a significant positive relationship between TPACK of teachers and their formative assessment practices at 0.05 level of significance. It is recommended that Ministry of Education, National Teaching Council, Ghana Education Service should organize professional development workshop for teachers on their formative classroom assessment practices in Social Studies lessons. It is also recommended that, in order to ensure effective formative assessment practices, Ghana Education Service should collaborate with Colleges of Education and Universities training teachers to develop appropriate TPACK for teachers to improve on their formative assessment practices in the classroom.

The study objective was to assess the perceptions of Junior High School (JHS) Social Studies teachers in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana on teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). The study adopted Shulman's theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) as its theoretical framework. The philosophical approach upon which the study is hinged on is the ideology of interpretivism and positivism, in other words, pragmatism. The study used a mixed methodological approach as well as a descriptive survey design. A random sampling technique was used for the study. The study participants were JHS social studies teachers in Yilo-Krobo Municipality, Ghana. Eighty (80) out of the one hundred and two (102) representing 78.43% JHS Social Studies teachers were selected from the fifty-four JHSs in the Municipality. Both Questionnaire and interview guide were used for data collection. The survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the interview data was analyzed using content analysis. The study indicated that at the heart of the PCK concept is the idea that 'deep knowledge' of content is essential for effective teaching and cannot be taken for granted; that it has a significant bearing on teaching and student learning, and that it is used as a cadre to define professional teaching knowledge. PCK also provides the uniquely necessary knowledge for the transformation of the different types of knowledge required for Social Studies teaching and evolves over time due to the progressive awareness of students' needs, while a wealth of content knowledge is imperative for the development of a comprehensive pedagogical content knowledge. The paper recommends that the Ghana Education Service (GES) should conduct regular in-service training for teachers on the enhancement of their PCK, to enable them select appropriate TLMs and pedagogical approaches that foster meaningful learning for students.