The purpose of this study was to assess the educational implications of children involved in small scale mining activities at Kyebi in the Abuakwa South District of Ghana. Qualitatively, case study research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of junior high school head teachers in the Abuakwa South District of Ghana. Purposive sampling technique was used to select all the thirty (30) junior high school head teachers who have taught in the district between 25 to 30 years. The main instrument for data collection was Semi-structured interview guide. Data collected by the researchers from participants was analysed through the use of the interpretive method based on the themes identified at in the data collection. The themes were related to the research question and interpreted based on the number of issues raised by participants. The study concluded that, students’ academic lives are being hampered as a result of their continuous engagement in small scale mining activities at the expense of their schooling. The study also revealed that students always score below pass grades during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) due to the menace caused by illegal mining activities, hence the poor academic performance. It is recommended that the Ghana Education Service, in collaboration with other stakeholders must institute strict measures to curb absenteeism in schools. This would go a long way to ensure that the pupils would attend school on a regular basis. It is also recommended that government intervention programmes such as School Feeding and Free School uniforms be made available to these children in order to keep them in school.

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.