The purpose of the study was to examine Social Studies teachers’ knowledge in the implementation of Social Studies lessons in formative assessment practices in Asante Akim North Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The study employed both descriptive and interpretative techniques. The population for the study consisted of all Social Studies teachers and students in the Senior High Schools in the Asante Akim North Municipality of the Ashanti Region. Purposive, convenient and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the schools, teachers and students for the study in all, seventeen (17) Social Studies teachers and fifty (50) students were selected from six (6) Senior High Schools. The main instrument for data collection observation, interview and focus group discussion. The study revealed that not lessons presented were in line with the general objective of the subject (Social Studies). This affected the students understanding of concepts in the subject in helping them to right wrong their decision making. The study also indicates that teaching and learning Social Studies should not be one-man affair, with the teacher doing all the talking and the students doing all the listening. It is recommended that Ghana Education Service should organise workshops and in-service training for Social Studies teachers at the Senior High School level on how to present and evaluate social Studies lessons in order to realise the goals and objectives envisaged for national development. It is also recommended that teachers who have the exposure of the subject and are equally qualified to teach it at the Senior High Schools but are found teaching at the basic level, should be allowed by the Ghana Education Service to teach the subjects at the Senior High School level. The Government of Ghana should make it a laid down policy for the recruitment of qualified Social Studies teachers to teach at the Senior High School (SHS) level for effective assessment in the classroom.

Knowledge of the content alone is no guarantee for effective teaching and learning, there is the need for teachers to demonstrate high level of technological and pedagogical power. The study examined the technological pedagogical content knowledge of Social Studies teachers’ in Junior High Schools in Aowin municipality in the Western North Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population for the study included all Social Studies teachers in the public Junior High Schools in the Aowin Municipality. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the Seventy-four (74) Junior High Schools and Seventy-four (74) the Social Studies teachers for the study. The main instrument for data collection was questionnaire. The study revealed that, teachers have adequate content knowledge to teach Social Studies but there are doubts as to whether their knowledge is current. The study also concluded that, teachers were not confident about their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge in Social Studies and this resulted in their negative attitude towards the integration of technology in classroom activities. It is recommended that, the Ghana Education Service should organize In-Service Training and refresher courses for teachers to keep them current and up-to-date their content knowledge in Social Studies. It is also recommended that, teachers should adopt positive attitudes towards learning and using technology in their day-to-day activities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Subject Conception and Efficacy Beliefs on the Teaching Effectiveness of Social Studies teachers. The study focused on how teachers’ conception of Social Studies affect their sense of efficacy and ultimately their teaching effectiveness. The study adopted a non-experimental descriptive design to achieve its objective. The population for the study comprised of fifty-two (52) JHS Social Studies teachers. In this study the accessible population was the same as the target population. All the fifty-two (52) teachers teaching Social Studies in the Tano South district were used for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents for the study. The data for the study was collected using the observation guide, questionnaire and teacher sense of efficacy scale adapted from Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, (2001). Mean, percentages, ranges and correlation were used to analyse the data using SPSS. The findings of the study showed that majority of the Social Studies teachers conceived the subject as citizenship education. Teachers’ also rated their sense of efficacy very high. However, the study revealed that most of the Social Studies teachers teaching effectiveness was low. The low teaching effectiveness would affect the realisation of the objectives of Social Studies. Also, there exist low correlation between teacher efficacy and teaching effectiveness as well as subject conception and teaching effectiveness. The correlation between teacher efficacy and effectiveness was weak and as such it is recommended that there should be a concerted effort to update and upgrade teachers’ knowledge with strong pedagogical skills and better understanding of the task of the Social Studies teacher through workshops and short courses.