Moral Education and the Curriculum: the Ghanaian Experience

Abstract

Moral Education is provided by major institutions within the civil society. The social institutions include the family, religious bodies, the mass media and the school. This paper examined the nature of Moral Education that has been provided in the Ghanaian basic schools during the pre-colonial period (1820 up to 1850), the colonial period (1851-1956) and the post-colonial period (1957-2017). A theoretical framework was provided for the study based on three approaches to moral education, namely: Indoctrinative approach, Romanticist approach and Cognitive-Structural approach. A content analysis of educational policy documents and interviews were used for the collection of data. The findings of the research revealed that one of the colonial policies that promoted Moral Education in Ghana was the teaching of morality in public schools based on Christianity, using the Indoctrinative approach. However, this religious approach to morality changed to secular approach during the post-colonial period in Ghana, due to the pluralistic nature of the Ghanaian society. This led to the introduction of “Moral Teaching”, “Civics” and later “Citizenship Education”. The study welcomed the current policy of separating Religious Education from Moral Education by introducing the teaching of “Civic and Moral Education” and “Religious Studies” at the Colleges of Education, as proposed by the National Council for Tertiary Education. It finally recommended that the Department of Arts Education of the University of Cape Coast began to train teachers who will teach these two courses at the Colleges of Education level. This will equip the teacher trainees with the pedagogical knowledge and skills required for the effective implementation of this new Moral Education programme in Ghanaian basic schools.