21st-century skills in the junior high school social studies curriculum: teachers’ knowledge, teaching and assessment

Abstract

This study was centred on 21st-century skills in the Junior High School Social Studies Curriculum: Teachers’ knowledge, teaching and assessment. The objectives of the study were to: assess Junior High Schools Social Studies teachers’ knowledge on the 21st-century skills in Social Studies; examine the pedagogical strategies Junior High Schools Social Studies teachers employ to achieve the 21st-century skills in Social Studies and examine how Junior High Schools Social Studies teachers assess the 21st-century skills among learners in Social Studies. This study was premised on the interpretivist’s philosophy of social research. The research approach employed for this study was qualitative. The study adopted a case study research design (single case study). The population for the study included all Public Junior High Schools Social Studies teachers in the Aowin Municipality. The sample size for the study was twenty (20) trained Social Studies teachers teaching the Social Studies Standards-Based Curriculum in the Public Junior High Schools selected. The non-probability sampling technique (purposive and convenience) was used by the researcher to select the schools and participants for the study. The study used two instruments for the data collection, namely; interview guide and classroom observation protocol. All data collected were analysed qualitatively with an interpretive inquiry lens using the thematic data analysis method. The findings of the study revealed that most of the participants of the study did not have adequate knowledge about the 21st-century skills in general and those in Social Studies, in particular, at the Junior High School level. The most commonly used pedagogical strategies by participants were found to be cooperative learning techniques, brainstorming, role-play, field trip and think-pair-share. Most of the participants still resort to the traditional modes of assessing their learners’ learning outcomes in the subject, as against the alternative or authentic modes of assessing the learners learning outcomes in this 21st-century era. Also, all the twenty (20) participants interviewed were not aware of the procedures involved in the usage of the very formative assessment techniques they themselves claimed to have been using in their Social Studies lessons, since they could not describe them when they were asked to do so. Based on the above findings, it is recommended that the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service through the Aowin Municipal Education Directorates in the Western-North Region of Ghana should link with experts on 21st-century education to organise refresher training and continuous professional development programmes in order to sustain and improve Junior High Schools Social Studies teachers knowledge and understanding on 21st-century skills and 21st-century education.