Teaching Patriotism in Ghanaian Schools: Views of Ghanaian Social Studies Teachers on Patriotism in Schools

Abstract

Considering the provisions on patriotism in the new social studies curriculum in Ghana, this study explores the views of Ghanaian social studies teachers on teaching patriotism in schools. This study aims to provide evidence on how social studies teachers' ideological positions on teaching patriotism in schools can contribute to achieving the goals of developing patriotic citizens in the social studies curriculum. This study employed online interviews to collect data from Ghanaian social studies teachers, utilizing a qualitative approach. Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Most of the participants interviewed understood patriotism in both nationalistic and democratic terms. The findings also showed that Ghanaian social studies teachers favored teaching patriotism in schools, and their reasons for that position were that patriotism promotes national identity and serves as a motivation to contribute to society. They were of the view of promoting patriotism in the classroom by rational means, that is, by providing students with reasons to be patriotic. These findings show that though Ghanaian social studies teachers’ understanding of patriotism is broader than how it is defined in the curriculum, their views on patriotism in schools will not hinder achieving the aims of the new curriculum concerning the development of patriotic citizens. This study also shows how patriotism is understood and the views on teaching it in a non-Western and post-colonial country like Ghana. Due to the small sample size, generalizing the findings of this study on Ghanaian social studies teachers will be difficult; therefore, it is recommended that an Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods study be conducted on this topic by employing a larger sample size and using the results from the quantitative phase to confirm the generalizability of the findings from the qualitative phase. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended, among others that the meaning of patriotism in the curriculum should be revised to include democratic components of patriotism.