My Entry in the International Guide to Student Achievement

Routledge just published a thick book entitled The International Guide to Student Achievement, and I'm one of three authors to offer a piece on an a Sub-Saharan African country.

My short article on Ghana gets across some basic factual information.  Ghana spends about one third of its budget and 10% of its Gross National Product on education.  More than 80% of children of primary-school age are in school, and  about one half of those of junior-secondary-school (grades 7-9) are.

Other findings are more depressing.  Ghanaian students have not done well, on average, at tests examining their proficiency, and researchers find that most teachers still emphasize rote learning.  A study that examined classrooms in Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, and Brazil found that teachers were teaching just 39% of the time set aside for that purpose in Ghana compared to an average of  71% of the time in the other three countries.  Teacher absenteeism is particularly acute at public schools, and children who attend public school have been much less likely to do well on the exams which largely determine which high schools or universities they will attend--if any.  Ghanaian parents in fact undertake great sacrifices to send their children to private schools.  But access to a good education correlates very closely with wealth.

I met many highly dedicated teachers in Ghana, at both private and public schools.  But several told me that committing themselves to a teaching career is a bit like taking a vow of poverty.  Ghana's economy is growing very quickly.  Hopefully higher salaries for teachers will soon follow.