Towards assessment of pedagogical knowledge of early childhood educators: A case study of Sissala East Municipal, Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58256/ects.v2i1.66Abstract
The study investigated the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of early childhood educators in teaching Language and Literacy and its impact on the learners’ academic performance at early grade (Kg 1 –class 3) in the Sissala East Municipal of the Upper West Region, Ghana. The convergent parallel mixed method approach (Creswell, 2014) was used for the study. The sample was drawn, using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. The total sample for the study was 164 early childhood educators. Self-developed questionnaire, interview guides and observation checklist were used for data collection. The quantitative approach of data analysis was used to analyse the research questions and results presented in frequencies and percentages. The interviews and the observation results were analysed qualitatively through code and themes. The study revealed that the early childhood educators in the Sissala East Municipal have limited knowledge of the subject matter hence could not support their teaching of Language and literacy at the early grade effectively. The results suggested that early childhood teachers’ limited pedagogical content knowledge significantly affects their quality of Language and literacy teaching. It was recommended that foundation teachers need to create-literate-rich environments to enhance teaching and learning at the lower levels.
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