Reconceptualised life skills in secondary educationin the African context: Lessons learnt from reformsin Ghana

Kwame Akyeampong

� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2014

Abstract Early notions of life skills in Africa did not take into account the

importance of a flexible and portable set of skills that would enable youth to adapt

to changes in the world of work and lay the foundations for productive well-being

and behaviour. Rather, life skills education in many secondary education curricula

in Africa started with an emphasis on developing specific technical vocational

skills considered essential for employability or self-employment. Using Ghana as

an example, this paper shows how secondary education curriculum reformers

recommended shifts that embraced a new interpretation of life skills focused on

21st-century skills. This gradual move also reflected the difficulty that secondary

education in general has had in networking with the world of work to provide

work experience that would lead to the development of work-related skills and

enhance employability. The author’s main argument is that although the recon-

ceptualisation of life skills in secondary education to reflect 21st-century skills is a

welcome shift in the African context, this needs to be accompanied by reforms in

teacher education. Classroom teaching and learning need to be adapted in a

fundamental way in order to ensure that youth fully benefit from the inclusion of

21st-century life skills in secondary education curricula. Such reforms must

include pedagogical practices which nurture communication, collaboration, crea-

tivity and critical thinking skills.

Keywords Life skills � Youth employability � Technical and vocational skills �Secondary education � Teacher training � Ghana

Resume Reconceptualisation des competences pratiques dans l’enseignement

secondaire en contexte africain : enseignements tires des reformes au Ghana – Les

premieres notions en Afrique des competences necessaires dans la vie courante ne

K. Akyeampong (&)

University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

e-mail: a.akyeampong@sussex.ac.uk

123

Int Rev Educ

DOI 10.1007/s11159-014-9408-2

tenaient pas compte de l’importance d’un ensemble de competences flexibles et

transferables, qui permettent aux jeunes de s’adapter a de nouvelles situations dans

le monde du travail et de creer les bases pour un bien-etre et un comportement

productifs. L’enseignement des competences pratiques preconise a l’origine dans de

nombreux programmes de l’enseignement secondaire en Afrique mettait l’accent

sur l’acquisition de competences professionnelles techniques specifiques, con-

siderees comme essentielles a l’employabilite et a l’auto-emploi. Prenant le Ghana

en exemple, l’auteur montre que les reformateurs du programme d’enseignement

secondaire ont recommande des modifications nees d’une nouvelle interpretation

des competences pratiques, axee sur les competences requises au XXIe siecle. Cette

evolution progressive reflete aussi la difficulte generale de l’enseignement sec-

ondaire a se connecter au monde du travail, pour organiser des experiences pro-

fessionnelles permettant d’acquerir des competences utiles dans la vie active et

d’ameliorer l’employabilite. L’argument principal de l’auteur est que si la redefi-

nition des competences pratiques dans l’enseignement secondaire en vue de refleter

les competences pour le XXIe siecle est un tournant salutaire dans le contexte

africain, cette demarche doit etre accompagnee par des reformes dans la formation

des enseignants. L’enseignement et l’apprentissage en classe doivent faire l’objet

d’une adaptation fondamentale, pour garantir que les jeunes profitent pleinement de

l’inclusion dans les programmes d’enseignement secondaire des competences pra-

tiques requises au XXIe siecle. Ces reformes doivent englober les pratiques peda-

gogiques qui enrichissent les competences de communication, de collaboration, de

creativite et de pensee critique.

Introduction

The concept of life skills tends to be open to wide interpretation (WHO 1999).

Earlier conceptualisation in the secondary education context in Africa focused on a

narrow interpretation which was linked to skills for employment in pursuit of

economic goals. In this context, the term ‘‘life skills’’ was often used in the sense of

‘‘livelihood skills’’, which was a significant departure from its broader meaning in

skills development literature which saw life skills as ‘‘the abilities for adaptive and

positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and

challenges of everyday life’’ (WHO 1997). Basically, this perspective of life skills

focuses on empowering ‘‘young people to take positive steps to promote health

outcomes, and positive social relationships, and positive contributions to society’’

(Jacobs Foundation 2011, p. 9).

In the secondary education context of many African education systems, life skills

took on a more occupational agenda with a view to employability. Providing young

people with occupational or vocational skills was driven by a search for economic

relevance which has led to a large-scale vocationalisation of the secondary

education curriculum (Lauglo 2005). With time, secondary education curriculum

reformers are including definitions of life skills which reflect the term’s original and

broader meaning as espoused in life skills education literature, namely focusing

more on developing skills which are more generic and adaptive, to meet the

K. Akyeampong

123

demands of the 21st-century world of work and ensure that young people can

manage their lives more productively. This widening of the definition is partly due

to the economic relevance argument having weakened as a result of difficulties

encountered by secondary education in providing technical/vocational skills for

employability. Increasingly, secondary school curriculum objectives are emphasis-

ing social, emotional and thinking skills as part of the set of skills young people

need to live productively in the 21st century and contribute to society’s

development.

Below, I discuss the way in which the notion of life skills has been conceptualised

in the narrow sense of developing technical and vocational skills for paid or self-

employment, and has moved to a broader conceptualisation which reflects the

understanding that young people need adaptive and generic skills for the 21st-century

world of work and for their general well-being. This broader conceptualisation is

much closer to the WHO definition (cited above) of life skills education and

coincides with the skills development agenda for 21st-century economies.

Skills development in secondary education in Africa: issues and reforms

Within the last three decades, many African governments have embarked on

reforms to transform secondary education so that it can contribute to the

development of skills for employment. In particular, countries have introduced

technical and vocational education subjects as part of an essential life skills

development agenda to enhance the chances of young people finding paid work or

getting into self-employment after completing their secondary education. However,

the experience of many African countries has not been positive. Reforms to

vocationalise the secondary education curriculum in which life skills were

associated with certain types of skills for employability did not produce the desired

results, partly because of the ill-adapted nature of technical and vocational subjects

and weak links with the labour market (Lauglo and Maclean 2005; World Bank

2005; Adams 2007).

Another problem is that secondary education systems in most African countries

still place a strong emphasis on knowledge and competencies for higher academic

education, even though most school-leavers do not enter tertiary education. Worse

still, as many young people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, fail to even access

secondary education, with a gross enrolment ratio estimated at 35 per cent (AEO

2014) – reforms to improve skills development are unlikely to benefit the majority

who end up in the labour market before accessing or even completing secondary

education. In Ghana, for example, at least 65 per cent of lower secondary students

do not make it to upper secondary education, with most of them disappearing into

the informal economy. Among those who complete upper secondary education,

about 60 per cent enter the labour market or seek some form of skills training

(MoESS 2008).

Low access to secondary education also limits access to vocational courses, since

countries with low overall secondary school enrolment are also less likely to offer a

vocationalised curriculum for most students (UNESCO 2012). However, the future

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

outlook is positive, with an estimated 59 per cent of young Africans aged 20–24

expected to access secondary education by 2030 (AEO 2014). The real issue is

whether increased access is accompanied with improved quality and relevance, so

that young people can acquire skills which are valued in the labour market and

which empower them to lead productive and secure lives. A youth survey revealed

that among young Africans who are unemployed due to their lack of skills required

by employers, most had already completed secondary education, raising questions

about the relevance of the secondary education they had received (AEO 2014).

Technical and vocational programmes in secondary education have also faced the

issue of resourcing and training enough teachers to deliver skills to the quality and

depth required. As Jon Lauglo points out: ‘‘for skills training to ease transition to

work a certain threshold of quality and level of skill is likely to be needed’’ (Lauglo

2005, p. 33). However, the overcrowded nature of the curriculum leaves little time

to develop practical skills to the depth required for the world of work. Without

classroom learning closely linked with work experience, the skills acquired are

bound to be superficial and unattractive to employers. The private formal and

informal sector has also lacked sufficient capacity and structures to offer on-the-job

training on a large scale (Adams 2007).

Some have argued that secondary education in Africa should focus its skills

development agenda on what it can do well, i.e. develop a generic set of key

competencies which are regarded as relevant to the demands of the labour market.

According to David Wilson, ‘‘what has been crafted into the case of the key

competencies is a discourse in which vocational education no longer means training

in particular occupational categories, but aiming for a more abstracted, undiffer-

entiated worker-citizen able to bring a set of generic competencies to any vocation’’

(Wilson 2005, p. 84). Wilson argues that ‘‘the twin impact of globalisation and

technological modernisation necessitates the education and training of knowledge

workers, who are able to use logical-abstract thinking to diagnose problems,

research and apply knowledge, propose solutions, and design and implement those

solutions, often as a team member’’ (ibid., p. 84).

The assumption is that because of the rapid changes in technologies and

occupations, which are difficult to predict, secondary education should rather focus

on providing students with easier-to-re-contextualise competencies to meet the

changing demands of the labour market. For example, the African Union (AU), in a

plan for education in Africa, has called for ‘‘key generic competencies, skills and

attitudes that lead to a culture of lifelong learning and entrepreneurship’’ to be

inculcated into the school curriculum to prepare youth for an ever-changing world

of work (AU 2006, p. 11). The AU plan stipulates that ‘‘essential life skills’’ should

be systematically infused into school curricula, emphasising in particular ‘‘inter-

personal skills, critical thinking, communication, entrepreneurship education, self-

directed learning, civic/leadership-skills education, and preventive health education

covering HIV and AIDS, and malaria among others’’ (ibid., p. 12). These reflect a

broad and generic definition of life skills which goes beyond economic goals to a

range of skills which young people will need to lead productive lives. Most of these

are also the kind of skills employers are looking for in young recruits.

K. Akyeampong

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Few would dispute the importance of developing these competencies and skills in

African youth. In fact, most African employers believe that secondary education

should do more to prepare youth to develop a broader range of skills and

competencies which they consider essential prerequisites for on-the-job training

(Burnett and Jayaram 2012). While life skills education, which formerly concerned

the development of occupation-specific skills for paid or self-employment, is giving

way to a reconceptualisation aimed at producing multi-skilled and trainable youth, it

is still largely focused on employment in both the formal and informal sector.

The question is to what extent secondary education in the African context is

capable of delivering on the new life skills development agenda for its growing

youth population, estimated at about 163 million, of which about two-thirds are

aged below 25 (UNESCO 2012). In particular, as access to both lower and upper

secondary education improves following successes in primary enrolment and

completion, what are the chances of ensuring that young Africans acquire critical

life skills which will improve their employability, but also their quality of life?

In the main part of this paper, I take a closer look at the case of Ghana, arguing

that a reconceptualisation of life skills development in secondary education will fail

to deliver the expected outcomes without fundamental changes. We need reforms in

terms of how teaching and learning are organised and in terms of how secondary

education teachers are trained. But even before the implementation of any reforms,

secondary education curricula in the African context need to undergo a fundamental

change in focus – placing more emphasis on a new range of life skills which are

developed across all subjects to maximise youth chances of employability but also

enabling them to manage their lives in the broader social context.

Defining life skills for the 21st-century economy

Life skills education has long been recognised as an important goal for both primary

and secondary education. Two of the Education for All (EFA) goals refer to life

skills education. Goal 3 focuses on ‘‘ensuring that the learning needs of all young

people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate and life skills

programmes’’ (UNESCO 2012, p. 80; emphasis added). Goal 6 concerns the quality

of education and aims to ensure excellence, ‘‘so that recognized and measurable

learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential

life skills’’ (ibid., p. 122; emphasis added).

Under the influence of the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All

(UNESCO 2000), life skills education in many African contexts aimed at

developing ‘‘psychosocial and interpersonal skills such as assertive communication,

self-esteem, decision-making and negotiation’’ to address the spread of AIDS

(UNESCO 2012, p. 84). The Dakar Framework specifically mentioned HIV/AIDS,

which at the time was ravaging the youth population in Africa, stressing that

‘‘youth-friendly programmes must be made available to provide the information,

skills, counseling and services needed to protect them’’ from the risk of HIV/AIDS,

and that ‘‘curricula based on life skills approaches should include all aspects of HIV/

AIDS care and prevention’’ (UNESCO 2000, pp. 16, 20). The goal of life skills

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

programmes was to change attitudes, improve decision-making and communication

skills to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS particularly among the youth population.

With a few exceptions (e.g. Botswana), most African life skills programmes were

provided by NGOs in the form of extracurricular activity and not as an integral part

of the secondary education curricula.

EFA Goal 6 uses the term ‘‘essential life skills’’ (UNESCO 2012, p. 122). Whilst

the exact meaning of ‘‘life skills’’ in this context is not clearly defined or explained,

it has been interpreted in many of the EFA Global Monitoring Reports (GMR) (e.g.

UNESCO 2003, 2004, 2012) as encompassing both cognitive and non-cognitive

skills essential for productive work and livelihoods. Thus, basic literacy and

numeracy skills have been considered essential life skills for young people to access

decent jobs and participate fully in society. In the 2012 EFA GMR, which focused

on Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work, the stated goal of lower secondary

education is to extend and consolidate the basic skills (i.e. literacy and numeracy)

learned in primary school, followed by a deepening of general education and added

technical and vocational skills in upper secondary school (UNESCO 2012). The

term ‘‘life skills’’ is not explicitly mentioned in relation to lower secondary

education, instead the reference to basic skills, technical and vocational skills,

problem-solving and communication and ICT skills implies that these skills are

considered critical for young people to successfully enter the world of work.

With time, the concept of life skills education has evolved into a broader concept

of 21st-century skills, encompassing skills and competencies for employability,

such as: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-

cultural skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility; and

learning and innovation skills such as critical thinking, communication, collabo-

ration and creativity (Burnett and Jayaram 2012; Brewer 2013). These are also the

types of skills and competencies which small and large-scale businesses see as

critical for their growth and competitiveness, and which young people generally

need to lead productive lives. It is assumed that for a country to achieve rapid

economic growth, the mix of critical factors should include a workforce with

efficient group-work capabilities, creative and adaptive skills and problem-solving

abilities to tackle, in particular, the increasingly technological environment of

production which emerges as a result of economic growth. Productive human capital

must also be endowed with skills in interpreting, analysing and manipulating

information to handle the challenges of sustaining economic development.

In the context of secondary education in Africa, policy makers have tended to

focus more on technical and vocational skills as ‘‘essential life skills’’ for youth

entering the labour market, and have used this as an economic relevance argument

to support the vocationalisation of the secondary education curriculum. As noted

earlier, there is ample evidence that vocationalisation of the secondary education

curriculum has not translated into easy employability or self-employment gener-

ation for youth, and that secondary education should instead focus on developing a

set of essential life skills which can enhance students’ employability and capacity to

engage in lifelong learning (Obanya 2004; Lauglo and Maclean 2005).

In recent literature, the term ‘‘essential life skills’’ has therefore taken on a much

broader definition in the context of secondary education. It has been extended to

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mean ‘‘capacities which are widely acclaimed as being highly relevant for working

life’’ (Lauglo and Maclean 2005, p. 47), such as literacy, numeracy, creativity,

communication, problem-solving abilities, information retrieval and processing

skills, teamwork and occupational adjustment, to name but a few. These are skills

currently classified as 21st-century skills, which in some contexts have been

grouped under four broad categories: ‘‘ways of thinking, ways of working, tools for

working, and skills for living in the world’’ (Schleicher 2012, p. 34). The

International Labour Organization (ILO) also classifies these as core skills for

employability (see Brewer 2013). The 21st-century list of skills is also often

collected together into various packages of ‘‘life skills’’ which are considered core

work skills (Burnett and Jayaram 2012; Obanya 2004). Thus, the concept of life

skills, particularly for youth, has more or less undergone a reconceptualisation, with

its emphasis shifting to what is nowadays referred to as ‘‘21st-century skills’’ in the

skills development literature, and also in this paper, because these are skills which

are still seen as improving employability and livelihoods for all.

How important are 21st-century life skills to employers in Ghana?

Globalisation and technological modernisation have implications for the skills needs

of young people in a way which two to three decades ago was not as critical. Today,

more than ever before, young people need the ‘‘ability to use a wide range of tools to

interact constructively with the social context’’ (Jacobs Foundation 2011, p. 9), and

develop the capacity to access jobs which require adaptive skills and behaviour

reflecting the changing demands of global economies, and which impact on young

peoples’ livelihoods and well-being. Even in rural Africa, mobile phones and other

forms of technology are becoming essential tools for doing business and for

sustaining livelihoods (UNESCO 2012). The landscape of the world of work in the

African environment is changing so much that a purely technical vocational

occupation-specific skills development agenda for secondary education is no longer

sufficient. Young people entering the labour market are more likely to change

employers and even occupations several times over their working lives. Seen in this

light, preparing for the modern labour market requires a set of easily adaptable skills

which are capable of responding to uncertainty and change. This has made it

imperative to provide young people with both occupation-specific skills and a much

more adaptable range of general skills (Adams 2007).

In the Ghanaian private employment sector, 21st-century life skills are being

identified by employers as crucial. Ghana’s economy has become one of the most

open market economies in the sub-region with a strong focus on the private sector.

The private sector has become the largest employer, accounting for 93 per cent of

the economically active citizens, with the majority (86%) in the private informal

and 7 per cent in the private formal sector (Government of Ghana 2005; Amankrah

and Burggraaff 2012).

In an assessment by employers of barriers to employing youth in Ghana, low

literacy skills, inability to work independently with minimum supervision, and lack

of creativity among the youth were graded as critical. Lack of writing skills,

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

leadership skills and initiative were considered quite important barriers to

employing youth in the private sector. In addition, analytical/technical skills, IT

skills and loyalty to the employer were also reported as important to employers

when recruiting new entrants into their companies (IYF 2009). In another survey,

employers in the informal labour market rated communication skills, human

relations and interpersonal skills, innovation and organisational skills as absolutely

essential (GSS 2007).

A survey of 376 small and medium-size enterprises in the formal private sector in

Ghana’s two biggest cities, Accra and Kumasi, revealed the employers’ perspective

on what counts as important skills (IYF 2009). The combined workforce in these

surveyed enterprises summed up to 22,336 people, constituting 83 per cent of full-

time employees and 6 per cent and 11 per cent of part-time and other workers

respectively. The enterprises covered industries, health, trade/retail, tourism etc.

About 12,129 new jobs were expected to be created by these enterprises between

2009 and 2013. Besides academic qualification and years of experience, employers

highlighted minimum requirements such as numeracy skills, leadership skills,

interview skills and IT skills as essential entry-level requirements for employment.

According to these employers, the ‘‘inability to work independently with a

minimum amount of supervision, the drive to initiate things by oneself and creative

and original thinking are necessary requirements for employment and are ranked

high as stumbling blocks to the youth who do not possess such skills in almost all

the sectors of economic activity’’ (IYF 2009, p. 28).

Thus, Ghanaian private sector employers place a high premium on 21st-century

life skills as described earlier. Therefore these skills need to be given more attention

in the secondary education curriculum, especially as ‘‘only a small proportion of

[Ghanaian] firms undertake activities themselves which help in promoting youth

employment’’ (ibid., p. 31).

According to Pai Obanya (2004, p. 11), the world of work in Africa is being shaped

by factors which strengthen the case for a 21st-century life skills development agenda

for secondary education. His argument is based on the following observations:

(1) The public services are saturated in terms of personnel, leaving virtually no

openings for additional secondary school leavers.

(2) The organised private sector is struggling to remain afloat in a globalised

economy, and requires the types of skills which the secondary school

curriculum has not been inculcating.

(3) The three tiers of a modern economy (agriculture, manufacturing, services) are

not growing fast in Africa (South Africa may be an exception).

(4) The potential growth area is small-scale economic activities which are

proliferating all over Africa. These might be turned into the largest source of

employment if they were modernised, energised, and more dynamic.

Obanya argues that because of these changes and challenges, a life skills

programme at secondary education level should focus more on the development

of language and communication skills, technical aptitude development instead of

technical specialisation programmes, scientific literacy closely related to life

situations as well as skills for effective management of personal health. These are

K. Akyeampong

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particularly important if youth are to find job opportunities in the strongly emerging

small/medium-scale economic sector and also develop productive and healthy

lifestyles. These skills, in his view, should represent the core curriculum of both

lower and upper secondary education, because African economies are going to

require a 21st-century workforce which is less involved in industrial production and

increasingly concentrated in services, ideas and communication. For African youth,

the challenge is to develop skills which can position them to adapt to the rapidly

changing demands of the world of work and succeed in a globalised world (World

Bank 2005).

As universalisation of lower secondary education becomes one of the important

goals of the post-2015 EFA agenda (UNESCO 2012), the case for a 21st-century life

skills development agenda becomes even more crucial. Ensuring that all Ghanaian

youth with at least a secondary education qualification acquire a core set of life skills

for the 21st-century world of work or for further education and training is a goal which

secondary education in Ghana should aim for. However, the prevailing culture of

teaching in many African classrooms which is driven by an unreformed examination

system might thwart the fulfilment of this goal. If real progress is to be made, then what

students learn and how they learn it should also be changed. The key issue is to

integrate these skills into the general education and technical/vocational subject

curriculum, rather than teaching them as a separate set of ‘‘core skills’’ (Brewer 2013).

Improving the quality and quantity of instructional resources in secondary

schools to promote 21st-century life skills is not enough. Crucially, what matters

most is how teachers are able to use these inputs to transform the learning

experience. Research has shown that simply providing students with rich sources of

information and even an interesting problem to solve is not enough to develop 21st-

century skills. What students also need is the support of a learning environment that

is ‘‘social and often collaborative and that promotes connections across activities

and subjects, both in and out of school’’ (Schleicher 2012, p. 38). This means

introducing a ‘‘strategic curriculum reform that can encourage creative and effective

innovations in learning and teaching, new methods of assessment capable of

capturing valued learning outcomes, and selection of content and thinking skills that

are more relevant for entrants to diverse labour markets and to a much broader range

of learners’’ (World Bank 2008a, p. 66).

In the next section, I discuss reforms in skills development in secondary education

in Ghana to highlight the implications for curriculum delivery and for preparing

secondary school teachers to promote inquiry-based collaborative learning classroom

environments. Before looking at reforms, however, it is instructive to start with a

review of the evolution of life skills education in Ghanaian secondary education and

how it has merged with the notion of 21st-century life skills.

The evolution of life skills education in Ghana: implications for pedagogyand teacher development reforms

In 1987, when Ghanaian education policy makers and reformers embarked on

system-wide education reforms, the concept of life skills education was firmly

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

rooted in a vision of education whose essential goal was to provide technical and

vocational skills for paid or self-employment (Baiden 1996). Education reformers

interpreted a life skills education for all as a chance to provide skills which would

ensure equity of educational opportunities and lead to a reduction in youth

unemployment whilst also generating interest in manual work and agriculture. At

the lower secondary level of education, developing trade-specific skills for youth

unable to progress beyond that level was given priority. Life skills education

focused particularly on developing skills in handicraft, leatherwork, graphic design,

basketry, metal work, sewing, wood/plastic design and other local manufacturing

techniques. These became known as pre-technical and pre-vocational skills (ibid.).

The notion of life skills took on a slightly different meaning when it came to

upper secondary education. Reformers expected that a diversified upper secondary

education curriculum would be used to engineer interest in self-employment and

entrepreneurship and fulfil a vision of manpower development for economic growth

(MoE 1988). Life skills were seen as providing youth who would be entering the

labour market with technical and vocational skills to ease their transition to the

world of work. Technical and vocational subjects were ‘‘therefore to be presented in

a way which would demonstrate the link between subject content and the world of

work, between what the students learn at school and how they will apply the

knowledge acquired to future work’’ (ibid., p. 3). This was the philosophy behind

the vocationalisation of secondary education. However, it was translated narrowly

into the development of job-specific technical and vocational skills. Technical

subjects (e.g. building construction, technical drawing, carpentry and joinery),

Vocational Studies (e.g. metalwork, home management, clothing and textiles) and

Business Studies (e.g. business methods, commerce and business management) all

gained prominence in the re-configured secondary education curriculum.

There was hardly any reference to the idea of life skills education as developing

problem-solving, critical thinking or interpersonal relationship skills which would

help young people deal constructively with their lives and help them be successful

in dealing with everyday survival challenges. The idea of laying cognitive and

affective foundations geared towards facilitating future skills learning, occupational

adjustment and adaptation to new technologies was also not given as much

emphasis. Very early on in the implementation of the new curricula, however, it

became clear that secondary schools would find it difficult to prepare young people

for the world of work because the best way to learn work-related skills was through

a combination of classroom learning and work experience. For a start, secondary

schools in Ghana faced serious logistical limitations in addition to teacher supply

and teacher training challenges, all of which undermined the quality of technical and

vocational subjects. For example, the training of lower secondary school pre-

vocational and technical teachers did not match the kind of subject specialisation

required for teaching pre-vocational and technical skills (Akyeampong 2005a).

In 1994, an Education Reform Review Committee (ERRC) acknowledged these

weaknesses and called for the teacher training curriculum to place more emphasis

on problem-solving in the teaching and learning of technical and vocational subjects

(MoE 1994). The committee also recommended that secondary school teachers

should be trained to support the development of skills which cut across specific

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subject areas. Practical subjects were also to include objectives which emphasised

generic skills and competencies across a wide range of vocational contexts. As a

result of these recommendations, subjects such as Home Economics included

objectives like

• equipping the individual to develop skills which will enable him/her to improve

the quality of life;

• appreciating the need for healthy living through improved sanitation and

environment;

• developing skills which will equip students for independent living; and

• acquiring knowledge and developing marketable skills which can be used in

later life.

Some of these skills fit in more with the broader conceptualisation of life skills

education as espoused in the skills development literature, particularly skills to

improve quality of life, and the prevention of health problems (see WHO 1999).

Every secondary school subject was to contribute to these broader life skills. For

example, the curriculum expected that students studying textiles as part of their

Home Economics programme should be able to develop self-esteem, pride,

confidence and patriotism through appreciation of the products they made. In

addition, the expectation was that by learning to make different products, students

would develop the capacity for creativity and the ability to solve problems using

indigenous and contemporary techniques (MoESS 2008).

Business Management objectives included development of skills, attitudes and

values for self-employment or paid employment. Two out of seven general

objectives indicated that this programme should

• equip students with problem-solving skills for dealing with business problems in

self-employment as well as paid employment; and

• inculcate in students business-like attitudes, work habits and an appreciation of

efficiency in the use of resources.

Many of these competencies assumed that teachers had appropriate pedagogical

skills and instructional materials to develop them. But the reforms were silent on the

implications for reforming teacher education to deliver the changes. Nor was much

thought given to the implications for changing the structure of teaching and learning

so that it was more inquiry-based. Ghanaian education reformers and policy makers

probably underestimated the implications for deep changes to teacher development

and the necessity of a reorganisation of teaching and learning which would allow

students to develop these new skills and attitudes.

In general, secondary school subjects still maintain a theoretical focus partly

because of the requirements of examinations (MoE 2010). While many of the

objectives of the vocational and technical programmes emphasise the development

and acquisition of practical skills, examinations continue to devote more time to

theory than to practical work assessment. The establishment of secondary school

classroom environments where students assume a more central and active role in

constructing and adapting knowledge to solve problems has been hampered by the

theory-driven assessment system (Akyeampong 2005a). Officials at the curriculum

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123

division of the Ministry of Education in Ghana argue that to equip Ghanaian youth

for the workplace requires more emphasis on practical skills training and less

reliance on examinations as the basis for assessment. However, they also add that to

assess practical skills is expensive and beyond what the Ministry can provide

(Anarfi and Appiah 2012).

It is important to point out that recent curriculum reforms in secondary education

in Africa have made some attempts to modernise teaching methods in the

classroom, away from teacher-dominated lessons to more active forms of learning.

However, studies indicate that the implementation of active learning approaches is

still problematic and far removed from the ideal situation suggested in curriculum

documents. A World Bank study of the state of classroom teaching in many

secondary education classrooms in Africa reached the conclusion that

Classroom reality continues to be described in terms of dominant teachers,

silent students, and chalk and talk. Reasons forwarded as to why this gap

exists include cultural perceptions of what good teaching is, current

inadequate levels of teachers’ knowledge and practices, a general misunder-

standing of the meaning of learner-centred education, and the shifting roles of

teachers, resulting in implementation without the intended learning. Teachers,

on the other hand, often put forward the lack of physical resources, large

classes and an overloaded curriculum as reasons for using teacher dominated

classroom strategies (World Bank 2008b, p. xiv).

A study which explored the views of Ghanaian teacher educators and teachers on

what kinds of teaching competencies secondary school teachers need to support the

development of 21st-century skills revealed an emphasis on teacher-centred didactic

traditional instructional approaches inimical to inquiry-based classroom learning

environments (Akyeampong 2005b). Broadly, the study aimed to develop a

comprehensive understanding of the teaching competencies and skills which should

be incorporated into the curriculum of university teacher training and those which

should be the focus of teachers’ professional development activities. The study

interviewed 13 teacher educators and secondary school teachers in focus groups and

administered a questionnaire to 112 secondary school teachers in a district of the

central region of Ghana. It also included an analysis of secondary school

mathematics and science curriculum documents to determine the kinds of

knowledge and skills prioritised within them (ibid.).

On the question of what would be desired teaching competencies for secondary

school teachers, the teacher educators’ views focused on authoritarian teacher-

centred instructional approaches. This contrasted sharply with what they felt were

desired student competencies which secondary education was expected to promote.

A summary of their views for ‘‘desired teaching competencies’’ included the

following:

Desired teaching competencies

(1) the ability to present lessons logically – this mainly referred to systematic or

sequential presentation of a plan lesson. Most respondents illustrated this in

K. Akyeampong

123

the context of writing coherent lesson plans using a behavioural framework of

teaching and learning;

(2) effective questioning techniques – the ability to ask appropriate questions

which enable students to engage in the lesson constructively;

(3) good class management and organisational skills – the ability to keep the class

under control so that both teaching and learning are facilitated unhindered;

(4) good communicative skills – this often meant being able to express oneself

coherently in the English language so that students could grasp what was being

taught;

(5) the ability to guide students in solving problems; and

(6) the ability to instil discipline in students – this was a point emphasised by all

the teacher educators and is also considered by many teachers as a desired

teaching competence. For example, the reference to ‘‘ability to instil

discipline’’ showed the importance attached to authoritarian classroom

environments where teachers keep the class under control by means of strict

disciplinary actions (ibid.).

Desired student competencies

When these same teacher educators and teachers were asked what they considered

to be desired competencies for secondary school students in order to fulfil their

potential, they came up mainly with 21st-century life skills, such as:

(1) developing the skills of critical thinking;

(2) having the ability to investigate issues, to think in scientific terms and

possessing the ability to deal with numbers in practical contexts;

(3) being time-conscious, creative and able to take initiative;

(4) possessing the ability to solve problems which demand critical analysis;

(5) appreciating the sense of responsibility because it is a vital ingredient for

development;

(6) being able to apply what they (the students) learn in everyday living activities;

and

(7) being able to extend knowledge and ideas to workplaces (ibid.).

What accounts for this sharp difference? The study found that teacher educators in

particular were sceptical about the ability of teachers to fully promote these student

competencies because the training did not offer sufficient opportunity to fully

develop teacher competencies to do so. Secondary teacher education programmes

are not properly aligned in terms of philosophy and practice to achieve these

expectations (ibid.).

Unlike the secondary teacher education curriculum, general secondary school

subjects are increasingly calling for the development of 21st-century life skills. For

example the new, integrated science syllabus is clear about what Ghanaian students

should be capable of doing following instruction in the subject. It states that

‘‘students should be able to apply knowledge, develop analytical thinking skills,

synthesise information, and use their knowledge in a variety of ways to deal with

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

learning problems, and with problems and issues in their lives’’ (MoE 2002, p. viii).

It reflects what, more recently, Ghanaian policy makers have been advocating as

part of the overall objectives of secondary education. To achieve such objectives,

though, would require that teachers ‘‘avoid rote learning and drill-oriented methods

and rather emphasise participatory teaching and learning’’ (ibid., p. viii). It will also

require curricula and assessment practices which encourage students ‘‘to think

creatively and collaborate. It is crucial to design curricula and assessment systems

that emphasize authentic real world problems, engage students in inquiry and

exploration and provide opportunities for students to apply what they know in

meaningful ways’’ (Brewer 2013, p. 16).

Conclusion: charting a way forward

Secondary education curricula in many African education systems are increasingly

stating the need to include 21st-century life skills for preparing youth for the

changing world of work. As discussed above, curriculum documents now place less

emphasis on developing occupation-specific skills which were popular two to three

decades ago. However, the reconceptualisation of life skills from an occupation-

specific focus to a 21st-century life skills conception will not in itself ensure that

these new skills will be developed in the youth of Africa. The pedagogies required

to develop these skills are more complex ‘‘and are highly dependent on the

knowledge and skills of the teachers involved’’ (Schleicher 2012, p. 40). If

technical, vocational and general education teachers in African secondary schools

are to adopt pedagogical practices which nurture communication, collaboration,

creativity and critical thinking skills, then the way in which teachers themselves

learn to teach these subjects must model the same skills. Unless this happens, many

young Africans will miss out on acquiring skills which will enhance their ability to

make informed choices and decisions to improve the quality of their lives, develop

problem-solving and critical thinking skills which will enhance their chances of

finding employment or benefiting from the opportunities for work as African

economies grow, diversify, and increasingly rely on 21st-century life skills.

However, changing secondary education teachers’ practices to reflect the goals of

a 21st-century life skills development agenda will require much more than

curriculum statements calling for teachers to innovate or adopt inquiry-based

instructional practices. Teachers need to have professional learning experiences

which demonstrate how these skills are to be developed. The challenge is to change

teachers’ pedagogical practices to provide powerful images of teaching and learning

exemplifying creativity, critical thinking, effective communication and collabora-

tive learning experiences. This means placing far more emphasis on processes of

learning which reflect the use of these skills in all secondary school subjects. It

would also be important for technical and vocational education subjects to place as

much emphasis on problematising and localising problem-solving and exploratory

learning activity as on the development of job-specific technical and vocational

skills.

K. Akyeampong

123

Recent emphasis in Ghanaian education on the use of ICTs to foster problem-

solving skills and skills in learning to learn is an example of the determination to

promote 21st-century life skills especially in secondary school students. But again,

this can only be achieved through a more interactive and dialogic relationship

between teachers and students. Deeply held instructional practices of knowledge

transmission and attitudes are not changed simply by introducing new technology

into classrooms. These technologies have to contend with secondary school

teachers’ professional identities defined and shaped by traditional disciplines

(World Bank 2005). Fundamental changes need to be made to the way in which the

curriculum defines how teaching and learning are to be carried out in classroom

spaces in order to develop critical 21st-century life skills.

Research exploring African teachers’ classroom roles and competencies in

practice point to biographical and teacher education experiences which shape their

pedagogical practices (Lewin and Stuart 2003). Teacher education for secondary

school teachers has to model the development of 21st-century life skills. Identifying

opportunities within teacher education where 21st-century-based pedagogies are

used to promote essential life skills needed for the 21st-century economy is crucial,

and yet hardly given attention in teacher education systems in Africa. Significant

changes to the teacher education curriculum in Ghana and in other African

countries’ education systems are needed to create a much deeper sense of the value

of pedagogies which support the development of essential 21st-century life skills.

In conclusion, secondary education reformers in Africa should aim for four

important strategic steps to improve the situation:

(1) Engage with employers to review and validate essential life skills in the

secondary education curriculum. Employers often have a better understanding

of skills relevant for securing employment. As evidence from Ghana shows,

employers value a broad range of skills which are also relevant for achieving

sustainable livelihoods. It is important that secondary education and teacher

education curriculum reformers engage representatives from formal and

informal employment sectors for their inputs so that there is confidence on

both sides that essential life skills relevant for employability are reflected in

secondary education. The objective should be much more than identifying

specific topics for attention in the curriculum, as it is clear from employers’

perspectives that behavioural and interpersonal skills are as important as other

technical skills.

(2) Develop a curriculum which has a closer alignment between goals and

pedagogical practices to support the development of 21st-century life skills.

There is often a disconnection between the goals of the secondary school

curriculum and the actual content and practices of teaching and learning, as the

Ghana case suggests.

(3) Provide adequate and relevant resources and infrastructure for teachers and

teacher educators to support changes in how they teach. For example,

ensuring that schools and teacher education institutions have access to ICTs is

crucial if teachers and teacher educators are to develop the capacity to be

innovative and creative in fostering the development of 21st-century life skills.

Reconceptualised life skills in secondary education in the African context

123

Reforming the school curriculum and developing teachers’ capacity to deliver

a wide range of skills will reap the desired benefits only if they have access to

instructional resources which allow them to provide students with a variety of

learning experiences which nurture a wide range of life skills.

(4) Reform secondary education assessment systems. None of these recommen-

dations will have the desired impact if there is little appetite on the part of

education reformers to tackle the corrupting influence of traditional examin-

ations in African education systems which often work against innovative and

creative learning approaches vital for developing 21st-century life skills. In

many instances, the methods of assessing learning outcomes in vocational

courses are similar to those used in the general arts and science courses. The

examinations mostly employ written formats which assess mainly knowledge

and understanding of subject matter. Practice-based assessments such as

performance and portfolio assessment techniques which document the

development of practical skills over an extended period of time are more

appropriate for technical and vocational subjects, and for developing a wider

range of skills. Their acceptance and use as part of the overall system of

assessing student learning is critical. However, the structure and content of the

secondary school examination system legitimises theoretical knowledge and

didactic instructional practices. Thus, any attempt to change the status quo

faces an uphill struggle. If secondary school teachers are to promote the

development of 21st-century life skills, then assessment reforms will be

critical. Unfortunately, the commitment to diversify the content and structure

of examinations in Africa has so far not been particularly strong.

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The author

Kwame Akyeampong (Ghana) is Professor of International Education and Development at the

University of Sussex. His research interests are in teacher education in development contexts with a

special focus on sub-Saharan Africa; interactions and clashes of pedagogy and assessment; and

institutional structures and cultures which shape teachers’ professional learning in low-income primary

and secondary education classrooms. A central concern of his work has been the theorisation and/or

conceptualisation of teacher education in deficit terms. His research has aimed to offer an alternative

viewpoint based on critical perspectives and experiences of policy makers, school leaders, teachers and

students in African education environments. He has worked on projects with organisations such as

UNESCO, JICA, DFID and the World Bank, and was a visiting Professor in Japan (Hiroshima

University) and a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Georgia State University, USA. From 2011 to 2013, he

served as a senior policy analyst with the Education for All Global Monitoring Report team at UNESCO

in Paris.

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