Political Identity Negotiation of Young Electorates in Ghanaian Colleges of Education

Abstract

The formation of political in-groups and out-groups on campuses and involvement in political discourses in and out of the school setting clearly demonstrate students’ political attitudes and behaviours which eventually reflect or sum up their political identities. However, it remains a mystery the exact ingredient cooking up this form of social identity. The study, as a result, was conducted to explore the factors underlying the political identity negotiation of students in colleges of education and to identify practices that reflect their explicit and implicit political behaviours and attitudes. The paper focused on examining factors that influenced political identity negotiation among college of education students in Ghana. In order to answer all four research questions, the concurrent triangulation mixed method approach to inquiry was adopted. Data collected were descriptively analysed, using the measure of central tendency and narration. Three factors were revealed as being influential in student teachers’ identity formation: familial characteristics such as the level of education of parents, political preference, and occupation, among others; liberal school setting such as the ethnic composition of the student population; and new political stimuli such as contact with campaigns and volunteer services. Implicit and explicit political attitudes and behaviours of student-teachers were found to be evident through practices such as voting in student elections and participation in political discourses. The paper concludes that political identity negotiation of young adults is inevitable as a result of the different political cues they encounter within the social structures.