The colonial master left yet colonizing education persists: discourses from Ghanaian educational leaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT Education in Ghana has undergone various curricular and educational revisions and reforms since Ghanaian leaders had a voice in creating and implementing educational policy during the colonial era. Many studies have shown that all the various reforms and revisions in Ghanaian education have failed to center Ghanaian languages, histories, knowledge, and cultures decades after colonial occupation ended. Students who fail to adequately embody literacies and proficiencies in English are unlikely to progress academically yet literacies and proficiencies in Ghanaian languages are not central to the teaching and learning process including the curriculum even though research shows it increases student success. To understand further why Ghanaian languages and literacies are silenced, devalued, and marginalized in the curriculum, I conducted a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of public interviews and speeches of educational leaders at a time of educational and curriculum reform in Ghana. A CDA analysis was crucial in understanding what educational leaders believe is important to include and exclude in the curriculum to better serve students. Findings from the analysis reiterated the need for decolonizing school leadership in Ghana.