ICT Integration Extent in Ghana’s Civic Education Delivery Explained Through the Civic Education Technology Adoption Framework
Civic education is a cornerstone of democratic governance; yet in Ghana, its delivery remains largely technology-free despite a decade-long mandate from the national ICT policy. This study investigates how far the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into its field-level delivery, and why ICT integration remains limited.
Ghana’s 2015 ICT Education Policy requires ICT integration across all educational sectors, including non-formal civic education. Even so, no empirical baseline for ICT integration in NCCE’s 261 district offices exists. The Civic Education Technology Adoption (CETA) Framework was developed by extending Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) with an infrastructure needs assessment component to account for resource constraints that standard TPACK does not capture.
We surveyed 165 civic educators, randomly selected from 45 districts across three geographical zones with a validated questionnaire (α = 0.71). In-depth interviews were conducted by adopting a semi-structured interview protocol with 22 participants. Ordinal logistic regression was employed to test predictors of ICT use, whilst thematic analysis was utilised to explore barriers to civic education using ICT.
The TPACK Framework was extended to include a needs assessment component, known as the CETA Framework. ICT usage in the selected districts across the three geographical zones was found to be low. Social media was found to be the primary ICT platform for civic education delivery across 45 districts in Ghana.
The use of ICT integration was predominantly low (72.4% probability of the “low use” category; ordinal logit: Tools index β = 0.695, p = .003), and social media (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook) were the primary ICT tools for integration.
Moreover, infrastructure (devices and Internet) and training were severely lacking, and minimal ICT integration was found despite policy mandate. These findings were attributable to infrastructure deficits and pedagogical capacity gaps.
The ICT department at the headquarters of NCCE should conduct an infrastructure audit across all 45 districts using the CETA framework dimensions. Also, a pilot WhatsApp-based civic education programme in 10 low-connectivity districts is recommended to evaluate its influence on target communities in those districts. In addition, ICT coordinators of NCCE should establish quarterly Technological Knowledge/Pedagogical Knowledge (TK/PK) training using a cascade model (train district coordinators → train staff). A final recommendation to practitioners is to launch the ‘Civic Educator Digital Champions’ programme to recognize innovative ICT integration.
Future research should adopt an experimental design to focus on Technological Knowledge/Pedagogical Knowledge Training (TK/PK workshops) and on infrastructure (devices + connectivity) to establish causal pathways and identify cost-effective interventions.
Integration of ICT, specifically with social media platforms, needs to be encouraged to increase participation and the extent of ICT integration. Civic educators also need to intensify the integration process to encourage citizen participation in good governance in Ghana.
Future research should adopt an experimental design and randomly assign districts to Control, Training-only (TK/PK workshops), Infrastructure-only (devices + connectivity), and Combined (training + infrastructure), measuring integration at 6, 12, and 18 months to establish causal pathways for cost-effective interventions.
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