Preparedness of Ghanaian Senior High School Instructors for Application of Online Learning in Social Studies Instruction amid the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to school shutdowns worldwide to prevent the spread of the virus. To minimize learning losses, many countries, including Ghana, adopted online learning to continue instruction. In Ghana, schools were encouraged to reach students through virtual platforms, but challenges remained. This study assessed senior high school teachers’ preparedness for integrating online learning into Social Studies teaching in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study was guided by three research questions. Data were collected using a checklist to evaluate schools' digital readiness and questionnaires administered to 972 students and 84 Social Studies teachers from 12 secondary schools. The internal consistency of the questionnaires was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha, yielding r = 0.89 for teachers and r = 0.73 for students. Findings revealed that although all schools had ICT laboratories and electricity, most classrooms lacked power to support virtual learning. Schools were inadequately equipped with ICT tools and lacked local ICT in education policy guidelines. Teachers possessed content and pedagogical knowledge but lacked ICT technical skills to deliver online learning, and students' use of digital technology in Social Studies was low and ineffective. The study recommends connecting classrooms to electricity and the internet, supplying adequate ICT tools, guiding schools to develop local ICT policies, and providing periodic in-service training to build teachers' capacity for integrating online learning, thereby improving students' learning outcomes.