Students' Approaches to Learning the New B. Ed. Programme in Ghana: Evidence from Colleges of Education within Mampong Municipality

Abstract

This paper explores the use of surface and deep learning strategies of students in two Colleges of Education within Mampong Municipality: St. Monica's College (Single-Sex College-Female) and Mampong Technical College (Single-Sex College-Male) who were enrolled to read a Four-Year Bachelor of Education programme. Drawing on Biggs et al.'s Revised Study Questionnaire (2001), the study investigates whether student-teachers adopt a predominantly surface or deep learning approach to their studies for the New B. Ed. programme introduced into the Colleges of Education. From February to April 2021, we employed a quantitative cross-sectional design. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 332 participants (level 200 and 300) who were enrolled to study the four-year B. Ed. programme which was introduced in 2018. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were used to examine participants' age, sex and level of study in correlation with their learning approaches (Deep or Surface). A significant difference in the Deep learning approach was found between males and females in both schools (p = 0.47). However, there was no significant difference between age, level and learning approach. Their responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings suggest that student-teachers appear to adopt deep learning strategies in their studies at Colleges of Education and that this approach to learning was used regardless of the discipline in which they were enrolled.