Implications of the Achievement Motivation Theory for School Management in Ghana: A Literature Review

The purpose of the paper is to review literature on the implications of the achievement motivation theory for school management. It is realized from the literature for managers to understand human behaviour and how an individual could be motivated, they must first understand their needs and inclinations. It is also found from the literature of this paper that employees have the need for achievement which the suitable opportunities should be created for them to satisfy it. It is deduced that that employees have the need for power which should also be exercised and satisfied and the role of the need for affiliation is paramount in the management of every school. From the review, it is recommended a periodical workshop is organized for all heads and mangers of schools to sensitize them on the need for them to satisfy the desires of the teachers and students to satisfy the three major needs outlined by McClelland. This will go a long way to assist school managers to identify the needs within themselves, their co-workers and subordinates in order to create the work environment that are responsive to those needs. In this sense teachers would be willing to put in their best in teaching and motivating their students to achieve high academic laurels

Implications of the Job Characteristics Theory for School Management in Ghana: A Literature Review

The purpose of the paper is to review literature on the implications of the job characteristics theory for school management. It is realized from the review that human beings have a basic and universal need and when these needs are met in their current situations then the individual is said to be satisfied. It is also found from the review of this paper that there is a positive relationship among the job characteristics, individual differences in need strength and employee’s motivation, satisfaction, performance and absenteeism on the job. It is deduced that that all three of the psychological states must be experienced by an individual if desirable outcomes are to emerge. If any one of three psychological states is not present, several outcome variables such as motivation and satisfaction will be weakened. From the review, it is recommended that the complete role of the job characteristics theory is a sine a qua as far as the management of school is concerned. It is therefore recommended periodical workshops are organized for all the heads and managers of schools to sensitize them on the need to redesign the teaching job. This will go a long way to assist school managers to identify the needs of their schools and redesign the jobs of their teachers. In this sense, the teachers would be willing to put off their best and eventually enhance the academic performance of the students. Keywords: job redesign, job satisfaction, job diagnosis survey, school management

Phenomenological Approach to the Teaching of Religious Education: Sharing Knowledge to Benefit Religious Educators

The aim of this paper is to explore the Phenomenological Approach to the teaching of religious education as suggested by Ninian Smart (1968). It has been established that this approach to the teaching of religious education does not stress the acceptance of a particular faith or belief system, which is the privilege of religious bodies to do, nor does it press for conversion. It is committed to a search for religious meaning, purpose and value which is open to all men. It reflects a multiplicity of beliefs and non-beliefs. No belief system is seen as the only source of value in society. Professor Ninian Smart, who is a leading exponent of the approach has been careful to point out that “Phenomenological Approach” to religious education is not only concerned with providing information about the practices and beliefs of a particular religion but different religions. Keywords: phenomenological approach, religious education, religious dimensions, knowledge

Applying Faith Development Theory for the Teaching of Religious Education: Sharing Knowledge to Benefit Religious Educators

The aim of this paper is to discuss the implication of the faith development theory for the teaching of religious education. In his distinction, Fowler stated that faith and religion are not synonymous and should not be considered as such. Hence, faith is defined as a generic feature of the human struggle to find and maintain meaning. Fowler holds that faith permeates and informs our way of being in relation to our neighbours, and to the causes and companions of our lives. The zero stage of faith development occurs in the first preverbal year of life and it provides the foundation of trust and mistrust on which all later faith builds. In the first stage of faith development, morality is learned through experiences, stories, images and the people that the child comes in contact with. Stage two is characterized by seeing God as an anthropomorphic being in the sky. Stage three characterized by conformity to authority and the religious development of a personal identity. Stage four is characterized by two essential features namely; a critical distancing from one’s previously assumed value system and the emergence of executive ego. Individuals in stage five begin to realize the limits of logic and starts to accept the paradoxes or contradictory views in life. In the last stage of faith development, people typically exhibit qualities that shake our usual criteria of normalcy. Following the above stages, the strengths, weaknesses as well as the implications for the teaching of religious education have been identified and discussed systematically. Keywords: faith development, holistic orientation, religion, religious education, teaching

Using the Information Processing Approach to Explain the Mysteries of the Black Box: Implications for Teaching Religious and Moral Education

The aim of this paper is to use the three “stage theory proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) or the “information processing approach” to explain the cognitive processes or the mysteries of the “black box” and its implication for teaching Religious and Moral Education. The rapid creation of computers has encouraged the use of computer model to explain learning, which is termed as the information processing approach, proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in the late 1960’s. Thus, the information processing approach is based on the apparent similarities between the operation of the human brain and that of the computer and this gives the implication that information processing approaches are concerned with the nature of the cognitive processes. The implications of the information processing approach or the stage theory for teaching Religious and Moral Education, should place emphasis on the design of the curriculum, that is experiencing what is being taught, focusing on the developmental levels of leaners and employing the appropriate teaching and learning materials to give the right information to the learners especially in the initial stages of cognitive development. Keywords: black box, cognitive development, memory, memory system information, teachin

School of Thoughts of the Essentialist Philosophers on the Aims of Education, Role of Education and the Focus of Education: Implications for Curriculum Development and Practice in Ghana

The aim of this paper is to discuss comprehensively the school of thoughts of the essentialist philosopher on the aims of education, the role of education and the focus of education. Again, the discussion would pay attention to examine the implications of the essentialism to curriculum development and practice. In this philosophical school of thought, the aim is to instill students with the “essentials” which means the “main things” of academic knowledge, enacting a back-to-basics approach. Essentialists believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. From the Essentialist point of view, the aim of education is to equip students with common core or the “basic” of information and skills needed for the promotion of citizenship. According to the Essentialist, the role of education is the transition of a common body of knowledge, skills, concepts and traditions from generation to learners in order to transform them to meaningfully and constructively contribute democratically to the society. The essentialist focus on intellectual training in the areas of grammar, literature and writing, mathematics, sciences, history and modern foreign language. On the implication for curriculum development and practice, the essentialist places emphasis on core curriculum, the curriculum is developed around the teacher rather than the learner, the mastery of content matter of an essential knowledge as a yardstick before moving on to the next level, placing less emphasis on non-academic subjects such as; Vocational education, Physical Education, Arts and Music and eventually ensuring that the curriculum focuses on grouping students according to their intellectual ability. Keywords: curriculum, curriculum development, essentialist, essentialism, social value

The Role of the Media and Political Tolerance in Ghana: Perceptions of University of Cape Coast Students

The study investigated the perceptions of University of Cape Coast students about the media as a platform to generate political intolerance in Ghana. It specifically sought to know the nature of political intolerance in Ghana, the causes of political intolerance and appropriate ways of mitigating the problem. The use of questionnaires and interviews were employed as major data collection instruments using purposive and convenient sampling techniques to reach respondents. The analysis revealed that political intolerance in Ghana mainly takes the form of threats of violence and character assassination as a result of ethnocentrism exhibited through the media. It was therefore concluded that, the media should play an effective role by recruiting qualified persons to hold political discussions in the media and by applying high journalistic standards in handling issues in the media. Keywords: Media, Political, Intolerance, Democracy, Developmen

Economic Feasibility Analysis of Shale Gas Extraction from UK’s Carboniferous Bowland-Hodder Shale Unit

For many years, shale gas exploitation has been generating contradictory views in the UK and remains subject of rising debates throughout these years. Favorably backed by the government, looking upon it as potential mechanism for gas import independency and competitiveness in global gas industry while strongly opposed by stakeholders (mainly public), idea of shale gas exploitation remains disputed with no substantial progress in past years. And this irresolution is worsened by obscurity of estimates for potential reserves and conflicting assessments on potential impact of shale gas. Yet, in case shale industry is signaled to search and extract resources, there remains another scrutiny stage that shale industry will be subjected to i.e., its extraction must be economically feasible as extracting unconventional resources is financially expensive and riskier than conventional. Hence, this study aims at analyzing the economics of UK’s most prolific Bowland shale play development by a financial model that discovers gas prices range required to earn capital cost on investment in Bowland shale play and is tested on three development plans where it determines that based on given set of hypothesis and past decade’s average gas price of $6.52/Mcf, none of the development plans hold enough probability of adding value, however, hybrid plan formulated by combination of consistent drilling and refracturing proves as economically sustainable with a RGP mean$7.21/Mcf, significantly lower than $9.76/Mcf mean for ‘drilling only’ plan. It is found that required gas price is most sensitive to initial production rate and drilling costs where ±10% variation offsets RGP by ≈ ±8% and ±7%