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Explaining Education Reforms in Ghana: an Institutional and Ideational Perspective

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Explaining Education Reforms in Ghana: an Institutional and Ideational Perspective EXPLAINING EDUCATION REFORMS IN GHANA: AN INSTITUTIONAL AND IDEATIONAL PERSPECTIVE A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Paul Acheampong Boakye Copyright Paul Acheampong Boakye, September, 2019. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis/dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis/dissertation in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis/dissertation work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis/dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis/dissertation. Requests for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this thesis/dissertation in whole or part should be addressed to: The Director of Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy University of Saskatchewan Campus Diefenbaker Building 141-101 Diefenbaker Place Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B8 Canada OR Dean College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies University of Saskatchewan 116 Thorvaldson Building, 110 Science Place Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5C9 Canada i ABSTRACT In Sub-Saharan Africa, scholars have mainly deployed structural (conditionality thesis) and institutional (path dependence) frameworks to explain policy stability and change, thus neglecting other mechanisms such as ideational processes. Yet, there is evidence of path departing changes in education reforms and other policy areas in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which call for ideational analysis. Drawing on insights from institutional and ideational explanatory frameworks, this study analyzes the 1987 and 2007 education reforms in Ghana to ascertain the factors, the key actors, and the mechanism employed to influence these reforms. Consequently, the study explores the processes of bricolage and translation that informed these two reforms. To achieve these research objectives, the study adopts the case study approach based on qualitative methods of inquiry, which involves face-to-face interviews and document analysis. The study identified that, in addition to state actors, two groups of non-state actors (Domestic Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Trans-national Actors (TNAs)) mattered for education reforms in Ghana. Unlike what is implied by the conditionality thesis, these non-state actors use ideas channeled through conferences, issuing of annual reports, workshops and press releases to influence these reform processes and generate policy legitimacy and local ownership among national policymakers. More generally, the study argues that the educational sector in Ghana has witnessed both policy stability and change when the dimensions of the reforms are specified along objectives, content, financing, and structure and duration. Thus, whereas financing of basic education witnessed policy stability, the objective, content, and structure witnessed significant changes in 1987 and marginal changes during the 2007 reform. Finally, the study also argues that, regardless of the political regime in place, the socio-cultural and political duality of the Ghanaian society was ignored during the reform processes. As such, a key group of actors, traditional institutions, was marginalized by national policymakers. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long (SASB 310) I am most grateful to God for seeing me through this PhD program successfully at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS). I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Daniel Béland for his guidance and tutelage. His doors were always opened to me and he provided timely and positive feedback on my draft chapters. In addition to this, he had a listening ear to my personal issues. Thank you Sir! I am equally grateful to my thesis committee members: Professor Emeritus Donald Ray, Professor Margot Hurlbert, Dr. Janet Okoko and Dr. Julie Kaye for their timely and constructive feedback that helped shape this thesis. I also appreciate the insights and perspectives of my external examiner, Prof. Charles Conteh, which enriched my work. My heartfelt appreciation to all teaching and non-teaching staff of JSGS for the beautiful environment they create for academic work to flourish. The courses I took in my first year helped me to properly situate my research within the policy literature. The administrative support received from Amy and Amanda is worth acknowledging. I also acknowledge my colleague students especially Priva, Giustino and Vincent for the thought-provoking discussions we had over the years. To my wife, Johana, daughter Nana Efua and son Kwabena Antwi, thank you so much for your sacrifices, love and continuous support. To my mum, Florence; my siblings: Augustina, KD, Rosina and Benjamin; in-laws George and Elizabeth, thank you so much for everything. My in-law, Elizabeth, left behind her husband and children to come to Canada to assist in taking care of my children while I focused on completing this thesis. I truly appreciate your sacrifice mummy. I will forever be grateful to my interviewees for their time and great responses during my field trip to Ghana. Thanks to all my friends especially Dr. Rosina Foli, Grace Mary Aboni, Ebenezer Tannor, Donald Dela Dartey, Samuel Okoto Amankwa and Vida Bodi for their support and encouragement over the years. To my church family, The Salvation Army, Berkshire Citadel, Calgary; Saskatoon Temple and William Booth Temple, Madina-Accra, thank you so much for your continuous prayer support and kind words over the years. I am most grateful. God bless you all! iii DEDICATION To my dear wife, Johana Efua; daughter, Nana Efua Boakyewaa and son, Kwabena Antwi, for their love, sacrifices and support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE ................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ v TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... viii FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction and background of the study .............................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of Problem and Research Questions ...................................................... 6 1.3 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................... 10 1.4 Plan of the Study ................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................... 15 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Existing Explanatory Frameworks ........................................................................ 16 2.2.1 Institutional Explanations .......................................................................... 19 2.2.1.1 New Institutionalism .............................................................................. 20 2.2.2 Ideational Explanations ............................................................................. 27 2.3 The theoretical/explanatory framework of the study ............................................ 33 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 46 3.1 Research Assumptions – Ontology and Epistemology ......................................... 46 3.2 Research Design.................................................................................................... 47 3.3 Case Study Approach ............................................................................................ 49 3.4 The Research Site
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