Culture, Critical Pedagogy, and Critical Thinking among ‘Children’ in Ghana: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Childhood Constructions in Ghanaian Proverbs

Abstract

Recent education reforms in Africa demand that teachers reconsider their position as the overall authorities and repositories of all knowledge in the classroom to develop the critical thinking skills of learners. While such a position demands a critical pedagogical approach to teaching, it is argued in this paper that the sociocultural values and social expectations of a typical African society like Ghana may have a significant impact on teachers’ development of children’s critical thinking skills. Thus, drawing on some selected Ghanaian proverbs, it is argued that how childhood is culturally constructed in the Ghanaian sociocultural setting could militate against the possibilities of developing children’s critical thinking skills in education. The arguments raised were grounded in critical discourse analysis.