In education, purpose is a key component of instructional clarity in classrooms.
It catalyses lesson understanding and practice. Specifically, it helps to prepare learners for lesson activities, fosters a sense of achievement and inspires the confidence to evaluate academic and real-world performance.
Unfortunately, in Ghana, a walk through some schools may reveal that clarity of purpose seems missing during teaching and learning in classrooms.
Some teachers simply overlook it! Clarity of purpose may refer to keeping learners focused by constantly revealing what the gain of each lesson is (Lovegrove, D., 2018).
I have observed with much displeasure how some parents are unhappy that their children’s homework sometimes looks bizarre.
They ask the child the purpose of the assignment, and he or she is more confused. Completing the assignment becomes a challenge.
To date, my peers and I wonder why we studied certain strands and sub-strands in school.
In a conversation, one of them narrated a story of how years ago, their teacher jokingly mentioned that the purpose of the Pythagoras theorem strand in Mathematics was for the learners to gain knowledge on how to manufacture atomic bombs so they can defend the country during war.
Obviously, some teachers may not be aware of the purpose of some strands and sub-strands.
Others who do may deem it unnecessary to share with the learners.
The rest may simply overlook it due to language expression, learning differences, limited instructional hours allotted to the subject, etc.
However, the cost of dismissing a lesson’s purpose may be dire. A key consequence is the learning transfer gap.
Learning transfer gap
Undeniably, education endows learners with the needed knowledge, skills and attitude to remain competitive, productive and live comfortable lives.
These outcomes may not materialise when learners are not supported enough in schools on how to apply lessons to varying real-world scenarios.
Learning transfer gap happens when learners from pre-tertiary and tertiary educational institutions find it difficult to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired to varying real-world contexts.
For instance, the National Science and Maths Quiz Mistress, Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, once indicated that ‘the Quiz contestants can tell everything about the theories, but they cannot apply anything’. (Osei-Tutu., E., 2020: Joy Online).
This scenario may be experienced by some learners in Ghana.
They are academically good, but in the real world, it is always a tussle to put into practice the lessons from the classroom.
This challenge takes a toll on families and societies, but mostly on workplaces and learners themselves.
Workplaces
Some employers assume that graduates from the tertiary and pre-tertiary institutions have been well trained to deliver excellently in roles assigned to them.
But sometimes, what they see is the complete opposite. Learners struggle to apply their skills and knowledge. Consequently, over time, some are either bypassed for promotion, sacked or demoted.
The educational institution risks reputational damage and reduced operational growth if this trend festers. What may be blamed for this?
‘Chew and Pour’
In Ghana, the purpose of learning and schooling seems to have been reduced to passing exams. Hence, some learners simply memorise lessons for exam sake.
This is popularly coded ‘chew and pour’. This phenomenon does not foster learning transfer because the intent of studying is simply to score grades and never about application to the real world.
Instructional quality
A 2024 Youth Barometer report revealed that 42.9 per cent of youth perceive Ghana’s education system as retrogressing, factors cited include overemphasis on theoretical knowledge.
Learning to transfer easily manifests when learners understand lessons.
This outcome is realised when the factors that influence instructional quality in schools, such as teacher competence, availability of laboratories for practical sessions, etc., are in place.
Unfortunately, some schools in Ghana lack the infrastructure necessary for learners to even practice the lesson content. Consequently, they are unable to understand and retain knowledge, let alone apply it.
Lesson experience, therefore, turns theoretical with its practical component sidelined.
Moreover, some programmes of study in the university seem irrelevant in the Ghanaian context, and so application becomes confusing.
Conclusively, will educators highlight clarity of purpose and learning transfer during instructional design and lesson delivery?
The writer is an Institutional Assessment Practitioner
Writer’s email: hattanyame@gmail.com
