Information Communication Technology Competence and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Senior High School Social Studies Teachers: A Footpath to 21st Century Classroom Instructional Practices in the Bono Region of Ghana

In spite of the undeniable reality of technology explicitly or implicitly influencing classroom instruction in the 21st century, evidence from developing economies have shown thatnrelatively few teachers fully integrate technology in their instructional delivery, thereby bringing into inquiry their Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) competencies. Accordingly, this study employed Shuman 1986 Theory on Pedagogical Content Knowledge to investigate Senior High School
Social Studies teachers’ competence in the use of ICT as well as their knowledge on TPACK. Additionally, the study investigated the effect of TPACK on Social Studies teachers classroom instructional practices. In line with positivist paradigm, this study utilized cross-sectional descriptive survey design with quantitative approach where through census sampling, 303 Social Studies teachers were sampled to participate in the study with the main instrument being structured questionnaire whose reliability was assessed using Cronbach alpha. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multiple and stepwise regression) were used to analyse the research questions and hypothesis outlined in the study. The findings of the study revealed that Senior High School Social Studies teachers had high competence in the use of ICT and TPACK. It was again established that teacher competence on TPACK significantly predicted their classroom instructional practices
and that competence in the use of ICT strengthened the effect of TPACK on the classroom instructional practices. Therefore, it was recommended that the strategies aimed at improvement in use of ICT should run concurrently with approaches to enhancing knowledge
in TPACK of the teachers for more improved classroom instructional practices. The study, therefore, concluded that teachers use of ICT and knowledge of TPACK is a crucial determinant of their effectiveness and efficiency in classroom instructional practices.