Teachers’ Use of “Concept Cracking” Pedagogy in Christian Religious Studies in Ghanaian Senior High Schools: A Survey

This research examined the use of Concept Cracking pedagogy by Christian Religious Studies teachers in the Senior High Schools in Central Region of Ghana. The study primarily looked at how the teachers unpack religious concepts, select concepts, engage students and relate students to religious concepts. The descriptive survey design was employed to carry out the study. The simple random sampling and census techniques were employed to select 327 students and 55 teachers respectively for the study. Questionnaires were used to collect the data and analyzed through the computation of frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. The study revealed that to a very large extent, the CRS teachers in Central Region use Concept Cracking pedagogy. They unpack religious concepts by enlisting the various theological ideas underpinning a chosen topic. The concepts that were selected for teaching are those that were useful to students’ life experiences. The study also found that with regard to the selection of concepts, teachers emphasized concepts that provoke an inquiry into values and commitment, as well as the usefulness of concepts to the life experiences of students. The study recommends that Ghana Education should adopt a strategy of organizing a regular professional development training for CRS teachers on the use of Concept Cracking pedagogy. This will go a long way to boost the pedagogical knowledge and skills of teachers and in turn help to improve the teaching of CRS.