Politicizing Equity: Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy and its Implications for Teachers Work

In 2017, the Government of Ghana adopted a Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) to universalize secondary education access across the country by removing cost barriers. The policy originated as a campaign promise by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and has since dominated political debates. While FSHSP increased enrollment significantly, little is known about how its politicization has shaped its implementation and its implications for equity and teachers’ work. This dissertation considers power through FSHSP policy, particularly how it operates at two scales/moments. In Part One of the dissertation, I focus on the broader context of influence in which FSHSP was justified and promoted. Drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis of the pronouncements and documents circulated by political figures of Ghana's two major political parties—the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), I consider the political context and debates surrounding the FSHSP. This helped me understand the broader discursive terrain around FSHSP to set the stage for school-based research. In Part Two of my study, I draw on an Anthropology of Policy Frame, four months of school-based participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups to understand how teachers made sense of and experienced FSHSP, paying particular attention to their role in the policy process, and the implications of the policy for teachers’ work and equity. I argue that the government excluded teachers from the policy formulation process while increasing teachers’ workload significantly, adversely affecting teachers’ health and social life, and restricting opportunities to engage in secondary employment beyond for-profit tutoring. While the policy affected all teachers, it disproportionally impacted female teachers and teachers in less-resourced schools. At the same time, I argue that the government’s new student placement system and non-targeted approach to reform across differently resourced schools exacerbated previous inequities, including those born from the colonial era. For these reasons, a policy justified by its commitment to equity perpetuated existing forms and differences and created new ones along gender, region, and class. Together, I demonstrate how a multi-scalar analysis of education policy reveals how power operates in the education policy arena and the resultant effect on teachers and students.

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