EXPLORATION OF EDUCATION FOR DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN GHANA’S SECONDARY SCHOOLS CURRICULA

The need to ensure decent jobs and economic growth for people is crucial now than ever, leading to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG8). The importance of education to the accomplishment of some of these goals coupled with the introduction of new curricula in Ghana’s secondary schools has led to this study. This study explores the implicit and explicit coverage of the objectives of Education for Sustainable Development Goal 8 (ESD8) in each of the newly introduced curricula. The study employed a qualitative case study to aid the exploration of the phenomenon in detail. Data were gathered from curriculum document by searching each subject document with keywords from the Global Schools Piloting Programme and other related contextual words. Data were analysed through content analysis, where implicit and explicit findings were counted quantitatively and present in chart and grids. The results revealed that 10 subjects have coverage(s) of the goal’s objective on the behavioural domain, and implicit. This means that the objectives may not be implemented if teachers are not abreast with the goal objectives. Therefore, learners could miss relevant experiences about SDG 8 for a better future if the little coverage is not fully harnessed. Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations are made for teacher education, curricula review, and club establishment. Further studies are suggested for the excluded curricula when they are available and their implementations.