When Geometry Stays Abstract: A Qualitative Study of Pre-Tertiary TVET Instruction in Ghana

Geometry instruction in pre-tertiary Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions is expected to develop formal mathematical reasoning while equipping learners with transferable spatial competencies for trade practice. However, research consistently documents a persistent disconnect between abstract classroom geometry and its vocational application, particularly in Anglophone African contexts where empirical accounts of this gap remain thin. This study investigates how geometry is currently taught in Ghanaian pre-tertiary TVET institutions and the factors that facilitate or hinder abstract-practical integration. Using a qualitative, multi-method design, the study draws on fifteen structured classroom observations, and interviews with mathematics facilitators, vocational instructors, learners, and administrators across participating institutions. Findings reveal that geometry instruction remains predominantly transmission-oriented, with 80% of the fifteen observed lessons organized around lecture and direct explanation, practical activities present in only 40%, and full vocational integration observed in a single lesson (descriptive proportions of this purposive sample rather than population estimates). Integration is sustained by exceptional individual conditions, notably facilitators’ prior industry experience and informal cross-disciplinary collaboration, while constrained by pervasive structural barriers, foremost among them an examination system rewarding procedural recall over applied spatial reasoning. Interpreted through Realistic Mathematics Education, Experiential Learning Theory, and Social Constructivism, these findings indicate that current instructional sequencing runs counter to principles of guided reinvention and experiential, socially mediated learning. This study provides an empirically grounded diagnostic account of the instructional and structural conditions that any future bridging framework for TVET geometry instruction in Ghana and comparable contexts must address.