EDTE 102 – Social Foundations of Education in Ghana: Core Concepts Review

Ten question-and-answer flashcards covering definitions, theories and key ideas from Weeks 1-8 of EDTE 102: Social Foundations of Education in Ghana.

What are the three recognised forms of education discussed in the lecture?

Formal education, Non-formal education, and Informal education.

According to R.S. Peters, what three conditions must be met for an activity to count as education?

1) It transmits something worthwhile; 2) It cultivates knowledge, understanding and an active cognitive perspective; 3) It involves the learner’s willingness and voluntariness.

Within the functionalist perspective, how are manifest and latent functions of formal schooling defined?

Manifest (primary) functions are intended and visible outcomes such as knowledge transmission and social placement; latent (secondary) functions are unintended by-products such as courtship, networking, and child-care relief for parents.

Identify one internal (endogenous) and one external (exogenous) force of social change outlined by the sociologists.

Internal: accident or revolution (e.g., epidemic). External: cultural contact, invasion or colonisation introducing new influences.

Who are the primary and secondary agents of socialization named in the course?

Primary agent: Family. Secondary agents: Peer groups, School, Religion, Community and Mass Media.

What is structural unemployment and how can schooling help mitigate it?

Structural unemployment occurs when jobs exist but workers’ skills no longer match labour-market needs (often due to technology or policy shifts). Education can mitigate it through curriculum revisions, need-driven courses, on-the-job retraining, and stronger academia-industry collaboration.

Describe Bloom’s holistic aim of education using the ‘Head-Heart-Hand’ framework.

Head: intellectual/cognitive development; Heart: moral and affective development; Hand: acquisition of manual or vocational skills.

List the four main branches of philosophy that underpin educational thought.

Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, and Axiology (which includes Ethics and Aesthetics).

Why did John Amos Comenius advocate the use of objects or pictures when teaching?

He believed learners grasp ideas better "through things rather than words," so concrete objects or illustrations make concepts clearer, more gradual, and pleasant to learn.

How do Conservativist, Reconstructionist and Progressivist schools of thought differ on education’s role in cultural change?

Conservativists: school should only transmit existing culture; Reconstructionists: school must purposefully engineer future societal change; Progressivists: school should equip learners broadly so they can choose and enact desirable changes themselves.