Global proficiency framework: Analysis of national and Colleges of Education curricula in Ghana

Abstract

Background: Many studies have been done in the past to compare country-specific curricula to international standards. However, there is an apparent lack of literature that focusses on evaluating the alignment of country-specific early grade mathematics curriculum to the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) for mathematics.Aim: This study aims to investigate how the domains of the national early grade mathematics curriculum and the Bachelor of Education curriculum for pre-service early grade teachers in the Colleges of Education (CoE) in Ghana align with the GPF for mathematics.Setting: The study was conducted in Ghana using the national early grade and Colleges of Education (CoE) curricula.Method: Document analysis was employed to compare the list of domains in the GPF to the lists of domains in the Ghanaian national early grade mathematics curriculum and the Bachelor of Education curriculum.Results: The results showed an alignment in the list of domains in GPF and the two curricula. The Bachelor of Education curriculum included theories of early-grade numeracy development which was absent in the GPF. The indicators in the two curricula were found to have exceeded the global minimum proficiency levels in the GPF.Conclusion: The results showed an alignment between the GPF and the two curricula signifies that the mathematics curriculum used for teaching early grade learners in Ghana meets international standards and can help learners compete on a global scale in mathematics learning.Contribution: The study provided valuable insights for policy-makers to consider while making decisions about curriculum standards and teacher training programmes. This is a significant step towards enhancing the quality of early grade mathematics education in Ghana.