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Radiating out rather than scaling up: Horizontalism and digital educational governance in Ghana

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  • Gallagher, Michael
  • Evans, Pete
  • Sarpong-Duah, Joshua

Abstract

Digital education is often understood as a force for the standardization of education. In this paper, we argue for the development of policy and strategy instruments founded on situated local educational contexts and needs. Using the theoretical lens of Escobar’s horizontalism, we interrogate how educational governance in Ghana is being increasingly structured around digital technologies and the effects of these policy structures on local educational diversity. The governance around the digitalisation of education in Ghana sits in productive tension with that horizontalism. In this paper, we explore this through an analysis of two interrelated national instruments that speak to this digitalisation: (i) the Education Strategic Plan 2018 – 2030 and (ii) the ICT in education reform. We note how these instruments provide oversight and centralisation around the use of ICT in education in Ghana, and how this centralisation is seen as increasingly critical to meeting the scaled educational targets of SDG4. We explore how these policies cascade into two digital initiatives in education in Ghana, namely (i) Edmodo and (ii) the Open University Framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Gallagher, Michael & Evans, Pete & Sarpong-Duah, Joshua, 2024. "Radiating out rather than scaling up: Horizontalism and digital educational governance in Ghana," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:111:y:2024:i:c:s0738059324001950
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2024.103168
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael A. Tagoe, 2014. "Making Real the Dream of Education for All Through Open Schooling and Open Universities in Ghana," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(4), pages 21582440145, December.
    2. Ngozi Adeleye & Chiamaka Eboagu, 2019. "Evaluation of ICT development and economic growth in Africa," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 31-53, April.
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