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The Ghanaian society is an amalgamation of vibrant and diverse ethnic groups with their distinct and unique cultural practices and beliefs. Since Ghana became a nation-state, efforts have been made to develop a national consciousness to override traditional local and parochial interests. This is because for a true nation to emerge, people have to think of themselves as nationals first and foremost and not as members of their traditional entities (Nukunya, 2003). One such effort in the history of formal education is the introduction of the campus or boarding school system. The campus system of education in the universities and the boarding school system in the secondary schools serve as a melting pot or a pot pourri, which enables students from different socio-cultural backgrounds to learn from each other and thereby promote cultural unity in diversity. Indeed, one of the core functions of bringing students together in a campus or a boarding school is to help them unlearn some parochial socio-cultural practices learnt at home, which may be at variance with the general social expectations.
In culturally diverse schools and classrooms, students get the chance to acquire knowledge and display common beliefs, goals and values essential for social cohesion and reduction of tension among people (Katzko, 2007). In these environments, students play, work and study together, most of the time, which enable them to develop a “we-feeling,” and belongingness attitudes and tendencies irrespective of their socio-cultural background differences.
In view of the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society, Senior High Schools in Ghana have students with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) has been an additional impetus in making schools to have students from varied socio-cultural environments. The CSSPS introduced in the 2005/2006 academic is a meritocratic selection procedure that places Junior High School (JHS) students in Senior High Schools (SHS) based on performance, and choice of programme and school. The system permits candidates to choose SHS in any part of the country that they want to attend (Somuah, 2005). In the schools, students have the opportunity to learn and explore other people’s cultures. Such an environment also offers students opportunities to understand and appreciate each other’s cultural practices thereby engendering social cohesion and integration.
Teachers who handle schools and classrooms with diverse students are expected to be culturally competent and sensitive in addition to possessing sound content knowledge and solid pedagogical skills to be alive with their responsibilities. Their instructions are also supposed to be culturally acceptable to all students without favouring students from some ethnic groups over others. The teachers ought to have good knowledge on different ethnic groups in the country so as to devise a better way of handling students. If teachers are to increase learning opportunities of all students, they must be knowledgeable about the social and cultural contexts of teaching and learning (Banks, Cookson, Gay, Hanley, Irvine & Neito, 2001).
Based on the foregoing, a teacher education curriculum needs to prepare prospective teachers to appreciate and respect other people’s cultures. As student population is culturally diverse, prospective teachers ought to be equipped with the competencies that would help them to handle students in a manner that meets the needs of all students and people in the social milieu that the school is located. In the classrooms, what is communicated, practised and perceived greatly affects students so it is imperative for teachers to learn how to effectively communicate cross-culturally in such diverse contexts (Pratt-Johnson, 2006). Teacher education programmes need to build teachers to effectively engage learners with diverse cultural, social, linguistic and religious backgrounds.
Teacher education curriculum needs to be rich enough to make teachers understand and respect students’ diverse cultures and to guide them more effectively toward their academic and personal success and fulfillment in life. Pratt-Johnson (2009) opines that for teachers to become cross-culturally competent in school and classroom, they must understand the important ways in which cultures differ and how differences affect ways in which their students behave. This is a good way to make teachers to avoid problems they usually encounter in class and rather engage in positive communication with students and people from diverse socio-cultural orientations.