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This study examined the importance of polytechnics in Ghana’s development; its management and constraints-especially faculty turnover and how it impacts on sustainable polytechnic education. The sample comprised a total of 65 respondents drawn from six stakeholder groups: former polytechnic rectors, current polytechnic administrators’ current faculty; former polytechnic faculty, students, government officials as well as retired government officials. The study adopted a qualitative method to elicit data. However, the main study was preceded by a pilot study focusing on faculty turnover. Questionnaire informed by instruments used in earlier studies by Klass (2007) and Samuel (2008) were adapted and modified to suit the pilot study. An electronic questionnaire comprising 41 questions with a four (4) point scale (agree, uncertain, disagree and strongly disagree) on turnover and its consequences was hosted at Survey Monkey web site for administration by current polytechnic faculty. The link was emailed to 14 randomly selected current faculty members of seven polytechnics for administration and submission. These provided lead-in themes for the main qualitative study. Data for the main study was collected via interviews involving all six groups. Results indicate that polytechnics are important and contribute significantly to the sustenance of Ghana’s economy. Study further proved that polytechnics were mired in a number of constraints including turnover. The second portion examined the constraints of polytechnics with a focus on faculty turnover, causes and consequences on polytechnic sustenance vis-a-vis Ghana’s economy. This was supported by a semi structured interview schedules generated from the pilot study and administered on six case groups. The results showed a high rate of faculty turnover in polytechnics. Further, findings showed that turnover is caused by multiple factors (individual, institutional and environmental factors) which in turn interact with each other to influence turnover. Also, turnover was found to have impacted negatively on polytechnics, their clientele (students) and the national economy of Ghana. Findings of this study have a number of implications for policy especially higher education policy (polytechnics) management and education as well as some suggested strategies to help incentivize the academic staff and smoothen the management of the polytechnics.

This research tested the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and mood states prior to performance, using two culturally diverse populations and using a mixed methodology. The objective was to explore whether there were cultural differences between the two samples thereafter exploring whether EI can be enhanced in the two cultures, using a psychological skills intervention. Phase 1 and 2 used the BRUMS-32 (Terry et al., 1999), and the EIS (Schutte et al., 1998) to investigate mood states and EI among a sample of UK wheelchair basketball players (phase 1: n = 51), and Ghanaian footballers (phase 2: n = 70). Five semi-structured interviews were also completed in phase 1. In phase 3 interventions (goal-setting, self-talk, relaxation and daily diaries) were used to enhance EI in a sample of UK wheelchair basketball players (n = 6) and Ghanaian football players (n = 8). Self-talk questionnaires, daily diaries, EIS and structured interviews were used to collect data during the intervention. Phase 1 MANOVA results showed that EI was related to mood states associated with optimal and dysfunctional performance (Wilks' Lambda 8.7 = .01, F = 74.76, P = .00, Partial Eta2 = .99) and indicated that optimism and utilisation of emotions contributed significantly to variation in mood by performance. Four key themes emerged from semi-structured interviews: antecedents of emotions; emotion and performance; emotional intelligence; and coping with emotions. Results suggested that EI correlated with performance. Phase 2, MANOVA results showed that EI was related to mood states associated with optimal and dysfunctional performance (Wilks' Lambda 8.40 = .50, F = 7.82, P < .00, Partial Eta2 = .50) and indicated that emotion regulation and appraisal of other‟s emotions contributed significantly to variations in mood by performance. When seen collectively, results of phase 1 and 2 indicate that there were cultural differences between the two populations.Phase 3 indicated that in both populations EI could be enhanced for some of the participants. Culture could be an explanation for the intervention only partially working. The EI theory or the EIS may only work in the culture it was developed in as it did not seem to detect changes in the Ghanaian sample.

The aims of physical education in Ghana include developing personal qualities such as competence in students and generating interest in physical education and sports (Ghana Education Service, [GES], 1987). The GES has also reiterated the need to have competent teachers in the implementation of the school physical education syllabus; therefore few primary schools in Ghana have physical education specialists (detached teachers). There is the need to assess the impact these specialist teachers have on students in relation to classroom teachers and the extent to which the aims of physical education are being achieved. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if differences existed between students taught by physical education specialists and those taught by classroom teachers in their perceptions of competence, affect, and persistence in sports. It was hypothesized that students who were taught by physical education specialists would be significantly different from those taught by non-specialist teachers in their perceptions of competence, affect, and persistence. A sample of 483 class six boys and girls from four regions in Ghana completed items measuring perceptions of competence, affect, and persistence in sports. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant main effects for category (p<.001) and gender (p<.05) in each of the four regions examined. Students taught by specialist teachers differed significantly from those taught by classroom teachers in their perceptions of affect and persistence in sports. Findings also showed that students in specialist teacher and non-specialist teacher categories did not differ significantly in their perceptions of competence. Furthermore, results indicated that the significant gender effect was minimal and not meaningful. Overall, the present study provided further evidence of the influence of physical education specialists on amount of enjoyment students derive from sports. Findings also suggest the need for Ghanaian physical education teachers to improve upon their modes of teaching in order to enhance their students' competence perceptions. Attempts should also be made to validate Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children for use within the Ghanaian culture and to find those specific areas on which students base their competence judgments. / Graduation date: 1998

How do popular media genres reinforce or provide alternative perspectives to circulating official political discourses, as well as articulate issues of social concern? In what ways do such media offer insights into aspects of cultural practices that inform and represent matters of key significance in people's quotidian lives? This dissertation investigates these two general questions within four distinct Ghanaian popular visual media genres: popular video-films, political cartoons, death announcement posters, and vehicle inscriptions (`mottonyms'). Regarding the Ghanaian popular video-films, I examine how the films (re)present the issue of cyberfraud (`sakawa') in Ghana. I contrast the films' (re)presentation of this phenomenon vis-a-vis that of certain official pronouncements on the issue, and argue that a critical approach to the `sakawa film series' reveals a robust counter discourse to official denunciations. My investigation of political cartoons, examines some of the works of the artist Akosua in the Ghanaian newspaper, Daily Guide. Here I focus on how Akosua's works, utilizing popular cultural allusions, function as an alternative media discourse in contemporary Ghanaian sociopolitical debates. As regards the death-announcement posters, I investigate how, situated as they are within certain well-known Ghanaian cultural values and practices, including funerary caskets, these posters remediate these cultural mores in the context of rapid social change. Lastly, regarding the mottonyms, I explore, through interviews with vehicle owners, the interactions between specific life experiences that spurred them to coin these inscriptions and the cultural fabric within which they have done so. Conceptually, this dissertation draws not only from cultural anthropology and its subfields of visual culture, and religion, media and culture, but also significantly from global/international media studies and from emergent works on African cultural and media studies. The harnessing of interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks, such as phenomenological and social constructionist approaches, to interrogate Ghanaian popular visual media in this dissertation advances our current thinking in the above-mentioned fields in several ways. For example, the social constructionist (Lee-Hurwitz 1995; Morgan 2005) and phenomenological approaches (Langsdorf, 1994; Lanigan 1998) that guide the investigation of vehicle inscriptions and death-announcement posters reveal purposeful intentionality in human communication. Furthermore, this dissertation, with its focus on popular video-films, press cartoons, death-announcement posters and vehicle inscriptions concretely elucidates recent expansive theorizations of `media'. Here `media' is understood as practices of mediation (de Vries 2001; Meyer 2003; Zito 2008), and broadly conceived to transcend narrowly defined traditional mass media formats (Downing 1996). In the latter case, I advocate for global/international media scholars to begin to pay equal `field service' to popular media artifacts within the current ambit of the `practice paradigm' in global/international media studies (Postill 2010:4; Couldry 2004).

The protection of survivors of sexual violence during court proceedings is as important as the court proceedings themselves, as any mishaps may impact greatly on the well-being and future engagement of these survivors with the criminal justice system. The issue of secondary victimization remains a problem faced by many survivors of sexual violence who try to seek justice for their ordeal. It is against this background that several international, regional and national documents have been enacted with hopes of mitigating the issue of secondary victimizations from the criminal justice system and its actors. The court as an institution within the criminal justice system is established to handle all criminal and civil cases within a defined jurisdiction and as such is charged to handle all cases of sexual violence filed before it. However, the role of the court in protecting victims especially victims of sexual violence is increasingly being questioned. Therefore, the dissertation seeks to explore the issues surrounding the protection of survivors of sexual violence in the Ghanaian court. To adequately explore the issue under consideration, a qualitative research approach was adopted, which entailed on-site observations and interviews. As a case study, the gender court was selected as the site for the research. The findings of the study support a strong argument for an expansive approach from the court and all stakeholders of the criminal justice system, from both structural and legal approaches as well as the need for an attitudinal change to harness the protection of survivors of sexual violence who seek justice for their ordeal. Thus, the findings point to the need for urgent attention to help reduce the risk of secondary victimization in the court.

The objective of this study is to assess the problems associated with how the people of Mozambique participate in the exercise of political power, through election of parliamentary representatives. This study also aims at suggesting alternatives to improve the system in order to make it more inclusive. Focus is placed on demonstrating how democratic principles may fall short as a result of inadequate electoral standards. To achieve these objectives the study makes a comparative study of the Ghanaian electoral system, for its specific significance in promoting effective and meaningful participation in the exercise of political power. Addresses the following research questions: (1) What features characterise parliamentary elections in Mozambique? (2) What weaknesses are there in the system of parliamentary elections in Mozambique? (3) What consequences arise from such a system? (4) How to improve the system for election of parliament in Mozambique? / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr Josiah Aryeh of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / As an official and second language in Ghana, English is used as a medium of instruction in the Ghanaian educational setting, especially at the university level. Therefore, for Ghanaian students to go through their university education successfully, they should be able to demonstrate competence in the usage of English. However, time and again, there have been series of complaints from most English language teachers about the Ghanaian students’ lack of dexterity in writing cohesive and coherent texts. The present study, therefore, has as its aim to explore texture in first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students' essays (GUSEs). This focus is achieved through four main specific objectives. Thus, the study accounts for (1) the types of cohesive devices (2) the cohesive errors (3) the disciplinary variation in the type of cohesive devices and cohesive errors and (4) the thematic progression patterns in the essays of these first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students. To achieve these objectives, I use the Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective to text analysis, specifically the metafunction of texture as projected by Halliday (1967, 1970, 1985, 1994, and 2004), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Martin and Rose (2003) and Martin (2015). / 2023

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The modern fair trade movement and resulting network emerged during the twentieth century as a strategy to alleviate extreme poverty through creating equitable trading initiatives and markets. Since its emergence, fair trade has grown tremendously to include initiatives across the globe, particularly within the Global South. Although the intent to do good is present amongst fair traders, the impact of these initiatives remains rather ambiguous, especially in regards to culture. Using a case study approach, this thesis aims to identify the cultural implications of fair trade activities and initiatives on Ghanaian basket weavers and their local communities, and then determine the effectiveness of the fair trade movement in aligning intent with impact within this context given these findings. From there, specific policy recommendations are provided for future initiatives.

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