Communication and civic education in Ghana: an analysis of the national commission for civic education and its external communication practices

Abstract

This study investigated the communication practices of Ghana‟s National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE). It specifically analysed the policy framework guiding NCCE‟s external communication, the communication approaches and the implications of the approaches used in the Commission‟s external communication activities. The study was guided by three theories: Barnlund‟s transactional model of communication (1970), Media Richness Theory (1984) and Paulo Freire‟s dialogic model (1993/70) and a qualitative-led case study design with data from semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study discovered that although communication is indispensable to the effective performance of NCCE‟s civic education functions, the Commission operates without a codified communication policy. Instead, the Commission‟s community and media engagement activities thrive on established conventions and ad hoc measures. The crucial implication is that the Commission could be failing in its communication-driven civic education function, requiring the need to develop a proactive communication policy to guide the Commission‟s civic education activities.