Developing teachers’ information literacy capabilities in secondary schools in Ghana: A comparative study of two best schools in the central region

Abstract

This study examines the information literacy capabilities of teachers in two of the oldest secondary schools in the Central Region of Ghana. The study assesses the availability, accessibility and use of the schools’ library and internet facilities as well as in-service training programmes in relation to the acquisition of information literacy skills. The survey method was adopted and questionnaire was administered to all 211 teaching staff in the two schools. Questionnaire design was based on the literature review and research objectives. The findings confirmed the availability of fairly well-equipped libraries with internet facilities; the ability of most teachers to use these facilities to satisfy their information needs such as supplementing their teaching notes and keeping abreast with current information in their subject areas. The results also show that teachers prefer electronic sources to print sources and that there was also no in-service training in information literacy skills for teachers. The study recommends that the Ghana Education Service introduces in-service training on IL skills for teachers and that the Heads of schools should make available relevant library materials and stable internet facilities for their schools since these are important in developing teachers IL skills. Additionally, policies for incorporating IL into the curriculum were also recommended. IL among teachers in secondary schools is among the least explored topics in the field of library and information studies in Ghana.