Marginality and exclusion: teachers’ involvement in the formulation of Ghana's Free Senior High School Policy

In 2017, the Government of Ghana introduced the Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) to universalise access to secondary education. Although this policy has received substantial attention from scholars, limited attention has been paid to the role of teachers in the policy formulation process. To fill this lacuna, I draw on an ethnography of three distinct schools to explore teachers' views regarding their involvement in the policymaking process in Ghana and how teachers understand their role in policy formulation vis-à-vis the government. I argue that the government, seen as an all-powerful policy actor, excluded teachers from the policy formulation stage, yet teachers were charged with implementing the policy. Teachers attributed their marginalisation to the politicisation of education and the practice of policy borrowing. Teachers argued that their involvement and insight could have averted or mitigated implementation challenges. This paper contributes to understanding teachers' marginalisation in the education policy process.