Producing High-Quality Ghanaian Teachers -Impressive Improvements In Beginning Teachers’ Competence Nationwide

Saturday October 5, 2019 –Almost four years ago, the Government of Ghana, with significant investment from UK aid, launched Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL). This is an ambitious programme committed to ensuring that teachers posted to classrooms across the country are well-trained, prepared for the classroom, motivated and can inspire learners.

Today, the UK and T-TEL celebrate World Teacher’s Day under the theme: “Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession”. We applaud the pivotal role Ghanaian teachers play in improving children’s learning, promoting gender and social equality and supporting Ghana’s development and prosperity. Attracting talented, enthusiastic candidates who want to make a difference to children’s lives and society into the teaching profession is as important as the transformation already happening in teacher education.

Teacher education in Ghana is going through exciting changes; graduates of Colleges of Education will now leave with a degree which equips them with the right theoretical knowledge and practical skills to excel, support and inspire children in the classroom.

T-TEL and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) have already supported Colleges of Education to deliver impressive improvements. The proportion of beginning teachers who demonstrate core professional competencies having moved from less than 2% in 2015 to 42% in 2019.

The challenge now is to continue raising the profile of teaching and attracting young people who are passionate about teaching and being agents of social change into the profession. When the first B. Ed student teachers graduate in 2022, they need to enter a workplace where teaching is as a high profile, dynamic profession which recognises and rewards passion, integrity, excellence and commitment. This will be vital for ensuring better teaching quality, and better learning and life outcomes for children.

Both UK aid and T-TEL are fully committed to supporting the Government of Ghana to make this transformation, building on the successes achieved to date.

Notes for editors
The UK government is a committed partner in Ghana which has invested £400 million in Ghana’s education sector over the past 20 years. DFID has supported over 700,000 boys and girls to attend primary and secondary school over the past 10 years. Through T-TEL, DFID has supported 35,000 teachers to go into basic education schools with better teaching skills so far. The UK has also supported over 2,500 Ghanaians with scholarships to study in UK universities, gain degrees and develop their professional skills through the FCO and British Council.

T-TEL has supported the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Universities, Colleges of Education, schools and other agencies to deliver dramatic improvements to teacher education by:

• Developing National Teachers’ Standards, to define what is expected from a good teacher in Ghana
• Introducing a new 4-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) curriculum for initial Teacher Education, to make teaching a degree profession and produce teachers who meet the National Teachers’ Standards
• improving leadership, management, gender equality, social inclusion and safety in Colleges of Education, with 80% of Principals meeting defined leadership standards
• Supporting over 1,000 college tutors to use more student-centred, gender sensitive, inclusive and participatory methods when training student teachers
• Increasing the proportion of beginning teachers who demonstrate core professional competencies from less than 2% in 2015 to 42% in 2019
• Enabling Colleges of Education to introduce innovations to improve teacher education through 10 million Ghana Cedis of performance-based financing.

T-TEL will continue supporting the Government of Ghana to improve teacher education and learning outcomes for every Ghanaian child until the programme ends in December 2020.

T-TEL’s impact is tracked through an Annual Survey of Progress & Achievements carried out by an external agency. The latest report (September 2019) can be downloaded from the following link: http://bit.ly/2nLE15A .

To find out more visit www.t-tel.org or contact Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) via: [email protected]