Today October 5, teachers across the world are marking World Teachers Day (WTD) under the theme: “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers.” WTD has been held yearly on October 5 since 1994 to commemorate the anniversary of the signing (in 1966) of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
The recommendations establish international standards for teachers’ initial training and for further education; as well as the rights and responsibilities of teachers. It also defines modes of recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions and further makes a strong case for teachers to participate in educational decisions through consultation and negotiation with educational authorities. For over fifty years, the recommendations have served as the major reference framework to address issues relating to teachers’ rights and responsibilities universally.
The recommendations provide a roadmap to governments, as well as teacher unions in tackling issues regarding the status and working conditions of teachers among other things. Matters such as professional freedom, teacher empowerment and teacher resourcing have been dealt with adequately in the document.
Teacher Empowerment
Bolin (1989) defines Teacher Empowerment as “investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies and to exercise professional judgment about what and how to teach.” Similarly, paragraph 61 of the recommendations provide that:
“The teaching profession should enjoy academic freedom in the discharge of professional duties. Since teachers are particularly qualified to judge the teaching aids and methods most suitable for their pupils, they should be given the essential role in the choice and adaptation of teaching material, the selection of textbooks, and the application of teaching methods, within the framework of approved programmes, and with the assistance of the educational authorities.”
Teacher Resourcing
A key principle of Human Resource Management is for employers to provide resources to employees to enable them carry out their duties effectively without let or hindrance. However, a common refrain in the teaching service in Ghana is “improvisation”. Just recently, a teacher took improvisation to another level by using stones to represent a computer mouse, generating controversy subsequently.
Quite significantly, teacher resourcing should concern the provision of teaching aids for efficient lesson delivery. Paragraph 88 (1) of the recommendations states that:
“Authorities should provide teachers and pupils with modern aids to teaching. Such aids should not be regarded as a substitute for the teacher but as a means of improving the quality of teaching and extending to a larger number of pupils the benefits of education.”
Contact Hours
Recently, the issue of how long teachers need to be at work generated a lot of debates. One school of thought feels that teachers need to work full office hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm just like other public sector workers.
Another school of thought however argues that learners do not have the capacity to stay in school from morning to evening. They further maintained that beyond teaching and facilitating lessons, teachers perform other tasks related to their jobs outside contact hours such as marking of learners’ exercises as well as preparing for subsequent lessons, hence, if they close from school at 5:00 pm, they would not have adequate time to mark exercises and prepare adequately for future lessons.
Paragraph 90 of the recommendations proposes that:
“In fixing hours of teaching account should be taken of all factors which are relevant to the teacher’s work load, such as: (a) the number of pupils with whom the teacher is required to work per day and per week; (b) the necessity to provide time for adequate planning and preparation of lessons and for evaluation of work; (c) the number of different lessons assigned to be taught each day, etc.”
The Incheon Declaration
Participants at the World Education Forum held in Incheon, Republic of Korea, in May 2015 adopted the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030, which sets out a new vision for education for the next fifteen years.
The Sustainable Development Goals which subsequently came into force on January 1, 2016 puts a stamp on the Incheon Declaration in Goal Four which aims to: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” More specifically, it hopes to, “by 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.”
End Word
Well developed educational policies should show the way towards development. It is not very clear yet how Ghana hopes to win the fight against under development and poverty using education. Is it time yet to take a holistic view at all of Ghana’s Education Policies?