Mr Chairman,
Hon. MP for Nkwanta South,
The District Chief Executive
The Principal—Jasico,
Chiefs and Elders of Jasikan,
SRC Executives,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All Protocols duly observed:
I have been asked to address the topic: Review of the Past and Present Challenges of the Teacher Trainee: The Way Forward”. I am grateful to the Planning Committee for the invitation and hope to meet your expectations by the time I am done.
In this presentation, I propose to:
- Give a brief background of Teacher Education in Ghana,
- Trace the history of teacher unions in Ghana briefly,
- Identify successes chalked in teacher education in Ghana; then
- Review challenges faced by teacher trainees,
- Conclude with suggestions on how to overcome these challenges.
Background to Teacher Education in Ghana
Mr Chairman, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training institution in the country (Presbyterian Training College [PTC]) in 1835 at Akropong in the Eastern Region. Several other missions emulated this gesture and a century later (by 1937) according to Aboagye (2000), Amedzofe followed in 1894; Wesley College Aburi in 1922; Kumasi in 1924; OLA (Cape Coast) in 1928; St Francis (Hohoe) in 1930; John Bosco (Navrongo) followed in 1937.
Before 1950 there were twelve teacher training colleges with only two (i.e. Kommenda and Tamale) being established by the Central Government (Aboagye, 2000). The Government Training College (GOVCO) at Peki, followed in 1954 as a result of the implementation of the Accelerated Development Plan for Education (ADPE) in 1951. Today, there are 38 public and 3 private colleges of education in the country producing teachers for basic education, indicating the number of colleges had doubled in the past sixty years (Mereku, 2013).
Emergence of Teacher Unions
Mr Chairman, the place of teacher unions in a discussion on teacher education cannot be over stated. The first Teachers’ association in Ghana was probably formed in 1926. Later, in 1962, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) was established on the heels of the Assisted Schools Teachers’ Union (ASTU) which was formed in 1932 and renamed in 1937 as the Gold Coast Teachers Union (GCTU) to reconcile the aspirations of all teachers in the country.
There are currently three teacher unions in Ghana namely: The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT). Reports suggest that there is a fourth one in the pipeline.
Besides championing the interests of their members, teacher unions in Ghana contribute to the professional development of teachers. They organize workshops and in-service training for their members as well as offering career development direction to teachers in training.
Milestones in Pre-Service Teacher Education in Ghana
Mr Chairman, a proper review of teacher education in Ghana cannot fail to recognize progresses and significant transformations that have taken place since the establishment of the first teacher training college in 1835. The successes chalked include:
- The elevation of the 38 public and 3 private colleges of education to tertiary status to offer programmes leading to the award of diplomas to enhance the quality of teacher education.
- The selection of some colleges of education to offer specialists programmes such as Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) whilst others train mainly mathematics and science teachers for basic schools across the country.
- Increased enrollment of students into colleges of education. The colleges of education admit an average of 9,000 trainees and turn out at least 8,500 trained teachers each year (MOE-EMIS, 2013).
Challenges Facing Teacher Trainees
Mr Chairman, Carl Sagan once said: “You have to know the past to understand the present.” George Santayana’s version of the quote is: “To know your future you must know the past. ”But perhaps more important is the quote “Sapere Aude” from Immanuel Kant’s article titled: “What is Enlightenment?” (Immanuel Kant is the German Philosopher considered the central figure of modern philosophy). And Jasico’s motto sapere aude (which I believe is an adoption of Kant’s) must be the spirit behind the continuous determination of past and present generations of students of this college.
Teacher trainees in Ghana have been confronted with a myriad of challenges from time immemorial. From those that led to series of demonstrations in the country around 1967/68; through those which culminated in the formation of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG); up to those that compelled trainees of Wesley College of Education—Kumasi to walk out on the Deputy Minister of Education (Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa) at the Campus Connect event in 2015, teacher trainees have been in one form of disagreement or the other with governments. Perhaps, Thomas Hobbes was right in his assertion that: “man’s life in a state of nature is a war of all against all”.
And having said that let me now invite you to come with me to identify and review some of the challenges teacher trainees have been confronted with over the years:
- Trainee Allowances (Alawa).
In an effort to attract more people into the teaching profession, Dr Kwame Nkrumah introduced trainee allowances in the 1960s. These allowances were repealed in the 1970s but reinstated in the 80s following the mass exodus of teachers to Nigeria.
The allowances have been the reason most people (who could otherwise not have been able to afford teacher education) were able to go through teacher training to become great teachers imparting our generation. You can probably name past students of Jasico who are doing great things for this country.
However, from 2012, government scrapped the trainee allowances and replaced it with students’ loans. Arguments put forward for the removal of the trainee allowances include: “(i) lack of government financial capacity to maintain the allowances; (ii) the continuous payment of allowances to Teacher Trainees after Colleges of Education have been upgraded to tertiary institutions to award university degrees would amount to short-changing students in other tertiary institutions who rely on loans from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and other sources to support their education; (iii) the need to save money to expand infrastructure in colleges of education to create space to train more teachers at full capacity.
But, Mr Chairman, Teacher trainees are a peculiar set of students with unique rules of engagement and needs. Whereas students in the universities and other institutions look for employment of their own choice on completion of their courses of studies, teacher trainees are bonded and posted to teach in places over which they have no control for a certain number of years whether they like it or not. So why band all students together and treat them the same way?
This decision has obviously left in its wake disquiet among teacher trainees and a cross-sections of the populace. Scrapping trainees’ allowances defeats the rationale for the institution of the allowances to attract more people into the teaching profession thus reducing the ever re-curing phenomenon of empty classrooms. It also takes away any form of authority of the GES to continue posting and bonding teachers upon graduation from college.
Mr Chairman, addressing the issue of equity for tertiary education funding (in extreme circumstances) may require making provision for students in other tertiary institutions to enjoy allowances and not scrapping what is being received by Teacher Trainees. After all, government officials continue to “earn” more than other public sector workers and nobody raises any point for the curtailment of their perks privileges. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander!
- Delays in Release of Feeding Grants
To compensate teacher trainees over the withdrawal of their allowances, government has offered to absorb the cost of feeding them. However, trainees are expected to pay their school fees in full at the start of the semester whiles the component for feeding is refunded by government later. But these grants delay unduly to the discomfort of most students as well as management of the colleges with the only options being to buy food and other indispensable exigencies on credit.
- Breaks in Academic Calendar
Owing to the need to train students who have signed on to the Untrained Teachers in Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) programme, some colleges running such programmes take breaks. These breaks disrupt academic work in the colleges of education.
- Content of Teacher Training Curriculum
This is another area of concern for teacher trainees that has not received as much attention as the others. But if Ghana’s education system is to meet the developmental needs and aspirations of its people, the content of teacher education curriculum must be taken seriously. Concerns have been raised over the rigidity of teacher training curriculum which leaves little room for students to explore and find solutions to challenges such as low reading abilities of pupils; as well as teaching problem solving.
- Restricted Social Life of Teacher Trainees
In spite of the elevation of colleges of education to tertiary status, most colleges of education still operate as boarding institutions giving little room for trainees to mix freely with people outside the school community. Life in the colleges of education is still highly controlled like the way it is done in boarding houses, offering trainees inadequate room to be responsible for their own lives; they do not enjoy the liberties their counterparts in other tertiary institutions enjoy and this is usually reflected in the way most teachers carry themselves especially immediately after graduation: less confident and assertive.
The Way forward
But these challenges must be overcome. If the bottlenecks of education are to be dealt with, then the concerns of teacher trainees must be taken seriously and addressed to the barest minimum.
- The teacher trainee allowances must be restored. It is not too late to do so!
- The teacher training curriculum must be reviewed to produce a situation where trainees are motivated enough to become more curious and innovative.
- Teacher trainees must be treated as mature persons by extending to them all the courtesies that adults enjoy including allowing them space to mingle freely with society while in school.
- De-boardinizing colleges of education would free more space for use by students pursuing sandwich courses and reduce the frequent breaks in academic calendar of colleges of education.
End Word!
A major source of worry for most people in Ghana today is the dis-connect between advanced qualifications of teachers and the outcomes of education, especially at the basic school level. More teachers are up-grading themselves either by pursuing university education as full-time students or through distance learning or sandwich courses yet, results of pupils and students at the basic and second cycle levels of education continue to decline.
To conceal the embarrassment associated with this situation, some teachers and students resort to examination malpractices. There is therefore the need to take urgent steps to enforce the idea of life-long learning among students and the general public. This will take away the tendency to cheat in an examination in order to get good grades to proceed to the next level of education.
Sapere Aude!
PS:
This is a presentation I made at the 2016 SRC Week Celebration of Jasico on June 4, 2016 as Guest Speaker.