By
Stephen Asante, GNA
Kumasi, Nov. 08, GNA
– A two-day capacity building workshop to strengthen the competencies of
administrative professionals of Colleges of Education for the effective
implementation of the new teacher education curriculum in the country, has
ended in Kumasi.
‘Transforming
Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) in Ghana’, a programme of the
government, being sponsored and facilitated by the United Kingdom (UK) Aid,
would aid the successful implementation of the four-year Bachelor of Education
(B.Ed) degree programme.
The workshop was
held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
It targeted
affiliate Colleges of Education of KNUST, including the Wesley, Akrokerri, St.
Joseph, Atebubu, Tamale and EP Colleges of Education.
The Ministry of
Education, its agencies together with other stakeholders, receiving support
from T-TEL, initiated a consultative process to reform the teacher education
sector in Ghana, about four years ago.
This has led to the
design and rollout of a new and innovative teacher education curriculum across
all 46 public Colleges of Education.
Additionally, a
number of interventions and policies had been facilitated to ensure that the
teacher training institutions produced quality and well-qualified teachers.
Professor Imoro
Braimah, Provost of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, KNUST, said
the administrative staff played critical roles in the running of the
teacher-trainee institutions.
This underscored the
need for them to be equipped with the requisite institutional knowledge and
memory abreast with the administrative systems – which were vital requirements
for the successful implementation of any new policy.
Prof. Braimah said
the new curriculum for the four-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree
programme, sought to advance the new direction for teacher education in the
country.
Stakeholders,
therefore ought to make meaningful inputs, while working together to realize
expected results to enhance educational development and growth.
Dr. Winston
Abroampa, Dean of the Faculty of Educational Studies, KNUST, indicated that the
educational reform was at its critical stage.
This called for
increased education and orientation of major stakeholders, including vice
principals, secretaries, quality assurance officers, librarians and public
relations officers of the various Colleges of Education.
The Dean hinted that
the Faculty was developing programmes that would run on modular basis to build
capacities of both faculty members and those in Colleges of Education, who do
not have educational-based competencies, to qualify them to teach.
He advocated
improvement in teacher education to help prepare and produce trainees who were
adequately prepared for the contemporary teaching environment.
The two-day
programme was under the theme “Managing Colleges of Education in the 21st
Century: the Role of Administrative Professionals.”
Participants were
taken through various topics including strategic leadership and change
management in the college, organization of effective college ceremonies,
writing memos and position papers, teaching and learning in digital age, and
total quality management in the college.
GNA
