Teachers’ Standards, Teachers License and Teachers Continuous Professional Development.
Teachers’ Standards have been developed by Education Stakeholders to ensure quality assurance at teacher training institutions in Ghana. These Teachers’ Standards meet international standard for training and complying with them will qualify every teacher, once licensed to teach anywhere in the world, it is not the license but basis for the license.
The teachers standards are:
- Professional values and attitude;
- Professional knowledge; and professional Practice. Further more,these teachers standards encompass; professional development, community of practice, professional ethics, knowledge of; educational curriculum,laws, policies,the learner and the learning environment,as well as teaching and learning and the forms or types of assessment. As a matter of fact, if the National Teaching Council (NTC) and the Ghana Tertiary Commission ( GTEC) were to ensure compliance from teacher training institutions and to guarantee quality assurance at entry and during pre-service training,every teacher would be licensed at graduation by the respective education regulatory bodies without compromising quality. Then,NTC could now set in motion the requirements for the renewal of licenses through teachers continuous professional development. It is also important to state very clearly that the debate to write or not to write licensure examination does not affect the mandate of the NTC. Per the Pre-tertiary Education Act,( Act,778) and the Education Regulatory Bodies Act ( Act 1023), NTC is to register and license teachers, and no one is taking that away from them. Teacher Education itself has gone through changes. Teachers initially graduated with Post Middle Certificate ‘B’, Four year Post Middle Certificate ‘A’, A three year Post Secondary Certificate ‘A’, A three year Diploma and now Four year degree in Basic Education. At which of these points were or are the standards of education really high?, but that is a subject to be discussed in detail later. When some of us went to the university to do courses in education,there used to be a course called ‘teaching as a profession’ and not ‘teaching as a unique profession’. We read about the need for the teachers to do what professionals do. This argument of teaching being special is an addition for argument purposes. When NTC was to implement the license,there was a policy that those who completed in or before 2018, would be given training and licensed accordingly without examination and any other person after that would be taking licensure examination. So, the vast majority of professional teachers now who have been licensed by NTC did not write the licensure examination. Are we saying,such are not given similar opportunities to teach elsewhere like those who wrote the examination?. It is important to state in passing that depending on a single standardized test to determine people’s future has inenumerable disadvantages we can discuss another time. But it must be mentioned that a very intelligent, proficient potential professional teacher could waste away for failing the standardized test the first time, and due to anxiety and stress fail subsequent ones. In conclusion,we can ensure compliance of the teachers standards, license teachers after training without licensure examination and provide support for teachers continuous professional development to be renewing their license. Again,the debate about whether to cancel or continue with licensure examination does not affect the mandate of the National Teaching Council NTC , in any way ,shape or form.
Dr. Issahaque Munawaru
Director, Education and Business Consultantancy ( Edubus Consult)
munawar@edubusconsult.org
0548485823
