With effect from October 2001, teacher trainees will be required to spend two out of their three-year training period on college campuses while the remaining year will be spent on the field for practical teaching.
This is to ensure that teachers effectively blend academic work and practical teaching methods for effective discharge of their responsibilities.
It is also in line with the Teacher Training Unit’s policy of shifting subject-based examination to more practical assessment for the final examination of teacher training colleges.
The Educational Consultant and Advisor to the Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr Kwabena Anakwa Awuku, who disclosed this, said the programme is being funded by the government and DFID.
He said the current second year trainees will be the first to start the programme from 2001 to 2002 academic year.
According to Dr Awuku, the current 12 weeks teaching practice is not sufficient in preparing teachers for effective teaching and this has resulted in many teachers lacking practical experience even though they excel academically.
He stressed that the art of effective teaching can be better learned on the field and since teachers are not like nurses, who have their colleges in the hospitals, the best option is to expose them early to the communities so that they do not find it difficult when they are posted after their training.
Dr Awuku said for the country to be able to meet the challenges of a global world, it is important to conform to the international standards of teaching in order to have a productive human resource base.
He said since the end of year promotional examination was introduced and those who fail are withdrawn, there have been a tremendous improvement in the performance of students.
Dr Awuku said in all, over 7,200 trainees from the 38 training colleges will be sent to the various schools in the country but stated that in order to solve the problem of accommodation, most of them will be sent to the communities in which they live.
He said for purposes of equitable distribution, the country has been zoned into six, namely Northern (Zone 1), Ashanti (Zone 2) , Brong Ahafo (Zone 3), Greater Accra and Volta (Zone 4), Eastern (Zone 5) and Central and Western (Zone 6).
Dr Awuku said headteachers and other education officers are currently undergoing in-service training and seminars to serve as supervisors as well as mentors to the trainees.
He said the Teacher Trainee Unit, in collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), will recruit retired educationist from the district assemblies and the Religious Educational Units who will help in the programme as mentors.
Dr Awuku said it is envisaged that an average of 240 mentors will be trained in each zone to ensure a ratio of 12 teacher trainees to one mentor.
He said the teachers will be distributed in pairs to a class and said a 19-point code of ethics will be distributed to the trainees to serve as a guideline.
