Prof. Fletcher calls for training of teachers head of 2020/2021 academic year

Dean of the School of Education and Leadership, University of Ghana, Prof. Jonathan Fletcher, is calling for training of teachers ahead of the commencement of the 2020/2021 academic year.

This follows an announcement by the Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Kwabena Tandoh, that students would advance to the next level of their academics without assessment or examination.

Speaking on Campus Exclusive, Prof. Jonathan Fletcher explained that the training will contribute to the preparation of teachers when academic activities commence.

“If we are going to promote all students irrespective of their abilities, that is fine but the problem then is that you need to train the teachers so that they can work at two grades. Next year, Primary 2 teacher, before he/she starts Primary 2 work, would have to go back and look at where the Primary 1 work was ended and start from there,” he said.

He urged the management of the various levels of education to assign one to a particular subject in a bid to improve efficiency and understanding.

“If it is possible, you encourage subject-teaching. So if you go to a private school and there is a teacher who is very good at Mathematics, that person can teach the subject from P1 to P6,” he said.

Professor Fletcher further added that “at the moment, teachers are teaching three classes in one class [one big classroom]. It is not a new thing but what they need to do is to learn what we call differentiation.”