TEACHERS MUST UNDERTAKE PROFESSIONAL COURSES (PAGE 11, AUGUST 20, 2010)

THE Director of the Institute of Education at the University of Cape Coast, Professor James Adu Opare, has stressed the need for teachers to regularly undertake professional development programmes as a way of improving their capacity and make them more proficient.
He noted that the diploma and degree programmes being instituted for basic education courses are meant to build the capacity of teachers in a more proficient way to enhance effective delivery in the classrooms.
Prof. Opare said it was only when teachers were able to meet the needed requirements and became skillful in their delivery that the standard of education in the country would improve.
The Director was speaking at the graduation ceremony of St. Louis College of Education in Kumasi, where a total of 1,258 diplomates graduated.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Improved Teacher Quality, a basis for National Development’ Professor Opare said it was important for teachers to be abreast of technology and other teaching and learning materials as a way of boosting their confidence in their service delivery.
He said the requisite qualification and proficiency in service delivery on the part of teachers would also impact positively on the human resource development to enhance accelerated national development.
Prof. Opare said since capacity building of teachers had direct correlation with national development, it was important for the government to support the professional training of teachers in diverse ways as a way of motivating them to upgrade their skills.
The Principal of the College, Mrs Mary Anane Druyeh, commended the Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for taking up the challenge of helping to implement government’s policy on human resource development of the country.
She said the programme was impacting positively on the educational reform target of training highly qualified teachers in every classroom .
Re-affirming that teachers were the central actors of every country’s human resource development, Mrs Druyeh said, it was for this reason that the GES had put in place the “Sandwich Programme” to enable teachers to build their capacity more meaningfully.
She stated that among other things, the programme has reduced the number of practising teachers without the national minimum teacher qualification for teaching in Basic Schools in the country.
Mrs Druyeh advised the graduates to be committed to the profession and also work extra hard for them to win the confidence of their students all the time.