‘Teaching demands continuing professional dev’
The Director of Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Ansah, has underscored the need for teachers to avail themselves of continuing professional development to keep them abreast of rapid global changes.
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Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Ada College of Education in the Ada East District in the Greater Accra Region, he said research had shown that teachers who constantly acquired knowledge, were committed and adopted multiple approaches to problem solving using proven teaching methodologies produced good students.
He said that assertion clearly supported the need for consistent and qualitative continuing professional development of teachers.
“It is for this reason that appropriate structures have been put in place by the GES to enable you to reach the optimum level of your professional development. Going through the pre-service training at Ada College of Education is only the first step,” he stressed.
The 169 graduates were awarded Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) certificate by the Institute of Education, University of Cape Coast.
Out of the number, 19 graduated with second class upper, 65 had second class lower, 75 third class, with 10 having pass.
History
The Ada College of Education (formally Ada Training College) was established in 1965. It was started as a four-year post-middle teacher training institution but admitted students for secondary/vocational courses in place of teacher trainees in 1974.
It admitted both teacher trainees and secondary/vocational students the following year, and in 1988, the college phased out admission of the secondary/vocational students and once again assumed the role of purely teacher training college that trained only post-secondary teachers. It was recently upgraded to the status of college of education that offers science and technical skills.
District in-service training
Mr Ansah explained that every district had a District In-service Training Committee (DIC) chaired by the director of education in that district, which is responsible for planning and facilitating the implementation of such training, known as School-based and Cluster-based In-service Training (CBI).
He said the training must be a regular feature to sharpen and keep teachers “alive” in the profession, he added. “Remember that without this, you will soon begin to rust at the station where you are posted and the theory of gradual extinction of knowledge due to disuse will begin to materialise in your life.”
He, therefore, urged the newly trained teachers to embrace the in-service training concept because of the personal and professional benefits they would get.
The Principal
The Principal of the College, Mr David Cephas Ofosu Sottie, in his report, said the college developed an exchange programme with the United Kingdom Institute of Physics and Madrinha Trust of London for the training of both science tutors and students.
In connection with that, in March this year, a delegation led by Mr Roger Green of the U.K. Institute of Physics visited the college and organised a training workshop for all the tutors in the science department. The group also donated basic electronic equipment to the department.
Exchange programme
He said as part of the exchange programme, four students of the college, two males and two females who performed creditably at the end of the first semester examinations had their names and profiles sent to Mr Green for their visit to U.K later in the year.
Mr Sottie was grateful to organisations, past students and individuals who supported the college in diverse ways and appealed for further support from the government, old students, and the Ada Traditional Area.
The 1999 year group presented a double-door fridge to the school, while Mr John Ocansey, the Managing Director, Alphamago Micro Finance Company, Kasseh-Ada, who is also a member of the 1999 year group, donated 100 bags of cement for the continuation of the wall of the college.
Present at the function were dignitaries, including, a former Minister of Education, Mr Alex Narh Tettey-Enyo, and Mr Yaw Fosu-Danquah, the District Director of Education for Ada–East.
