Teachers advised to apply child psychology to content, teaching methods

A retired Director of Education, Mr David Cephas Ofotsu Sottie, has advised teachers in the basic and high schools to apply the knowledge of child psychology and child development to the content and methods of teaching and learning.

He explained that by so doing, teachers would be selecting appropriate methods, teaching and learning materials as well as the content which would suit the age and capabilities of the learner.

Anniversary

Mr Sottie, who is also the immediate past Principal of the Ada College of Education, gave the advice when he spoke on the theme: “Quality Pedagogy; a tool for societal transformation’’ at the 25th Anniversary of the Ada Senior High Technical School at Sege in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region.

He said for example that in a basic school where child-centred learning was practised, there should be a lot of play/learning materials from which learners could make their choices and there should also be enough classroom space for those same learners to move around and operate.

“It is, therefore, absolutely essential that teachers expose learners to experiences, activities, knowledge, skills that will prepare them adequately to live in society,’’ he stressed.

Mr Sottie mentioned that the teacher, learner, school community or parents, school management committee, parent-teacher associations, old students, board of governors, assembly members, traditional rulers,  district assemblies and the government, among others were key and critical stakeholders that if well harnessed, would bring about quality pedagogy for societal transformation.

The guest speaker said for delivery of quality pedagogy, a school or the teacher required sufficient and quality inputs to meet the challenges and rise to the occasion to fill the vacuum created by the rapidly fading traditional systems of education.

T-TEL Programme

To address these short falls, Mr Sottie said the government as a stakeholder, in collaboration with the Department For International Development (DFID), had initiated the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme in all the 38 colleges of education as a measure to address the challenges confronting the practical aspect of teaching and also to equip the teacher trainees with the right approaches in teaching Mathematics, Science, and Technology in the basic schools.

He entreated the Ghana Education Service (GES), the main supervisor of basic education in the country, to ensure that the necessary teaching and learning materials were provided on time to the schools to assist the teachers in their preparation of lessons for quality delivery according to the method and theories of teaching.

Mr Sottie said the SMC’s and the PTA’s had complementary roles they played in seeing to it that schools were governed by rules and regulations laid down by the GES and suggested the need for their revamp as they were dormant in most of the schools across the country.

Headmaster

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Abraham Tetteh Narh-Saam, paid tribute to the founding fathers of the school, including Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, a former Minister of Education, and Mr Kwame Atto Asare, the first Headmaster who started the school with 110 students and four National Service persons in 1991.

He said the current population of the school stood at 1,880 students with 119 teaching and non-teaching staff and had been doing well in both academic and co-curricular activities.

On challenges confronting the school, Mr Narh-Saam mentioned  a school bus, assembly/dining hall complex, classroom, furniture, staff accommodation, sick bay, and poor drainage system, and appealed to the government and other collaborators to come to the aid of the school.

The Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Dr Peter Attafuah, said the government had done its best in supporting quality education delivery in the country and urged teachers and other stakeholders to also play their parts well so as to achieve the universal goals of education.

Dr Nii Kotei Dzani, the President of Groupe Ideal, who chaired the programme, said as part of his company’s corporate social responsibility, plans were being considered to put up a dormitory block for the school, by early next year to help address accommodation challenges in the school.