By: Ellen Abakah (Ph.D), Lecturer, Department of Adult Education, University of Ghana & Riche-Mike Wellington, Chief Programme Specialist, Ghana Commission for UNESCO
Introduction
For many decades, improving educational quality has been a key global issue for governments and educational stakeholders, particularly in the face of diverse and rapid socio-cultural changes that place higher demands and expectations on teacher skills and professionalism. To address these concerns, many global education reforms and programmes have concentrated on classroom teaching quality, specifically on teachers as change agents in enhancing student learning outcomes. Countries have consequently had to invest heavily on teacher quality by providing opportunities for continuous professional development.
In 2001, the United States for example, established the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which required high-quality professional development for all teachers as part of efforts to increase teacher quality for effective student outcomes. Similarly, through the McCrone Inquiry (2001) and the Quality Teacher Programme, the Scottish and Australian governments have respectively enhanced educational quality by introducing well-institutionalized teacher CPD practices. The Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) system in South Africa also serves as a national framework that allows the practice of CPD towards improved learner outcomes. In the francophone space, the Senegalese Projet de Renforcement de l’Enseignement des Mathématiques, des Sciences et de la Technologie (PREMST) requires mathematics and science teachers to participate in CPD activities to stimulate the learning of mathematics and science among students.
These policies have offered a broader context and structure to design and implement teacher CPD practices in the respective countries. Indeed, the absence of a well-specified CPD policy framework substantially impacts the quality of teaching and learning in schools. In Ghana, many educational reforms and policies have successfully focused on broadening access and improving teacher quality through curriculum revision and the provision of teaching and learning materials. Successive governments have provided incentives for teachers in rural schools, establish motivation award schemes, and improve teacher education programmes. However, much has not been achieved in teacher continuous professional development towards improvement in learner outcomes.
This article serves to contribute to the on-going policy discourse in teacher continuous professional development in Ghana as the country strives to become a ‘learning nation’. Currently, government and education stakeholders are making efforts to reinforce the role of the teacher as the pivot around which education enterprise revolves towards improvement in learning outcomes. It is also envisaged that the ideas herein expressed could also be useful for countries facing the complicated challenges of navigating the professional development of teachers.
Policies shaping teacher CPD activities in Ghana
In 2012, the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (now National Teaching Council) developed the Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional Development and Management (PTPDM) policy based on recommendations of previous education reforms. The #PTPDM was to address teacher quality issues within the education system. It aimed at providing a national framework and standards for enhancing teacher quality through practical in-service training. The PTPDM policy emphasized a competency-based approach to teacher professional development, in which CPD programmes and activities emphasised knowledge and skills necessary to meet the changing demands of their profession.
The National Teaching Council (NTC) further in 2020 developed a Framework for Continuous Professional Development for pre-tertiary teachers in Ghana. The framework, which is linked to a point-based system, serves as reference point for stakeholders in the CPD sector to develop materials for teachers. While the introduction of the point-based system whipped up teachers’ interest in accessing CPD, the quality of training has remained questionable. Some have argued that teachers pay for CPD programmes to receive points but not necessarily to build capacity and competencies to improve classroom teaching and consequently learner outcomes.
While these policy attempts are laudable, they are often fraught with many challenges. Generally, they are short of the theoretical basis that conceptualizes teacher CPD endeavours as a lifelong learning process. For this reason, professional development practices appear as a ‘thing’ or event that teachers need to participate in and account for. Also, the policies mirror what researchers describe as ‘policy as discourse’ rather than ‘policy as practice,’ wherein the policies lack any implementation force in practice. Consequently, the effectiveness of these CPD policies to influence teachers’ practices for improved learner outcomes have been questioned.
Meanwhile, the introduction of the point-based system as part of the CPD framework created an influx of CPD Service Providers with varied interests in the CPD programmes. Also, teachers’ ability to utilize the points accumulated for promotion is not clearly defined. Moreover, the CPD programmes are usually organized in person with large class sizes. Teachers who cannot make appearances at training venues are left out, thereby denying many teachers the service. Furthermore, the PTPDM policy does not have a well-defined articulation of what should constitute or count as teacher CPD standards. Again, the theoretical and methodical pathway directing implementation in an on-going learning process among pre-tertiary schoolteachers appears to be lacking. In South Africa for example, the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development provides several CPD activities that the South African Council for Education (SACE) authorizes based on quality, suitability for purpose and a computerized point-based system to support efficient implementation. There are also structures to cope with predicted issues that may arise during implementation. Similarly, in Scotland and Australia, the broader CPD policy framework establishes regulating bodies to be accountable for organizing and conducting professional development activities for teachers in a structured, and, in an on-going manner. Teacher professional development is a continuous learning process that must be emphasized in the policy framework that governs it.
The Government of Ghana through Agencies of the Ministry of Education has over the years made deliberate efforts to support public school teachers with funds and equipment (computers) for CPD activities, but the private school teacher does not benefit from this provision. Meanwhile, data from the International Finance Corporation estimates that 40 percent of Ghana’s basic education schools are private, of which 40 percent are low fee with teachers usually untrained. In that context, there is need to be intentional about developing a comprehensive CPD framework that addresses gaps in both public and private schools, particularly at a time where the NTC expects private school teachers to obtain licenses before they teach.
While the Ghana National Teachers Standards (NTS) identifies some activities such as community of practice, as counting towards teachers’ CPD, the standards are subsidiary to teacher education reform and, therefore, not comprehensive enough to guide CPD practices and participation in a sustained manner. The NTS lacks the implementation framework to support teacher participation in CPD and how it is linked to their classroom performance and student learning. These deficiencies necessitate the development of a broader and a more coherent policy framework to guide teacher CPD practices in Ghana.
CPD Practices of Teachers in Ghana
Currently, three predominant pathways exist for teachers’ development: continuing education, organized CPD activities (basically workshops and in-service training), and individual teacher-initiated learning activities (although not institutionalized, and teachers do not conceptualize them as CPD).
At the individual level, teachers widely explore continuing education opportunities through either distance or sandwich modes of participation to upgrade themselves professionally. While these have become significant avenues to teachers’ learning, their usefulness to teachers’ professional practice has often been questioned as regards the relevance of qualifications attained and the extent to which these programmes increase teachers’ capacity to deliver better teaching in the classroom.
There are also organized CPD activities for teachers at the school and district levels in cluster-based learning. These activities are primarily specialisms, periodically organized for subject-specific teachers and often sponsored. The intervention usually aims to train and retrain teachers to exhibit the competence to improve students’ performance or conform to specific educational requirements. Hence, the need for its provision arises when new elements are introduced in the school curriculum and/or when there is an outcry of students’ performance in a particular geographical area. It has been argued that providing CPD opportunities under these conditions leads to the neglect of teachers’ development in other equally important subject areas. More so, it creates a teaching system geared towards validating connections between teacher effectiveness and student learning. CPD must aim to improve student learning, and therefore, teacher learning must be integrated into student learning by promoting teacher learning activities that support student learning. This ensures learning as a continuum with interventions that addresses teachers’ professional development and learning needs to improve effectiveness in the classroom.
Finally, teachers informally learn to improve their performances in the classroom, though these practices are non-institutionalized as CPD forms. Teachers engage independently in reading and researching for information, peer-to-peer learning, and informal mentoring arrangements, all to improve classroom performance. These informal practices demonstrate the self-directedness of teachers towards their learning and development and, unlike organized CPD practices, provide ongoing learning opportunities for teachers to improve practice. These activities must be made to count toward teachers’ CPD and the renewal of their licenses. These informal practices have proven even more beneficial in other jurisdictions through #microcredentialing approaches to professional development of teachers. By this, individual teachers who demonstrate accomplishments in particular skill or skillsets could be certified as evidence of mastery over such skills.
The way forward
There is a clarion call for a comprehensive CPD policy implementation framework that will ensure a more structured and systematic approach to teachers’ professional development in Ghana. As it stands, existing policies and practices lack continuity and broader conceptualization due partly to the absence of a comprehensive CPD policy framework. While the tenets in existing policy documents are laudable, they lack the needed implementation force to operationalize teacher CPD to inform learner outcomes.
The first step towards enacting a comprehensive national CPD framework for teachers will be to strengthen the National Teaching Council (NTC) – the regulatory body responsible for setting teachers’ professional standards, registration, and licensing. The NTC must have the autonomy and the logistical and human resource requirements to formulate policies, coordinate and manage teacher quality as well as provide continuing support for teachers and school leaders in both public and private domains. The NTC must be resourced to be accountable for teachers’ professional development along a continuum that will result in a more cohesive learning and development system for teachers from pre-service, induction and throughout their professional careers.
A new CPD policy must include a clear description and conceptualization of teacher CPD, its significance to the teaching profession, and its underlying theoretical ideas to inform practice. Teacher continuous professional development is multifaceted. Thus, there are numerous worthwhile approaches for teachers to develop. A policy must restate such concepts, stating explicitly the many acts that experimentally and conceptually demonstrate the various forms of CPD. What counts toward teachers’ development must be vital in sustaining CPD as a career-long component of a comprehensive teacher education system, rather than upgrading to obtain points for career advancement. Teacher CPD provision must be based on the principles of effective professional learning. In Australia for example, teacher CPD methods or forms include the following that have been institutionalized as CPD forms: (professional learning teams; action research; examination of student work; lesson study; study groups; case discussions; peer observation; mentoring; coaching; in-house programs of the institution; external consultant/critical friend; external workshops; accredited courses; structured professional reading; personal professional reading; practicum/school visits; online learning and professional conversations). Furthermore, a new CPD policy for Ghana must highlight mechanisms for evaluating teacher CPD undertakings and how teachers’ participation may be linked to their career progression and professionalism.
To meaningfully make progress on the #Education2030Agenda and #SDG4c, in particular, it is important for African governments to fully #integratetechnology and distance learning methodologies in the delivery of CPD to ensure equity and inclusivity in teacher capacity building. The NTC and #InstillEducation, South Africa have recently shown the way through a self-learning programme which trained over 40,000 classroom teachers and school leaders in pedagogical, instructional, and digital competencies. The training was administered through Instill Education’s learning management platform, #Upskill@Instill. The innovative Upskill has been developed into an Android App to enable CPD learning readily accessible and applicable for teachers in Ghana and around the world. Leveraging technology to deliver teacher CPD will promote teacher self-direction and autonomy in choosing their own professional development paths and taking ownership of their learning and development. Such adaptability will also allow teachers to take courses in bite-size and complete coursework at their own pace and leisure, allowing them to prioritize job, family, and other societal duties.
The continuous professional development of the teacher is a sine qua non to ensure quality education. While every effort must be made to improve teacher education and training for foundational knowledge in teaching, that initial training of teachers is inadequate to meet the changing classroom demands of today’s complex and rapidly changing world. Teachers need to be supported in their continuing professional development by providing them opportunities to deepen their learning and maintain high standards in their profession.