This article focuses on teacher education in Ghana. It examines a number of reforms involving curricular changes and restructuring of teacher education institutions tasked with the responsibility of preparing teachers for the basic school level. The article highlights the structure and changes in Ghana's teacher development policies and practices following the adoption of a new programme which took effect in 2018 with the intake of the first batch of 4-year degree students in the country's Colleges of Education. We envisage that improved teacher qualification and a conscious effort to link theory to practice will result in improved teacher knowledge and skills required for a professional teacher. Despite this stated enthusiasm, a number of contextual issues which could negatively affect the intended gains from this most current reforms have been discussed. We end with a call on policy makers to address the contextual issues highlighted in this paper and also a need for continuity in teacher education policies in Ghana considering the numerous politically-related reforms.
Ghana has experienced a number of education reforms in the post-independence era and the study aimed at examining Ghana’s attempt at finding an effective teacher, in relation to sustainable education, through teacher education reforms. Qualitative approaches, such as documents analysis and interviews with 10 experienced college educators, were the methodology for the research. After constant comparison, students’ quality and entry requirements, changes in curriculum, and role of development partners in education reforms affected quality of teacher education. However, cultural context, support systems, and educator professional development are means of achieving sustainable basic education. Ghana should, therefore, have teacher education policy for a reasonable period of time, uninfluenced by change in political power and ideologies, but tailored to socio-cultural and economic needs of the people; preparing motivated-teachers to accept the profession as a chosen-career.
Molecular genetics, a key concept in biology, is found to be very difficult for students at the senior high school level. A situation largely blamed on teachers' instructional approaches. Since the Relating, Experiencing, Applying, Cooperating and Transferring (REACT) strategy is reported to be an effective pedagogical approach for improving students' understanding of science concepts, in this paper, we sought to explore its effectiveness on Senior High School students' achievement in molecular genetics in Ghana. To do this, the embedded mixed methods research design was employed. Two intact biology classes selected through simple random sampling were assigned as experimental and control groups and taught with the REACT strategy and the conventional approach respectively. Quantitative data were obtained with pre-test-post-test control group design and analysed with Independent sample t-test and ANOVA. The qualitative data on students’ perception of learning with the REACT strategy was obtained through interviews and analysed thematically. The findings showed that the REACT strategy was more effective for teaching molecular genetic compared with the conventional approach. Although REACT could not bridge the gap between low and high achievers in that group, the performance of low achievers in the REACT group was at par with high achievers in the conventional group. Students perceived the opportunity to search and share information as well as relate new concepts to prior learning provided by the REACT strategy to have facilitated their understanding of concepts in molecular genetics. It is recommended that biology teachers use the REACT strategy to teach concepts students find problematic.
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