One Million Fund For Colleges Of Education

Government education support programme - Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-Tel) – has set up £1 million challenge fund to help colleges of education implement innovative interventions that would improve instructional delivery skills of student teachers.

About 23 out of the 38 government teacher colleges of education have received the Fund, which is around GH₡ 5 million to implement ground-breaking reforms to boost leadership management and training of the trainees.

The move forms part of government’s determination to eliminate barriers to education delivery in the country, address poor learning outcomes and project teaching as a solution to Ghana’s quest to offer inclusive quality education.

The National Programme Manager of T-TEL, Mr Akwasi Addae-Boahene told reporters at the second International Conference on Education Research for Development in Africa that it was a new way for the colleges themselves to drive reform.

The three-day conference which was organised by the University of Ghana and University of Sussex attracted a number of researchers in education and stakeholders to share ideas and seek new ways of moving education forward.

It started from October 3 to October 5 and sought to explore the theme: "Towards a vision of education for sustainable development in Africa".

Mr Addae-Boahene said: “T-Tel has set aside one million pounds ready to be disbursed to the colleges, we want the colleges to conceptualise innovations.

“In the process of innovation, T-Tel is also looking at partnerships, if two colleges come together to present one concept, T-Tel gives them GH¢ 150, 000, three colleges take GH¢ 225, 000 and then four colleges get GH¢300, 000.

“This creates motivation in forming partnerships and it is one of the things T-Tel promotes.

“With the proposal T-Tel is considering to improve teaching and learning because T-Tel believes that one of the key elements of training a teacher is to provide the opportunity to practise.”

He said T-Tel is providing leadership to the major teacher education colleges in the country, which is premised on three keys issues.

“First is the fact that government…has passed the college of education acts, which enjoins the quality of education to be transformed into fully fledged tertiary institutions delivering quality teacher training.

“The second one is the adoption by the ministry of education and national pre-tertiary teacher professional, development and management policies. And it is a policy that seeks to regulate the professional progression of teachers in Ghana.

“The third element is the fact the government is interested in improving teaching and learning in Ghana, and so as a result, looking out ways of addressing them. One of the ways is to improve quality of teachers that we have in the country.”

Mr Addae-Boahene explained that the whole concept of the mission and vision of the Ministry of Education is seeking to provide inclusive long life learning in the country.

“That is why we developed national teaching standards, which regulate the conducts, attitudes and professional competences within which one can call his or herself a teacher,” he said.

He said there are many critical policy reforms that have been undertaken together with national institutions including Ministry of Education to ensure that improved teacher education sector objective is achieved.