{"id":2967,"date":"2025-04-14T15:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egascapitalltd.com\/beta\/?p=2967"},"modified":"2025-04-14T15:34:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:34:21","slug":"colleges-of-education-weekly-journal-coewj-holds-a-national-dialogue-on-initial-teacher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egascapitalltd.com\/beta\/2025\/04\/14\/colleges-of-education-weekly-journal-coewj-holds-a-national-dialogue-on-initial-teacher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Colleges of Education Weekly Journal (CoEWJ) holds a National Dialogue on Initial Teacher Education."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Colleges of Education Weekly Journal (CoEWJ) holds a National Dialogue on Initial Teacher Education.<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2190 Back to Home<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Colleges of Education Weekly Journal (CoEWJ) recently organised a two-day National Dialogue on Initial Teacher Education at the Bediako Hall, GNAT Headquarters in Accra.<\/p>

The dialogue took place on Wednesday and Thursday, 27th and 28th July 2022, under the theme\u00a0\u201c4-years into the transformation of Colleges of Education into Degree Awarding Institutions \u2013 Realities and the\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>w<\/strong><\/b>ay forward\u201d.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>

The National Dialogue brought together a range of\u00a0\u00a0stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, National Teaching Council (NTC), Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning (T-TEL), Principals and staff of all 46 Public Colleges of Education,\u00a0Student Teachers,\u00a0Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), Mentoring Universities, Teacher Trainees\u2019\u00a0Association of Ghana (TTAG), Teacher Unions, Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Churches\/Missions and Education Experts to deliberate and assess the quality of teacher education, the fidelity of implementation of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) curriculum and\u00a0discuss the future direction of teacher education in Ghana.<\/p>

The event was chaired by Ms. Elizabeth Akua Ohene, a\u00a0renowned journalist and\u00a0former Minister of State for Tertiary Education. In her acceptance speech she stated that she was always excited to be a part of conversations that involved\u00a0education\u00a0because \u201cteachers are important in my life. Both my parents were teachers, and I know I am who I am\u00a0<\/em><\/i>and<\/em><\/i>\u00a0became what I became because of teachers.<\/em><\/i>\u201d She added that teachers are extremely important because they lay the foundation for every\u00a0country\u2019s development.\u00a0She further said that we must have confidence and trust in our education system.\u00a0<\/p><\/div><\/div>

\u201cLet\u2019s have confidence in ourselves because we have every reason to be confident and then having done that, let\u2019s be proud of what we do and let\u2019s communicate as much to the public.\u201d<\/em><\/h3><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Chairperson speaking at the national dialogue<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Editor-in-Chief of the CoEWJ, Mr. Larry\u00a0K.\u00a0Agbador, explained that the dialogue is targeted at\u00a0achieving\u00a0consensus amongst stakeholders\u00a0as to the best ways to keep improving Ghanaian teacher education, saying:\u00a0
\u00a0\u201cL<\/em><\/i>et us all come out of this dialogue united in thought on the way forward for the growth of our Colleges of Education. I have no doubt that the 46 public Colleges of Education will take giant steps in the process of development after this dialogue\u2026 I am hopeful that participants will succumb their personal preference to the national interest for an open conversation on the challenges facing the transformation of the Colleges to offer quality education to student<\/em><\/i>\u00a0<\/em><\/i>teachers.\u201d<\/em><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Larry K. Agbador, Editor-in-Chief of the CoEWJ delivering a speech<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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On his part, Robin Todd, the Executive Director of T-TEL, evidenced the transformation which had taken place in Colleges of Education in recent years, a transformation that many members of the Ghanaian public remain unaware of:<\/p>

\u201cThere issues, but\u00a0<\/em>these<\/em>\u00a0should not<\/em>\u00a0disguise the fact that there has been an absolute transformation in the quality of teacher education in Ghana over the past five years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Robin Todd, Executive Director of T-TEL addressing participants at the national dialogue<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Robin Todd, Executive Director of T-TEL addressing participants at the national dialogue<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Robin Todd quoted data from GTEC\u2019s annual surveys, conducted nationwide since 2015, which showed that the number of beginning teachers meeting the National Teachers\u2019 Standards and using learner-centred approaches in the classroom had increased from less than 2% in 2015 to over 40% today.<\/p>

He commended Colleges\u2019 leadership for the system improvements and urged them to share these transformations with the broader public. \u201cWhat we need to do now is use the changes in the Colleges of Education to influence the rest of the education system because you are the beacon of hope to the rest of the education system<\/em>, graduating 16,000 high quality new student teachers entering our basic schools every year<\/em>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

The Special Guest of Honour, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education, pledged the government\u2019s support in continuing to transform Colleges of Education across the country in the expectation that the training of quality teachers will go a long way to transform the entire education system. He said\u00a0\u201c\u2026we need to create a new teaching and learning environment where students would feel empowered and it should begin in our Colleges of Education. The way we train our trainees will empower them to do something different when they get into the classrooms across the country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum speaking about government\u2019s commitment to transforming education in Ghana<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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He further mentioned that\u00a0\u201cthe Government of Ghana is doing everything to make sure we can transform the teaching and learning environment. We are not there yet, but we have done some work in that area and will continue to do more.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

In his remarks, the Keynote speaker for the event, Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, contended that the Colleges of Education should hold onto their core mandate of developing quality teachers for the education sector. He emphasised that\u00a0\u201cin Singapore, teachers are described as nation builders and, indeed, that is what they are. Teachers are nation builders. The men and women we see in front of our classrooms building the knowledge and skills of our children, they are nothing else but nation builders. If so, then the machinery that produces the nation builders, that is, the Colleges of Education also need to be supported in such a way that they can produce the nation builders.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

He indicated that Colleges of Education must serve as knowledge innovation hubs and agents of change in their communities and localities to address basic education learning needs. In so doing they can then become centres for the renewal of the African mind.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Prof. Anamuah-Mensah delivering the keynote address<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Despite the challenges, Prof. Anamuah-Mensah stated that we cannot overestimate the Colleges\u2019 contribution to the country\u2019s development.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cColleges of Education are at the forefront of the transformation of the education system in the country \u2013 therefore their need for support in terms of infrastructure, resources and their status needs to be given the urgent attention. This support, at the moment is not forthcoming. Equally important is the core mandate of preparing teachers, including the provision of pedagogical skills, GESI responsive pedagogy and assessment, integration of technology, and acquisition of soft skills\u2026 It is time to respect and see those men and women at the front of the classroom, educating our children as Nation Builders. For that\u2019s what they are!\u201d<\/em><\/p>

The two-day programme tabled seven themes for respective panel discussions. These themes were;<\/p>