The National Teaching Council (NTC) in partnership with the National Service Scheme (NSS) has launched a pedagogy training for untrained teachers on the NSS teaching module for the 2022/2023 service year.
The programme aimed at equipping the service personnel with minimal skills needed to function while at post in second cycle institutions nationwide.
It was on the theme: "Enhancing the capacity personnel to improve learning outcomes ".
Launching it, the Chief-of-Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, who was the special guest of honour said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was committed to national development through sustainable and buoyant education sector.
She said the launch of the pedagogy, the first of its kind to be launched in the country would therefore impact positively on the education outcomes in the country.
Madam Osei-Opare urged the service personnel who would be equipped with the teaching methodology skills to use the exquisite knowledge to impact knowledge to the children they would be teaching across the length and breadth of the country to sow a solid foundation for them.
On his part, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, said for once the service personnel were being granted the opportunity to gain the knowledge of being equipped with teaching skills before entering the classrooms to impact knowledge.
He said this would help create a robust system to work towards laying a strong foundation for the education system.
Dr Adutwum was of the opinion that such a strong foundation would help develope the requisite human resources in the country to mitigate any challenges which might confront the nation any time, adding that the current challenge the country was facing would be overcome.
Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, the Director of NSS, said every year, the NSS posts hundreds of personnel to Ghanaian schools to support school activities as teaching assistants, substitute teachers and full teachers.
He said over the years, these persons had been sent to the schools without any strand of knowledge on how to conduct themselves about classroom management, no knowledge of childcare, child psychology and support services among others.
Mr Antwi said they were always left to their fate trusting that they would work magic to excel within their schools environment.
He said having reviewed the trend, the NSS decided to partner with the NTC to equip the personnel with training before posting them to create a meaningful impact at their various schools this time around.
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He said it was his hope that the initiative would bear enough fruit to transform the education sector.
Dr Christian Addai Poku, Registrar of NTC, said the exercise to teach the NSS personnel was in fulfillment of a provision in the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2022, Act 1023 which mandated NTC to provide authorisation for anyone to practice teaching in Ghana.
He said such authorisation may include full authorisation for qualified teachers, provisional registration for newly qualified teachers who were on induction training and emergency authorisation for unqualified persons to teach for just a short period.
Dr Addai Poku said while the Council was ensuring that only professionally qualified teachers were registered to teach, the exigencies on the ground might sometimes require that consideration was given to some unqualified persons to teach.
He said the National Service personnel deployed by the NSS to schools as teachers fall within the unqualified teachers' category.
"I must emphasis that this training would not make the participants qualified teachers by any standard since they cannot use their certificate from this exercise to apply for teaching job after the National Service," he said.
