Entrance exams to be part of ‘teacher education admission’ – MoE
The government through the Ministry of Education is looking at a possible introduction of entrance assessment as part of the selection process for teacher education admission, the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has said.
In his address at a press briefing monitored by AcademicWeek, he said introducing the College of Education (CoE) entrance examination has become necessary amid the mass failure recorded in the 2023 teacher licensure exam.
The Education Minister indicated a seven-member committee chaired by Deputy Minister for Education, John Ntim Fordjour has been set up to check on the selection process of WASSCE graduates into teacher education institutions.
“The committee would also look at the quality of students being admitted into the teacher education institutions relative to the grade and programme of specialization at the Senior High Schools among other terms of reference,” he said.
Members of the committee are representatives of the Head of a Public College of Education, Prof. Samuel Atintonoo, from Accra College of Education, and the Head of a Private College of Education, Rev Msgr Louis Kofi Tuffour, Christ The Teacher College of Education.
Others are the Chief Director at the Ministry of Education, Mrs Mamle Andrews, a representative from institutions that trained teachers, Prof. Jonathan Fletcher, University of Ghana, a professor of testing, Prof. Eric Anane, University of Cape Coast, and Mr Lawrence Sarpong of NTC.
In a related development, the National Teaching Council has said it will introduce an entrance examination for WASSCE graduates seeking admission into any of the 46 public Colleges of Education to study various teacher education programmes.
Registrar of NTC, Addai Poku at a stakeholders’ meeting on the reform of the conduct of the teacher licensure test said the test dubbed Ghana Basic Education Skills Examination Test (GBEST) will access students in numeracy and literacy.
Prospective students who become successful at the Ghana Basic Education Skills Examination Test (GBEST), Dr Christian Addai Poku said will be given admission to pursue teacher education courses in public Colleges of Education (CoE).
“The GBEST will, thus, be used as the entry assessment for the trainee teachers and after completion, the students will be made to write a level and subject-based licensure examination to be qualified as professional teachers,” he stated.
Dr Addai told stakeholders the new entrance exams form part of reforms being proposed by his outfit to harmonise teacher education admissions in the country and also improve teacher education as part of the educational reforms.
The Registrar of the National Teaching Council (NTC) further said the reforms are to ensure that prospective students who applied to be trained as teachers have the required qualifications and disposition to become teachers.
