GTLE is a ‘right tool’ to select graduates to be teachers – Adutwum
The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says the government will continue to conduct the Ghana teacher licensure examination (GTLE) to ensure only qualified tertiary education graduates are licensed to be teachers.
Speaking at a press briefing monitored by AcademicWeek, he lauded the National Teaching Council for its gatekeeping role of ensuring that graduates from education institutions are of the right skills and the right knowledge to teach.
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He also commended NTC for putting in place measures which prevented any form of cheating and other forms of malpractice that could have led to a massive pass by the candidates and would not reflect exactly what they were.
The Education Minister stated that everything possible was being done to ensure that people who qualify for any teacher education institution had the right skill and knowledge and what it takes to become a teacher.
Dr Adutwum indicated that the Ministry has set up a seven-member committee that would look at the extent to which the GTLE was aligned to the National Teachers’ Standard and other supporting policies or frameworks such as the National Teacher Education Curriculum Framework (NTECF), the Pre-Tertiary Curriculum and Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional Development and Management.
Membership of the Committee which would be chaired by the Deputy Minister for Education in charge of General Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour are representatives of the Head of a Public College of Education, Prof. Samuel Atintonoo, from Accra College of Education, Head of a Private College of Education, Rev Msgr Louis Kofi Tuffour, Christ The Teacher College of Education.
The 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.
The committee, Adutwum said will check on the selection process of students into teacher education institutions, the possibility of integrating the GTLE into the teacher education institutions’ programmes, examining best practices and what works globally and also make recommendations to the Minster for the right action to be taken.
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.
The Minister in Charge of Education at the GTLE press briefing disclosed that the Ministry of Education was looking at a possible introduction of entrance assessment as part of the selection process for teacher education admission.
The briefing on the Ghana teacher licensure examination (GTLE) was aimed at assuring the nation of the effort being made by the government to improve teacher education and education development in general in the country.