NTC teacher licensing must not be politicised at election time – TEJ

An editor of the Teacher Education Journal (TEJ) has entreated political parties in the country, the New Patriotic Pary and National Democratic Congress (NDC) not to politicise issues surrounding teacher licensing and professionalism.

In a Daily Graphic blog post sighted by AcademicWeek, the TEJ editor said the Education Manifesto Committees of political parties should consult experts in propounding areas that will consolidate the gains made with the reforms in our teacher education system.

The TEJ official indicated that Ghanaian teachers have been exempted from any assessment for Qualified Teachers Status in the United Kingdom, leading to the mass exodus of teachers from Ghana to the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.

“As a result of the significant gains we have made in teacher professionalism, Ghanaian teachers perform well globally. Ghanaian teachers are well sought after in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia,” the editor said in the blog post.

Since its inception in the 2015/2016 academic year, the TEJ editor said teacher licensing has made significant strides in improving the status quo in our quest as a nation to raise the standards of the teaching profession and its brand.

“The standards have been developed as a professional tool to guide teacher educators, teachers, student teachers and other stakeholders in education to identify in clear and precise terms what teachers are expected to know and be able to do, qualities they are expected to possess and some behaviour they are supposed to exhibit.

The Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020, Act 1023 mandates the National Teaching Council to regulate the teaching profession, the council is enjoined by law to run an examination that leads to the issuance of a professional license to newly qualified teachers which enables them to operate as teachers in the country,” the Education Journal staff said.

Commenting on the National Teacher Education Curriculum Framework (NTECF), he said it has improved the content area of teacher education in the country while offloading the heavy burden of a few mentor universities.

“The introduction of the National Teacher Education Curriculum Framework (NTECF) has improved the content area of teacher education in the country while offloading the heavy burden of a few mentor universities, now other universities can step in, support, and even run their teacher training programmes,” the TEJ official noted.