Assessment of Stakeholders’Knowledge and 91 Cooperation in Teaching Practicum in St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem

Abstract

The production of high quality teachers for the nation remains a major preoccupation of Colleges of Education in Ghana, including St. Joseph’s College of Education. This is a collaborative responsibility of all stakeholders. This study explored the perceptions of stakeholders about their roles in ensuring a successful practicum and their knowledge in modern trends of helping in the preparation,
education and training of teacher trainees. One hundred and fifty (150) stakeholders made up of 25 tutors of St. Joseph’s College of Education, 67 Mentors/ Lead mentors (teachers of partner schools of practicum), 12 Municipal and District Education Officers of partner districts, 16 Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) and School Management Committee (SMC) members of partner schools, 20 Landlords and Landladies, 4 Assembly members as well as 6 Traditional rulers, were used for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for the data collection. It was found that the cooperation between St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem and her partners was weak because of poor communication, lack of stakeholder engagement and review meetings. It was also found that there existed a knowledge
gap on the part of stakeholders on their specific roles for a successful practicum, resulting in the lack of reflective practice for mentors and student teachers, student teachers not keeping Teaching Practice Journal (TPJ), appraisal meetings not held among stakeholders and little monitoring, supervision and evaluation of practicum activities. There was therefore the need to organise periodic in-service training for stakeholders to equip them and to keep them abreast with modern techniques in successful practicum, and to bring them together through engagement and review meetings to improve communication between them.