Report on the baseline survey of untrained teachers in Ghana

Abstract

Analysis of data from the 1999 National Education Forum report indicates that though there was gradual reduction in the number of Untrained Teachers (UTTs) in the first ten years after the 1987 educational reforms, the proportion of UTTs that remained in the nation‟s basic schools was still substantial. By the 1997/98 academic year the number of UTTs in primary and junior secondary schools had reduced to about 17,800. Data obtained by Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) from District Directorates of Education throughout the nation revealed that the number of UTTs was rising gradually and had reached 22,500 in 2003. This, on the one hand, was found to be the result of a steady rise in enrollments due to improved government policies and interventions in education, and on the hand, to a high teacher wastage rate emanating largely from teachers taking study-leave with pay to do further education programmes that take them away from the basic level. Since the initial teacher training colleges cannot meet the rising demand for trained teachers, the TED began a process of initiating a modular training programme to provide initial training for the UTTs. To facilitate this process, a team was tasked to conduct a baseline survey to develop a data bank on the profile of UTTs; ascertain the curriculum needs of the UTTs; and gather information on variables that will enable them to successfully go through a modular programme. This paper reports the findings of the baseline survey.

Keywords: untrained teachers, initial teachers training modes, modular programme, baseline survey