Licensing teachers good, but proceed with caution

On Tuesday, we published a story on the licensing of teachers in the country as related by Dr Mrs Evelyn Owusu Oduro, the Director of the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES).
She said when the policy became operational, teachers would be required to go through specific mandatory training programmes and orientation to earn their licences.
Research findings in recent times have indicated that aside from furthering their education to receive higher qualifications, the impact of teacher innovation, efficiency, versatility and competitiveness to add value to themselves and improve their classroom practices, their teaching, and student learning has been negligible.

Even before details of the policy of licensing of teachers are made public, the Daily Graphic surmises that the policy will help establish teaching as a strong profession, as the policy is likely to set standards for various categories of teachers.
If we are right, then we expect the standards to promote knowledge, skills, attitudes, rights, privileges, values and responsibilities of teachers.

It could also be a considered view that once the standards are enforced, teachers will have no option but perform to expectation, arrest the falling standards of education in the country and thereby bring out improvement in knowledge and skills acquisition, among learners.
We also believe that licensing will check disciplinary problems such as lateness, absenteeism, defiling of schoolchildren and refusal to write lesson notes.
However, we see challenges ahead.

What happens to those already in the system? Will they maintain the status quo, such as refusal to prepare lesson notes, whose result is poor teaching which hinders the understanding of learners?
We also want to find out if the licences will expire, and if so, what happens next? Will teachers just renew them or go through another bout of training and orientation?
According to information available to the Daily Graphic, non-professional teachers would be granted two-year non-professional licences. Will that be enough?
The other question that arises logically is, do we prevent those who fail the licensing training from teaching?

Already, the country has vacancies for teachers, especially in the rural schools, and the fear is that this licensing regime may aggravate the situation.
In carrying out the process, the relevant authorities must establish benchmarks for renewing such licences, including value addition through research, honours received, conference attendance and participation, workshops and other continuous professional development activities.

It is the considered view of the Daily Graphic that even though we are all helping to develop the country, the role of teachers is so paramount that any hitch in the educational sector affects human resource development.
Therefore, there is the need to look at the policy and smoothen all the rough edges in order not to hurt the already precarious educational system.