Education policy to benefit teachers — Prof. Opoku-Agyemang

The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has assured teachers that the Pre-tertiary Teacher Professional Development and Management (PTPDM) Policy would benefit them and that they will be consulted as stakeholders before it will be rolled out.

She explained that the PTPDM Policy was in line with the Education Act 2008, which was passed by Parliament in 2008, adding that, “this policy is formulated for teachers by teachers and therefore will not be implemented until the last teacher is consulted.” 

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang gave the assurancce at the closing session of a three-day joint coordinating committee meeting held in Accra last Wednesday.

Mandate

According to the minister, the Education Act mandated the establishment of three bodies which included the National Teaching Council, adding that the council was also mandated to review periodically professional practices and ethical standards for teachers and teaching.

She said the council would register teachers after they had satisfied the appropriate conditions for initial licensing and been issued with the appropriate licences.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said the policy was also aimed at producing well-balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes and attitudes to become functional and productive citizens for the total development and the democratic advancement of the nation.

Policy

“The implementation of some of the issues in the Act brought about the PTPDM Policy which is developing guidelines towards the licensing of teachers,” she further explained.

The minister also said an essential component of the policy development process was the issue of teacher standards with associated competencies and training needs alongside a new career path and ranking system.

“It should be emphasised that this policy outlines enormous benefits that will be derived by teachers by progressing steadily on the new and attractive career path,” she indicated.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang asserted that, “the suggested designated names on the career path will not affect salary, condition of service and grade of the teacher.” 

She said the discussions with the Public Service Commission were to align the policy with the nationwide Public Sector Performance Management System, while ongoing engagement with the Local Government Service was in preparation towards the decentralised educational system envisaged.

Background

Implementation processes of the PTPDM Policy started in 2010, with the goal of ensuring that teachers were equipped with competencies through professional development capacity building so that they would respond positively to the changing needs of education.

A draft policy to that effect was launched by the ministry in 2013, while a lot of processes have gone on for the past two years to ensure the implementation of the policy.

An integral part of the policy is the registration and licensing of teachers, a responsibility that rests in the bosom of the National Teaching Council (NTC).

The meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), teacher unions and some non-governmental organisations, discussed the progress made on the PTPDM Policy.

It was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Japanese International Development Corporation (JICA).