The Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Education Prof George K.T. Oduro has touted Ghana’s commitment to efficient educational leadership in the school environment.
Addressing educational leaders in the continent at the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Triennale 2025 and hosted by the Ministry of Education, he told the delegates that Ghana had developed new national school leadership standards to strengthen their capability.
Core pillars
He said the standards were built upon three core pillars and mentioned them as pedagogical leadership, systems leadership and community leadership.
Throwing more light on the three, Prof Oduro said for instance that the pedagogical leaders focused on empowering teachers to demonstrate leadership in the classroom, ensuring every child is recognized, and none are left behind, with a strong emphasis on learning outcomes over merely teaching.
“For the second pillar, it seeks to address how the educational system can create an enabling environment by providing necessary logistics and resources to facilitate effective teaching and learning for both teachers and students,” he explained.
He said the third pillar stressed on the importance of engaging all stakeholders, particularly parents, in supporting foundational learning and language development.
Prof Oduro explained that it was essential, “acknowledging that collective effort is essential for educational success.”
Rationale for new standards
He told the continental gathering that the ministry had to develop the new standards because, despite existing leadership development programmes, a significant gap was identified.
“This gap was the absence of clear standards to evaluate school leaders' performance against national expectations, values, and the effectiveness of their training.
“This lack of benchmarks made it difficult to assess whether leaders were performing adequately and to ensure quality outcomes,” Prof Oduro explained.
Gender parity
On gender parity in educational leadership, Prof Oduro described Ghana as gender-friendly, explaining that the country’s Parliament, in 2024, passed the Affirmative Action Act, describing it as “a good indicator”.
He cited the appointment of the first female Vice President of the country, Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as a clear indication of the country’s commitment to the course of female.
Prof Oduro added that there was no discrimination in the appointment of school leaders in the country as it was strictly merit-based.
“So the criteria is set and once you are qualified, irrespective of your gender orientation, you apply and if you get it, that's it,” he added.
Prof Oduro however, recalled a study conducted in the Central Region to find out how female teachers performed in theory.
“Strangely, female respondents to our survey preferred to work under male teacher heads rather than female head.
“And so we need some research to find out why is it so. But as a nation, this policy will ensure that females are progressed,” he said.
