Rev. John Teye Memorial Institute teachers undergo training

The Rev. John Teye Memorial Institute in Accra has held a day’s workshop for the teaching staff of the school.

Sponsored by the parent-teacher association (PTA), the workshop was to update the knowledge base and improve the skill set of the staff from the preschool, primary and junior and senior high departments of the school.

The facilitator was Dr Johnson Edu, an alumnus of the school, who is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theatre Arts, School of Creative Arts, University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

Skills

The Chairman of the PTA, Rev. Samuel Asare Odoi, said the workshop was designed to improve upon the teaching skills of the teachers to enable them to deliver quality teaching to the children.

Rev. Odoi also said due to the resounding success of this first workshop, the association plans to sponsor a much bigger one in the near future and it would be a three-day programme with at least four resource persons from the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other related institutions.

“Our ultimate goal is to help our children and wards to get excellent grades at the end of the day,” he emphasised. 

Dr Edu, who is also the President of the Performing Arts Teachers Association of Ghana and the Production Coordinator of the Department of Theatre Arts at the UEW, thanked the PTA and the school’s management for offering him an opportunity to give something back to the school.

Motivation

He told the teachers that students’ motivation was important because of the critical role it played in ensuring that students enjoyed their stay in school and also develop an interest in the subject/topic being handled and learning in general.

On the student-teacher relationship, he said there was a need to develop close but healthy interaction between staff and students. 

“Staff should be easily accessible to students; teachers should go out of their way to let students know that their views (even if they are divergent) and contributions to topics being discussed are not only welcome but appreciated. The teacher does not know it all. Indeed, there are times when a student’s take on a topic can bring enlightenment to the teacher,” he said.

Dr Edu emphasised the fact that a child who was sanguine and was all over the place could not be handled the same way as a phlegmatic one who was very reserved and probably had an inferiority complex. 

“Each needs a teacher who is not only aware of but also understands the pupil’s situation. Then and only then can the teacher identify and apply the most appropriate technique(s) to bring out the best in the child. 

“Teachers should leverage the opportunities temperaments bring to the fore in terms of education,” he said.

Gratitude

The Director of the school, Mr Lawrence Otute John-Teye, expressed management's deep gratitude to the PTA for organising the workshop and also thanked Dr Edu for continuing to be a pillar of support for the school.

He reminded participants that in 2013, the school was ranked second in Greater Accra and 30th nationally, according to the Ministry of Education West African Senior School Certificate Examination rankings for the year.

In 2018, he said the John Teye SHS was ranked ninth nationwide, according to a survey conducted by Africa Schools Online, based on 'the pass rates of the top-performing schools' during the five-year period 2013-2017 (inclusive).