He said it was critical the country ensured that all newly-recruited teachers and those already in the profession had access to in-service training programmes to be abreast with current teaching methodologies. The Minister made the call in Accra at the ‘Fourth National Stakeholder’s Forum on Teacher Education Curriculum Framework’.

The framework was designed to provide the blue print for future teacher education curriculum and ensure the standardisation of the training of teachers across the country. Dr Prempeh said government was committed to putting in place policies to raise the status of teachers so as to attract high calibre of candidates into the profession to deliver quality education in the country.

“Our vision as a nation is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels to enable them to acquire knowledge and skills as well as develop their potential and be productive in the emerging market,” he added. He said the country needed to drive the full benefits of teacher education and train teachers capable of propelling the development of the nation to an unprecedented level.

“The issue of the appropriate teacher education curriculum being used for teaching goes to the heart of poverty reduction in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor in the country,” he added. He said the Ministry had launched the Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional Development and Management policy to streamline the professional and career progression of teachers at the pre-tertiary level.

He said the country’s education system deserved well-prepared and efficient teachers, capable of teaching learners to be agents of change, adding, the government would provide full backing to the implementation of the comprehensive reform of the teacher education sector.

Mr Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Member, Technical Committee of the Curriculum Framework, said the country’s leading experts had worked with the Transforming–Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) to support the creation of the National Teacher Education Curriculum.

The T-TEL is a programme designed to support public colleges of education to produce better teachers, well-prepared and empowered for a career dedicated to improving young Ghanaian minds. Mr Anamuah-Mensah said the framework considered four important elements in teacher education including extended supported practical teaching, pedagogic knowledge, subject knowledge and literacy studies.

Mr Akwasi Addae-Boahene, National Programme Manager of T-TEL, said the T-TEL was a four-year government programme supported by the UK Aid, aimed at ensuring that teachers were equipped to deliver highly qualified teaching and learning in schools.