The Board Chairman of the Governing Council of Wisconsin International University College Noble Justice Isaac Duose has said many lecturers in Ghana’s tertiary institutions are not fit to teach.
According to him, having a mastery of specialist knowledge does not mean the individual has the techniques and competence to effectively teach at the tertiary level.
“What qualification do they have to teach, they don’t have any qualification They are pupil teachers”.
The retired Appeals Court Judge Justice Duose bemoaned the practice over the years in various Universities in the country which people with PhD and other post-graduate degrees are recruited just to teach without any post graduate teaching qualification.
“You must have training in education before you become a teacher. What is happening in this country recently, people go to teacher training colleges they graduate yet the ministry wants them to go and take license to teach, these are people who went through a syllabus designed to make them teachers they were taught in the colleges of education so when they are coming out they are coming out as teachers but we are asking them to go and take licensing in education to teach at the primary schools and other levels yet in the Universities where it matters most the teachers are not supposed to but they call themselves university teachers”.
He said the situation in Ghana is contrary to best practices in most countries in the world.
“If you go to America and you want to teach, you have to take a certificate in teaching .My Daughter is a Lecturer in a University, after her doctoral degree she has to do nine months in pedagogy that is principal in education before she took a license to teach in a University that is people want to go and teach because that have been thought how to teach. In our country just get PhD and you are good to go, go and teach. Ladies and Gentlemen, having been involved in Education in University level for a while, I realized that a PhD is a research degree, and when you research ,you have to go to industry with the research not to go and teach with the research ”
Justice Duose continued that “But here ,our emphasis is to go to do research and after you have done the research you go and teach with the research. Is it a correct thing to do .At least if you don’t know what to do copy the people who are leading ,how much effort do you put into taking post graduate diploma in education or certificate in education”.
He said this when speaking as a distinguished chairman at West Africa Heroes of Distinction conference and Awards held in Accra .
As part of Ghana’s tertiary education reform,Ghana’s government has proposed a policy that mandates all tertiary education institution lecturers to possess a postgraduate teaching certificate before they are eligible to teach.
Ghana’s National Council for Tertiary Education “argues that having a mastery of specialist knowledge does not imply that a lecturer knows the techniques needed to effectively communicate that knowledge to students. In other words, PhD holders in particular fields of knowledge are not necessarily experts at teaching.”
However Justice Isaac Duose believes ” the earlier we start redesigning our systems to fit purpose the better it will be for us. Don’t mistake me there are some teachers in the Universities who are good teachers either out of experience or out of natural gift but it is not the way to go”.
Source : Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah