Think tanks reacts to NDC decision to cancel teacher licensure test

Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) following the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama’s pledge to abolish the Ghana teacher licensure examination has said the move is a step in the wrong direction.

In his address at a tour, Mr John Mahama described the national licensure teacher as unnecessary arguing that teachers already undergo examinations at various stages of their training thus the GTLE becomes a burden on teachers.

The NDC flagbearer for the 2024 election said automatic posting of teacher trainee graduates under his leadership will be the mode of teacher employment assuring that no graduate would be denied posting or employment.

“We will abolish the obnoxious Ghana teacher licensure examination for teacher trainees and restore the automatic employment of teacher trainee graduates. Let me state unequivocally that no teacher trainee graduate will be denied posting or employment under the next Mahama government,” he stated.

But, the Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare reacting to Mahama’s decision said he supports the licensing of teachers, and any approach used in training and licensing teachers provided it is heavy on quality assurance on the teaching standards.

Kofi Asare added “I think the NTC’s licensure exam approach which the NDC piloted is great, even though there are issues with assessment validity, which reason why a government committee has been looking into its possible reform.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) promised to scrap the Ghana teacher licensure examination (not teacher licensing) and the mandatory national service for teachers as far back as in its 2020 manifesto.

While they gave some good reasons & alternatives when we met their manifesto committee in 2020, the onus lies on the NDC to explain their superior-in-quality-assurance alternative to the current teacher licensure examination approach to teacher licensing to the public

What we must be interested in is how the licensing process can be improved in quality assurance and relevance of assessment, leading to the licensing. Whatever NDC promises must add value to the Ghana teacher licensing.

President of IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe on his part said that the type of answers some trained teachers provided in the recent Ghana teacher licensure examination (GTLE), cancelling the policy will not do the country’s education any good.

He said “Frankly with the type of answers prospective teachers provided in the recent licensure exams, I’d be wary of cancelling an entry barrier like that which should temporarily sieve the growing ‘chaff’ from the limited good lot.

It seems to me the problem has to do with the very poor quality of instruction, and practical training given in many of our Senior High Schools (SHS) and Training Colleges.

We need to fix these problems, which means extensively reviewing teaching, learning methods and models. When we are satisfied with the level of outcomes, I’d think replacing teacher licensure with a continuous professional development programme requiring some form of aptitude and quantitative test will help.”