The National Teaching Council (NTC) has congratulated the first Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) cohort from the 46 public Colleges of Education.

According to the Council, it is in no doubt that the B.Ed. curriculum has produced and transformed teachers who meet the National Teachers’ Standard and are ready to impart learners with the knowledge and competencies of the standard-based curriculum.

“The National Teaching Council writes to congratulate all student teachers in Colleges of Education who are completing their four-year Bachelor of Education (B.ED) programme on Friday, October 28, 2022. As the first cohort of the B.Ed. programme from the Colleges of Education, the National Teaching Council Congratulates you all on this historic feat.”
National Teaching Council

In a statement issued on Friday, October 28, 2022, the Council expressed optimism that the student teachers will come out successfully in the just-ended final exams and sit for the reformed Ghana Teachers Licensure Examination (GTLE). This, it explained, forms part of the processes of becoming professional teachers.

“You are not just the pioneers of the four-year B.Ed. programme but also pioneers of the Subject and Computer-based GTLE.”
National Teaching Council

The four-year Bachelor of Education programme for the first batch of students ended on Friday, October 28, 2022. The degree programme offers three main areas of specialisation – early grade education, primary education and junior high school education.

These included a modular-tailored form of training to prepare teachers to teach in basic schools in the country. The teacher students have completed their four-year degree courses and the NTC has sent out best wishes to them.

Bachelor of Education programme, a novelty

Speaking on the degree programme run by the Colleges in October, Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof Mohammed Salifu, revealed that Ghana’s bid to produce its first Bachelor of Education teachers from Colleges of Education is a novelty.

He stated that what the colleges have in the shape of the Bachelor of Education, is not just an upgraded program from the diploma that exists, but the program is also “structurally reconstructed” and focused on the practical aspect of teaching in the attainment of certain competencies which the teacher needs in the classroom to affect learning outcomes in school systems.

Prof Salifu emphasized that there are not too many jurisdictions around the world that has minimum entry requirements in the teaching profession as compared to a Bachelor’s degree. However, he explained that in countries where they run the degree program, it counts among the very best in terms of learning outcomes.

Commenting on the uniqueness of the degree program, Prof Salifu noted that it stands out by virtue of its focus on practical training. By this, he indicated that as part of the curriculum, teachers’ right from level 100 to level 400 are constantly engaged in one aspect of the practical training or the other.

In 2018, the Colleges of Education went through a transition and were upgraded from three-year Diploma in Basic Education awarding institutions to four-year Bachelor of Education degree-awarding institutions.