Cancellation of teacher licensure not the way to go
Two weekends, two election manifestos launched! The first to launch their manifesto, was the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS), in Takoradi on Sunday, August 18, 2024.
Barely a week after, on Saturday, August 24, 2024, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also launched its manifesto at the University of Winneba, Winneba.
As a teacher, a senior academic and an education leader and manager, I was interested in the plans each party had laid out for the personal and professional development of teachers particularly at the pre-tertiary education level, mainly because, teacher quality makes the largest difference in student achievement.
Among the various policies for teachers, my attention was drawn to teacher licensure examinations.
While the NPP firmly assures that they will bring improvements in the current teacher licensure system, the NDC seems determined to de-professionalise teachers by insisting that they will cancel the teacher licensure examinations.
Former President John Mahama has indeed been very consistent with this view of cancellation of the teacher licensure examinations over the last five years and seems determined to carry his position through if he comes back to power.
On December 24, 2019, the Daily Graphic online, reported Former President Mahama’s position under the banner: “I will cancel licensure examinations for teacher – Mahama” saying his government will abolish the licensure examination for teachers if elected as President in the 2020 polls.
Also speaking at Wenchi in the Bono Region as part of his Building Ghana Tour he reiterated his stand as reported in a Citi Newsroom (CNR) news story of November 17, 2023, entitled: “Licensure exams needless; I’ll cancel it if I become president – Mahama”.
Complaints
The insistence of Former President Mahama and the NDC to cancel the teacher licensure is a result of recent complaints by applicants who trailed papers in the licensure examinations.
This unfortunately is not a cogent reason to cancel the licensure examinations and de-professionalise teachers.
In all professions, applicants who wish to become members are tested by those already in the profession usually after completion of designated formal academic training in a recognised institution of higher education.
Among other requirements, professionals are expected to maintain their membership by continually updating their knowledge through Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
People who desire to become Lawyers pursue a law degrees – average for four years – in a tertiary institution. Subsequently, they enrol in professional law school for at least two years and go through other rudiments before they are certified and permitted to use the title Esquire (Esq.) and to practice in a given jurisdiction.
To become a Pharmacist, one is expected to go through six years of academic and practical training, and write and pass various examinations before they are permitted to register and write the professional examinations. Qualified Pharmacists now use the title Dr. (Pharm).
Other professionals such as Engineers use the title ‘Ing’, only after the successful completion of their academic and practical training and passing the desired professional qualifying examinations.
Equally, Architects, are permitted to use the ‘Arc’ title and Surveyors, use ‘Surv’., while Medical Officers use Doc or Dr. (Medical).
Teaching has always been a profession and shares almost all the tenets of a profession including obtaining a licence to practice and using the title “Qualified Teacher Status” (QTS).
As early as the 1500s a schoolmaster needed to be licensed by the church to teach grammar in England.
As is the case with all professional examinations, not all who write can go through successfully. Applicants who trail are given a specific number of times depending on the profession, to redeem themselves and be admitted as members.
It beats one’s imagination that in these current times, where virtually every vocation and occupation is striving to be recognised as a profession, the NDC is proposing to de-professionalise teaching because there are complaints about trials in the licensure examination.
University of Melbourne Professor George Beaton’s view that “Professionalism is as, perhaps even more, relevant today as it was when the concept first emerged centuries ago… now covers many more disciplines than the original professions …”, is very instructive.
Implications
Any attempt to cancel the teacher licensure or debase it would have dire consequences for the profession as the licensure examination, is part of a comprehensive teacher professionalisation package.
The package includes Professional Learning Communities (PLC), Professional Development Days (PDD), Continuous Professional Development (CPD), programmes and the payment of Professional Development Allowance (PDA).
The PLC concept, which works perfectly in most professions, particularly in medicine, was introduced into the educational sector by the NPP Vice Presidential candidate, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) a medical officer, when he was the Minister for Education.
The PLC is a system where members of a profession meet periodically to do peer learning and provide professional support to each other.
Dr Opoku Prempeh also got the government to introduce PDA, which pays GH¢1,200.00 and GH¢800.00 annually, to professional and non-professional teachers respectively, to support their CPD programmes.
Any proposal to cancel the teacher licensure examinations then, could then lead to the cancellation of the payment of PDA and subsequently stoppage of PLC, PDD, and CPD.
This year, the teacher unions have negotiated with the government for an increase, professional teachers will receive GH¢2,400.00, while non-professional teachers receive GH¢1,200.00 annually.
Way to go
The way to go then is not to cancel the teacher licensure examinations, but as suggested by the NPP manifesto, to realign the structure and timing of the licensure exams and the academic calendar of University Colleges by integrating the licensure examinations as part of the teacher training programme.
The proposals to allow the National Teaching Council (NTC) to open an additional examination window for individuals who do not pass their licensure exam at their teacher education institutions to retake it, with no limit on the number of attempts, and to enable the use of “Qualified Teacher Status” (QTS) are also commendable.