The Ghana Education Service (GES) has initiated plans for a national roll-out of Professional Learning Community (PLC) sessions across all Senior High Schools (SHSs) and Senior High Technical Schools (SHTSs). This is aimed at strengthening teachers’ understanding and adherence to the National Teachers’ Standards (NTS) and preparing them for the introduction of the new secondary education curriculum, which will be rolled-out in the 2024/25 academic year. A press release issued by Ms Cassandra Twum Ampofo, Head of Public Relations Unit of GES, copied to the Ghana News Agency said: ‘Weekly PLC sessions have been piloted by GES since 2022 in 12 SHS and SHTS using structured Handbooks developed in partnership with the National Teaching Council (NTC).’ It said in a recent evaluation, it was found that the weekly sessions had had a significant impact on improving teaching and learning in the 12 schools, providing a strong evidence-base for the national scale-up of the approach. The release said to ensure the smooth institutionalisation and roll-out of the PLC sessions across all 726 schools, GES organised a five-day training session for a 100-member National Training Team comprising representatives from GES, T-TEL, Senior High Schools and Colleges of Education. The training, which took place in May 2023, focused on equipping the National Training Team with the necessary skills and resources to support teachers and officers across regional and district education directorates to effectively implement PLCs in SHSs and SHTSs. The sessions demonstrated how teachers could be supported and equipped with interactive and innovative approaches to make teaching and learning more engaging for students. With a strong focus on leveraging technology and promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), the training also highlighted the importance of socio-emotional learning in the classroom. It said all approaches used in the training were drawn from the National Teacher’s Standards (NTS), which outlined the values and attitudes, knowledge and practices expected of all professional teachers in Ghana. The release said the weekly PLC sessions, facilitated by trained teachers within each school, would help to ensure that all teachers were familiar with the National Teachers’ Standards (NTS) and able to incorporate concepts related to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in the classrooms. It said PLC sessions had the potential to bring about lasting positive changes across Ghana’s secondary education system and could be used to ensure that all teachers understood and embraced the new secondary education curriculum before it was rolled-out nationally in the 2024/25 academic year.

Source: Ghana News Agency