Department of Educational Studies and Leadership
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Item Learning to Teach in Ghana: An Evaluation of Curriculum Delivery(Centre for International Education, 2000-08) Akyeampong, K.A.; Ampiah, J.G.; Fletcher, J.A.; Kutor, N.; Sokpe, B.This paper reports research into the question: what kind of trained teacher emerges from the initial teacher training system and what areas and aspects of training do graduating student teachers value the most and the least? Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper explores exiting trainees' experiences of training and the curriculum as it is delivered and what they value. Also, in an attempt to understand the instructional practices in the colleges, tutors' lessons were observed and followed by interviews. The main findings were as follows. Despite a range of practices used by tutors, the model of teaching is fundamentally one of transmission. Copying notes and taking exams are central to the learning experience. Tutors felt trainees' content knowledge was weak. There was a general lack of engagement with practical learning experiences and contextualised learning in general. The paper suggests that there is a need for tutors to have more relevant professional development, make use of a wider repertoire of resources and make more use of teaching practice, which is the most valued part of training from trainees' perspective. In general, supervision of teaching practice was primarily understood in terms of the application of methods rather than an opportunity for problematising and contextualising teaching. In this context the attempt to introduce child-centred approaches to teaching needs careful consideration.Item Mathematics Education and Continuous Assessment in Ghanaian Senior Secondary Schools: Continuous Assessment of What?(Mathematics Connection, 2001) Fletcher, J.A.The last decade or so has seen major developments in the policy and practice of assessment in this country. The introduction of the criterion-referenced assessment scheme at the primary school level as well as the use of continuous assessment at almost all levels of education in Ghana reflects fundamental new conceptions of what assessment is for. The old notion of tests as something, which will sort young people into social roles they will occupy in society, is being replaced by reformed rhetoric, which asserts multiple purposes of assessment. At one level, it seems there has been growing acceptance, at least among educationists, which the primary purpose of assessment must be formative, that is, the information it gathers should be used to improve the educational process. At another level, emphasis is being laid on the summative function of assessment whereby a judgment of some kind is passed on an individual at the end of some course of work. This article examines the use of continuous assessment in mathematics at the senior secondary level in Ghana and argues that the present arrangements in the assessment of students' achievement in mathematics at the senior secondary level are not substantially different from the traditional modes of assessment which they are meant to replace.Item The appraisal of mathematics teachers in Ghana(African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences, 2001) Fletcher, J.A.This study examined the nature and existing methods of teacher appraisal in Ghana. 441 secondary mathematics teachers participated, of whom 193 teach the subject at the junior secondary level and 248 teach it at the senior secondary level. In addition, 44 Ghana Education Service Officials and 6 Heads of secondary schools who appraise mathematics teachers were sampled. Methods used included questionnaires, interviews and observation of appraisers at work. Chi-squarex2 and discriminant analysis statistics were used. Highly significant relationships were found between mathematics teachers' perceived professional support and appraisal experience, mathematics teaching experience and professional status at the senior secondary level; and between perceived support and appraisal experience at the junior secondary level. The results indicated inefficiencies in the appraisal system employed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in supporting mathematics teachers to improve their work.Item Constructivism and mathematics education in Ghana(Mathematics Connection, 2005) Fletcher, J.A.Mathematics is a subject found in every school Curriculum in almost every country. Here in Ghana, mathematics is a compulsory subject in both the basic education (i.e. primary and junior secondary) and senior secondary curricula. This paper argues that in spite of the desire of mathematics educators in Ghana to pursue a constructivist agenda with regard to the teaching and learning of mathematics, mathematics teachers at the basic and senior secondary levels continue to place undue emphasis on memorisation and 'imitation' rather than understanding and explaining. The difficulties involved in making the switch from the transmission approach to mathematics teaching to activity-based approaches include counteracting the effect of an examination system which encourages rote learning and recall of facts, lack of expertise among teachers of mathematics and teachers' resistance to changeItem Evaluation of the City and Guilds Level 3 Adult 8umeracy Support Course at Merton College in the UK(African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences, 2007) Fletcher, J.A.This paper looks at the evaluation of the Level 3 Certificate in Adult Numeracy Support (City and Guilds 9484) course at Merton College. The latter is a general further education (FE) college and the main provider of post-16 education and training in the London Borough of Merton. The College also runs a number of higher education (HE) courses. The course was introduced into the School of Community Education following the college’s successful bid to run a Level 3 course in numeracy in partnership with other colleges in the South London learning Partnership. The main objective of the evaluation of the course at Merton College was to find out how the course measured up to the standards specified by the DfES/FENTO Subject Specifications and echoed by City and Guilds in the Course handbook (City and Guilds, 2005) as well as the procedures specified in the Merton College College’s Quality Assurance system. It was clear that the team was faced with challenges in understanding the level of the mathematics content required, and of linking this with strategies, methods and skills to teach adult numeracy learners. One critical observation the author made was the team’s inability to change the course structure and content to suit the needs of the candidates. One other limitation of the course was the absence of information and computer technology use. Candidates were not introduced to adequate use of information and computer technology (ICT) as part of their learning. The author observes further that initial teacher education is a complex combination of knowledge as it requires specialist knowledge but at the same time much depends on experience and learning on the job. There is little doubt that the lack of thorough and systematic support for trainees in the place of teaching is a profound systemic weakness that impoverishes all teacher education programmes, not just those discussed in this paperItem Applying Constructivist Theories of Teaching and Learning to the Teaching and Learning of Adult numeracy in the Further Education Sector in the UK(Mathematics Connection, 2007) Fletcher, J.A.The pursuit of mathematical connections in teaching has intensified in recent years and a number of studies in numeracy teaching have identified two types of numeracy teachers – those with constructivist approaches to the teaching and learning of numeracy and those with a transmission view of the subject generally. Of the two, constructivist teachers have been found to be the more effective teachers of numeracy because they are better in bringing about identified learning outcomes. What constructivism promotes is a more progressive model that is rooted in discussions between teacher and student and between student and student. It involves the process of meaning-making whereby students simultaneously construct and make sense of their world, and is also more democratic in the sense that roles of teacher and student can be reversed. Indeed, the fundamental goal of numeracy instruction should be to help students build structures that are more complex than those they possessed before instruction and that can be used in different contexts. Here, the teacher's role is not to merely convey to students information about numeracy but to facilitate profound cognitive restructuring through negotiation of meanings of contextualised activities. Hence the importance of constructivism in the teaching of adult numeracy.Item Applying mathematics in real-life problems: A case study of two senior high schools in Ghana(2009-08) Fletcher, J.A.The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the extent to which senior high school students could apply mathematics in real life situations by examining the relationship between their performance on “routine” mathematical calculations and that on a “shortwriting” task related to the application of mathematics. It involved thirty boys and thirty girls from two Senior High Schools in Accra, the capital of Ghana in West Africa. All the sixty participants were in Form 1 (SHS1) at the time of the study. Data for the study was collected between June and August 2008 using tasks and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques were used to analyse the data. The results of the study showed no significant gender differences in the students’ performance on both the routine and the short-writing tasks but showed marked differences between the students’ performance on the routine calculations and that on the short-writing task. The students’ mean score for the routine calculations was significantly higher than their mean score for the short-writing task as the difference between the two mean scores was statistically significant at the 0.1% level. Furthermore, there was a strong correlation between the students’ performance on the two different tasks. The implications of the results for the teaching and learning of mathematics are discussedItem Social justice and mathematics education in Ghana(Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2012) Fletcher, J.A.This paper assesses the extent to which social justice theories can be used to explain the causes of inequalities in mathematics education in Ghana and explores ways in which issues arising from such inequalities can be addressed. The paper traces the habitus that operates in the Ghanaian mathematics classroom and argues that the habitus is created by both learners and teachers who may be oblivious to its dangers. The author underscores the importance of teaching for social justice by using learners’ funds of knowledge in the delivery of the mathematics curriculum. The paper concludes that it is vital for teachers of mathematics to move away from authoritative approaches to the teaching and learning of mathematics towards more collaborative approaches, which will provide learners with the opportunity to make choices that will engage their creative potential in mathematics and harness their emotional energies.Item Enhancing Access to Education for out-of-school Children in Hard to Reach Communities in Ghana: The ACE experience(Journal of Education: Issues and Practice, 2013-12) Ampiah, J.G.; Fletcher, J.A.; Davis, E.K.; Abreh, M.K.Access to quality Basic Education for all school-age children has been the vision of governments of many developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the way to provide access to quality education for all school-age children, especially in the hard-to-reach communities has been a major challenge. This position paper looks at an innovative approach to providing access to quality education in hard- to-reach communities in Northern Ghana by the Alliance for Change in Education (ACE), through the Wing School project. The paper aims to share the good practices of the ACE Wing School model. It highlights the key characteristics of the ACE methodology, approach to access, ACE Wing School approach to quality of learning outcomes, community participation. Challenges of the ACE methodology are highlighted and aspects of the ACE methodology which could be useful for state adoption have been recommended to stakeholders of education in Ghana.