Don’t abolish teacher licensure exams – Education think-tank IFEST warns
The Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), an educational policy and research institute, has said putting an end to the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) will be detrimental to the delivery of quality of education.
The exams allow for individuals to sit for a professional licence upon completing their teacher training programmes and IFEST has therefore warned against an attempt to have it abolished.
The warning by the think-tank comes in the wake of a recent call by the Minority Caucus in Parliament for the suspension of the licensure exams on the basis of poor pass rate by candidates.
Referring to the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) and the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023), IFEST argued that there was no need for the exams to be discontinued.
In a statement issued to The Ghana Report on the matter by IFEST on Thursday, August 26, the Acting Executive Director of the Institute, Peter Anti, said, the suspension of the exams could be based on the number of candidates who fail.
He said doing so would not be in the interest of the country’s education system, adding that the call for the end to the licensure exams is “highly uninformed and retrogressive.”
Nonetheless, he expressed serious concerns on the pass rate for the examination since its commencement a year ago.
“We should be interested in probing further to ascertain the possible reasons for such performance by candidates who have successfully completed their teacher training programme. We cannot add to the numerous challenges of our basic and secondary education with half-baked human resource,” he said.
Legal basis for the licensure exams
Both the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) and Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023) have mandated the National Teaching Council to “conduct examination for the licensing of persons who successfully complete teacher education programmes.”
The Education Act indicates that a person shall not be admitted to teaching as a professional career teacher without satisfying the laid down credentialing requirements issued by the council for normal or emergency certification.
It emphasises that a teacher’s licence is the only legal authorization for teaching.
The Acts further underscore that the legal possession of the council’s licences signifies that the teacher meets the knowledge and skill standard prescribed by the National Teaching Council and is duly licensed to teach.
“It therefore surprising that the Minority will cite an aspect of Act 778 to question the mandate of NTC in conducting the GTLE,” Mr Anti said.
Mr Anti explained that licensing examinations all over the world are designed to identify persons who possess the minimum knowledge, experience and skill necessary to perform tasks on a specific job safely and competently.
“That is why these examinations are written after the individual has undertaken the relevant programme of study at an accredited tertiary institution. Hence, the GTLE is not different from other professional licensing examinations in the country and beyond,” he stated.
Teacher trainees accept licensure exams
According to him, the IFEST’s independent study on the GTLE conducted in 2020 revealed that gradually, teacher-trainees have come to accept the licensing regime hence scrapping it should not be an alternative.
He, however, stated that the GTLE might have its own challenges just like any type of assessment model and so suggestions should be geared towards how to address the various challenges and not to call for a scrap.
“We are aware that a comprehensive evaluation of the GTLE is about to be carried out, and the focus should be on how to speed up the evaluation study. Such reports will enable,” the IFEST Ag Executive Secretary noted.
Minority calls for scrapping of licensure exams
The Minority has called for the end to the licensure exams, noting that the mass failure is a “demotivating and demoralising attempt to frustrate the teachers before they assume duty.”
In a statement issued by a Ranking Member of Education, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the Caucus asked the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to, rather, review the curriculum for teacher education.
The review, the caucus has recommended, should make the licensure an integral part of the course programme as credit hours to be earned by students towards their certification.
READ ALSO: More Than 8,000 Teachers Fail Licensure Examination
Their concern stems from the 8,442 teachers failing the October 2020 mandatory examination, 30.75% of the total 27,455 candidates who sat for the exams.
Meanwhile, 19,013 candidates representing 69.3% of the total candidates also passed the exams while results of some candidates have been withheld pending investigation, NTC said in a statement it issued in January this year.