Monday 16 September 2013

Sending the Teachers Back to School

2nd April, 2013

By Courtney Irwin


For four days last week, School for Life extended their usual role, educating children, to the education of their teachers.  A workshop, held in Savelugu, 20km from Tamale, sought to train 60 teachers from formal schools in the district, in the use of School for Life’s methodology, in the hope that they will adopt these practices in their own classrooms.

School for Life promotes the use of mother tongue literacy, learning aids and active participation within the classroom through engagement between students and teachers.  These approaches are used within School for Life’s own program to deliver complementary basic education for out-of-school children in Northern Ghana.  Through a nine month functional literacy and numeracy program facilitated by community volunteers, School for Life graduates are able to enter formal school between grades three to six.  UNICEF has supported the program in the Savelugu Naton district for two years, and is currently operating School for Life classes in 30 communities.  Deputy Director of Operations, Alhaji Hussein Abdulai Ziblim, promoted the approach, saying that “Children learn better in their mother tongue.  We have tested this for more than 19 years now.”

The workshop itself utilized many of the techniques that School for Life promotes, relying heavily on participation and group work.  “Children learn more in groups.  They learn from each other, and we are trying to impart this to them” explain School for Life District Coordinator Ibrahim Issahaku.

In addition to the teachers, nine circuit supervisors from Ghana Education Service were in attendance, with the aim of supporting the teachers to implement the methodology.  They were particularly happy with the success of the program “The participants have been very keen.  The facilitators are up to the task” they said “Now all that is left is for the participants to implement this, and we will definitely do that!”
 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment