Basic Teacher Development and Deployment

3.3.3.1. Categories of Basic School Teachers

There are at least six categories of basic school teachers, based on their qualifications and affiliations (see table 6), although the MoESS/GES use only two classification − trained and untrained. There are two organisations other than the GES that are involved in the deployment of untrained teachers nationally: the National Service Scheme (NSS) and the Youth Employment Programme (YEP).

As with GES employees, there are two categories of teachers: trained teachers, who are also called professional or regular teachers, and untrained teachers, who are described as pupil teachers (GES and GNAT 2000 Conditions and Scheme of Service and the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers). Pupil teacher is sometimes used as synonym for untrained teacher, but I use pupil teachers in this study only for the GES‟s untrained teachers. Non-GES teachers, all of whom are untrained or unqualified, can be categorised

into the following four: the National Service Scheme (NSS) teachers who have finished tertiary education; retired teachers; the Youth Employment Programme (YEP) teachers, and volunteer teachers. Volunteer teachers are those supported by communities, PTAs, NGOs and other organizations like churches or nobody.

Table 6 Categories of basic teachers

Qualification Affiliation Attribution Name used in this research Trained Ghana Education Service (GES) Trained Trained teacher

Untrained

Untrained Pupil teacher National Service Scheme (NSS) Mandatory/

Voluntary

NSS teacher Retired Retired teacher Youth Employment Programme

(YEP)

- YEP teacher NGOs, Communities, PTA, etc. or

nobody

- Volunteer teacher Source: field research.

3.3.3.1.1. Trained Teachers

Trained teachers in basic schools are those with recognised professional qualifications, having completed teacher training programmes. There are two ways to obtain

qualifications: pre-service training (PRESET) and in-service training (INSET). PRESET is a full-time training course offered by two of the universities and 42 teacher training

colleges (TTCs), including four private TTCs. The universities award a diploma or degree and the TTCs used to be pre-tertiary institutions producing certificate holders (Certificate A teachers). However, TTCs have been upgraded to tertiary institutions and their first batch of diploma holders came out and started teaching in the academic year 2007/08. INSET, on the other hand, is a part-time programme provided by the same universities and the GES itself. The participants in these part-time programmes include: untrained teachers who would like to be qualified teachers; and serving trained teachers who are aiming to upgrade their qualifications. Most of trained teachers obtain their initial professional qualification through PRESET.

Trained teachers have a „rank‟ which shows their position in the GES (table 7). A newly trained teacher with Certificate „A‟ is the lowest, Superintendent II, and is the “entry

appointment” of the GES (GES and GNAT 2000 p7). A rank based on teachers‟ qualifications and experiences determines teachers‟ salaries as well as their duties, and hence, posting. The duty of a Superintendent II is to teach in basic institutions13 (ibid p50)‟. The duty of Superintendent I, who has a recognised diploma and/or has been promoted from Superintendent II after five-year teaching experience, includes: teaching in first14 and second15 cycle institutions; inspection in first and second cycle institutions; district/regional subject organisers; and administrative duties (ibid p55). Similarly, Senior Superintendent, who has a university degree and/or has been promoted from Superintendent I, has the same duties as a Superintendent I “with added responsibilities” (ibid p56).

TTC leavers16 are the majority of trained teachers in basic schools. As teachers progress in their ranks, they tend to leave basic school teaching for secondary school teaching and/or administrative responsibility at the DEO. Basic school teaching has not only lower status than secondary school teaching but also the lowest status in the GES system. The rank and its duties are summarised in table 7.

Table 7 Teachers’ rank

Rank Qualification Experience

(years) Duties Superintendent II Certificate A 0-4  Teaching at basic schools Superintendent I Certificate A 5-9 _

Teaching at basic and secondary schools Diploma 0 -

Senior

Superintendent

Certificate A 10- _

Same as above with added responsibilities Degree 0 -

Principal Superintendent

Senior Superintendent with three years satisfactory service

 Inspection of basic and secondary schools

 Teaching at secondary schools

 Headship of primary schools with at least two streams and JSS

Assistant Director Principal Superintendent with three years satisfactory service

 Administrative duties at headquarters/regional/district

 Headship of secondary schools

 Inspection of basic and secondary schools Director II Degree and three years or more

as Assistant Director

 District director

 Headship of secondary schools/TTCs Director I Three years or more as

Director II

 Regional/divisional heads

 As Director II with added responsibilities Source: Conditions and Scheme of Service and the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.

13 _{They are same as first cycle institutions which cater for children in day nursery, kindergarten, primary and} JSS.

14 _{The first cycle means „basic schools‟.} 15

Second cycle institution means a pre-tertiary institution other than a first cycle institution (ibid). 16 _{The TTC produces approximately 7,000 to 8,000 teachers a year (GES 2004 p 30).}

Although length of the service is important for promotion, that is, a higher rank, young teachers with higher qualifications can jump the queue. This may encourage basic school teachers to perceive upgrading as necessary not only for professional development, but to achieve a higher rank, which means teaching at a higher level and/or receiving a higher salary, as salary scale is linked to ranks.

3.3.3.1.2. Pupil Teachers

Pupil teachers are the GES employed, untrained teachers, whose duties are teaching in basic institutions. Their qualification requires four passes, including English and

mathematics, in the pre-tertiary education leaving examinations, such as Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE). If they fail to obtain admission to training college or a prescribed training programme by the end of five years teaching, they “shall be

removed from the service” (GES and GNAT 2000 p36). The introduction of the Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) has meant that pupil teachers will not be laid off as long as they are taking that programme. Pupil teachers are not entitled to annual leave, while the newly trained teachers have 30 days, as well as a 10 working-day

casual/emergency leave. There is no career progression unless they obtain professional qualifications.

3.3.3.1.3. National Service Scheme Teachers

Under the National Service Scheme (NSS) launched in 1973, all Ghanaian tertiary

graduates must serve the nation for a year. Its objectives, set in 1970, are: nation-building through NSS personnel‟s active participation; national unity; combat against “hunger, illiteracy, disease and unemployment in Ghana”; and provision of “essential services and amenities, particularly in towns and villages in the rural areas of Ghana” (The Ghana National Service Scheme Rules and Regulation, no date, no page).

The NSS teachers are categorised in two ways: mandatory NSS and voluntary NSS. The former is those who finish tertiary education as mentioned above and the latter includes those who decided to continue teaching after the 1-year mandatory NSS and those who wish to resume offering service, with prior experience of the NSS. Mandatory NSS

personnel are mainly posted to Ministries, Departments and Agencies17, while voluntary NSS personnel are restricted to the Ghana Education Service, more specifically to classrooms. The mandatory NSS teacher is entitled to 1-month‟s annual terminal leave, which normally falls in August (It coincides with the long vacation period of basic schools). 3.3.3.1.4. Retired Teachers

The NSS has deployed retired teachers to basic schools since 2006/07 as voluntary NSS teachers. Those who used to be employees of the GES – both trained and untrained (pupil teachers) - are eligible for the scheme.

3.3.3.1.5. Youth Employment Teachers (Community Education Teaching Assistance) The Ghana Youth Employment Programme (YEP) started in October 2006, under a Presidential directive. It aims at addressing the problem of unemployment and underemployment among young people aged between 15 and 35 years18 (Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employmnet 2006 Youth Employment Programme Implementation Guidelines p1). It was intended to generate at least 500 jobs in each district19 for the first six month period and then to increase the figure to over 600 (MoMYE 2006 p10). In 2006, 78,195 jobs were created under the YEP (NDPC 2007 p75).

Basic teaching is one of 10 suggested „areas‟20

of operation. The Youth Employment Programme (YEP) teachers in this research, officially Community Education Teaching Assistance, are “young men and women with at least second cycle education who (will) help deliver a pre-and basic school level educational service in rural areas where there are not sufficient teachers” (MoMYE 2006 p40 ( ) added). There are two requirements to be a YEP teacher. Firstly, they (and other YEP personnel) “must reside within the community or localities in which the jobs…are set up” (ibid p7). Secondly, they must meet “the requisite educational qualifications such as basic passes at SSS level and be of good character and be

17

Interviews with NSS district coordinators suggest that some mandatory NSS have been posted to basic schools, mostly JSS.

18 _{It constitutes 26% of the population, according to MoMYE.}

19 _{The target figures could vary on the high side for the bigger districts as well as Metropolitan and Municipal} Assembles.

20 _{Each district chooses „areas‟, considering relative comparative advantages possessed in the locality.Other} major „areas‟ include: agri-business, waste and sanitation management, health care, and community

committed to working with the programme for at least one year” (ibid p40 with emphasis in italics). The YEP teachers‟ educational base is more likely weaker than that of pupil

teachers, without any passes in English and mathematics in the SSSCE. 3.3.3.1.6. Volunteer Teachers

There are teachers who do not belong to any of the five categories mentioned above. They have been grouped as volunteer teachers, due to the nature of their status. They work voluntarily, receiving much smaller financial benefits. Volunteer teachers include those supported by NGOs, communities, the PTA, or other organizations, such as churches. Some volunteer teachers receive no financial rewards at all. Recruitment of volunteer teachers often depends on the respective schools‟ head teacher. A volunteer teacher could be any of the following: middle school leaver, Senior Secondary School (SSS) leaver, university graduate, or higher.

3.3.3.2. Employment Conditions of Basic Teachers

Teachers‟ employment conditions differ according to their categories, as the previous section suggests. Trained teachers are the only permanent teachers: untrained teachers do not have job security. Moreover, trained teachers receive the highest salary and other benefits, such as paid annual leave. In general, trained teachers‟ employment arrangements are better than those of any other category of teachers (table 8).

Table 8 Employment conditions by category of basic school teachers

Category Appointed by

Appointment Education Days for leave entitled Salary (¢) Trained Trained GES Permanent Pre-tertiary

to Tertiary 40 days (total) 175*21 423** Untrained Pupil 1 year up to 5 years Secondary 0 112*** NSS NSS 1 year up to 5

years Tertiary 1 month 125 Retired 1 year Pre-tertiary Not Specified 150 YEP YEP 1 year Secondary Not Specified 70 Volunteer School n/a Secondary to

Tertiary

Not

Applicable 0 ～20 * Newly trained teacher with certificate

** Trained teachers with certificate who worked more than 26 years *** Pupil Teachers with SSSCE

Source: field research.

21 _{The salary of newly trained teachers of ¢175 was the equivalent of $166, using 2008 exchange rate of}

¢.95 to the dollar.

3.3.3.3. Teacher Deployment

The system of teacher deployment is complex, as there exist six categories of teachers at basic schools, and various organisations are in charge, as seen above.

The (GES) DEO is not necessarily wholly responsible for, nor does it have power over trained teacher deployment. Particularly, newly trained teacher deployment is in the hands of the central government. The GES headquarters allocate newly qualified teachers to regions, considering trainee teachers‟ preferences indicated in a form in which they list up three regions to which they would like to be posted. Then, the regional posting officers assign teachers to specific schools (Hedges 2002). Thus, the DEO can do little regarding recruitment of newly trained teachers: this is not a part of decentralisation.

Where the DEO holds power in terms of teacher deployment is in its recruitment of pupil teachers and the transfer of its employees, both trained and pupil teachers, from one institution to another within the district (GES and GNAT 2000 p11). However, along with the introduction of the YEP, quotas of pupil teachers have been frozen22: the DEO are allowed to recruit only new pupil teachers as replacements for existing posts. The DEO has limited power over its own teacher deployment in the centrally controlled system.

The DEO‟s limited power is much more obvious for non-GES teachers, as teacher

deployment in basic schools is done by other organizations, namely, the NSS and YEP. The DEO could be consulted by these about vacancies; however, they have their own ways to justify their personnel deployment. For example, the NSS sets availability of

accommodation as one of the conditions for its deployment.

In the case of volunteer teachers, except those who are supported by organisations like NGOs, whether they get a post or not is the respective head teachers‟ decision. As the appointment of volunteer teachers has no financial implications for the GES, no educational requirement is necessary. They could start or stop teaching at any time and for any reason.

22 _{From interviews with district officers and a note by a district director posted to at the DEO office as of} 11/06/08, which indicated those who are interested to get appointments should apply to the YEP programme not pupil teachers.

The DEO is in charge of all basic schools in the district; however, its administrative

authorities in terms of teacher deployment are limited not only regarding its employees, but also in its operation, especially for newly qualified teachers. This organisational

arrangement may influence the operation and the attitudes of the DEO to teachers as a whole, and thus, teacher motivation.

In summary, teachers in deprived districts are more likely to be put into basic schools as a temporary measure, as on average 43% of primary and 62% of JSS teachers in deprived districts are trained, which is worse than those at the national level (table 4). As a result, teachers in deprived districts are more likely to work with teachers who not only have different qualifications and affiliations, but also different employment conditions.