Teacher motivation critical to quality delivery – Lecturer

Dr Francis Owusu-Mensah, a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Distance Education of the University of Education, Winneba, has called for adequate motivation of teachers to enhance teaching and learning.

He noted that until the teacher becomes well motivated and equipped with the right teaching aids, no educational policy or reform introduced by the government would succeed.

Dr Owusu-Mensah was speaking at the fourth regional quadrennial delegates’ conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) of the Ashanti Region at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.

The three-day conference is under the theme; “Education in Crises: The Path to 2015; the Teacher Factor”.

It brought together various stakeholders to brainstorm on issues affecting the development of the country’s education and to find solutions.

Dr Owusu-Mensah criticized the regular changes in the education policy and urged politicians to stop experimenting with the educational system.

He expressed concern about inadequate infrastructure and resources and said these needed to be tackled with urgency instead of attacking teachers for non-performance.

Mrs Duncan Adanusa, General Secretary of GNAT, challenged teachers to strive to upgrade themselves to deepen their knowledge and professional competence, adding that, they should also review their methodology to make their teaching lively and easier to understand by pupils and students.

Mrs Adanusa spoke against delayed promotion of teachers and said this was a disincentive.

Professor Samuel Nii Odai, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, advised teachers to maintain a high standard of professionalism and desist from indulging in acts likely to create image problems for the profession.

He said they should also not focus only on academic excellence but good moral training of the youth.

Source: GNA