TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM: A CASE FROM SISSALA EAST DISTRICT, UPPER WEST REGION, GHANA (Published)
The production of a storyline connecting issues of policy coherence with reference to reform initiatives designed to enhance teacher professionalism is the central purpose of this article. The storyline is synthesised from conversations with Ghana Education Service (GES) stakeholders and educational leaders about their opinions concerning the Ghana Education Service and teacher support towards policy implementation within the Sissala East District. Teacher professionalism has been taken out of a larger research work on “Implementation of Initiatives in Ghanaian Education: The effect on rural Ghanaian junior high schools” (Inkoom, 2012). The article articulates background data about demographic details of teachers in the Sissala East District; their professional development; teaching and learning, facilities and resources; and, issues of teacher deployment within GES and teacher education.
Keywords: Commitment, Motivation, Teachers, interventions, potential, professionalism
EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PERCEPTION OF PUBLIC BASIC SCHOOL TEACHERS AT WINNEBA, GHANA (Published)
Educational supervision is very vital in the professional development of teachers. The study therefore aims at investigating the perception of public basic school teachers at Winneba, Ghana, on educational supervision in relation to their professional development. In all, 106 teachers of the public basic schools in Winneba who had spent at least a year at their respective schools were randomly selected and used for the study. The questionnaire was used to collect the data. One key finding from the study is that generally, majority of the teachers perceived educational supervision as having a positive impact on their professional development in terms of developing experience; curriculum, teaching methods and materials; classroom management; characteristics of pupils; and assessment. They also perceive educational supervision as helping to identify the needs of teachers and accordingly, plans professional development activities. Another finding is that educational supervisors highlight the strengths of teachers’ performance and encourage them to reflect on their challenges through which solutions are found to overcome them. More so, there is no significant difference in the views of male and female teachers of public basic schools at Winneba, in terms of developing their experiences, classroom management, characteristics of the pupils they teach, and assessment techniques. However, there is a significant difference in their responses in terms of curriculum, teaching methods and materials. The study, therefore, recommends that frequent and effective professional development activities should be organized by educational supervisors to enable teachers identify and develop their strengths, and address their weaknesses. Also, educational supervisors should not be interested in finding faults of teachers but more importantly, dialogue with teachers to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to improve on their professional knowledge, skills and experiences.
Keywords: Perception, Professional Development, Teachers, basic schools, educational supervision, public
JOB SECURITY AND JOB SATISFACTION AS DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AMONG UNIVERSITY TEACHERS IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA (Published)
The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which job security and job satisfaction predicted organizational commitment of university teachers in Cross River State, Nigeria. The relative contribution of each of the two independent variables to the prediction was also investigated. A survey design was adopted and the study sample consisted of 290 lecturers selected from 2 universities using purposive sampling technique. Two hypotheses guided the study. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multiple regression and t-test. The result of the study revealed that both job security and job satisfaction jointly had a significant effect (F = 9.87; P< .05) on organizational commitment of university teachers. There was also a significant correlation between the joint predictor variables and organizational commitment (R = 0.593; P<.05). Job satisfaction was a more potent predictor of organizational commitment (t = 3.38; P < .05) than job security ( t = 2.75; P < .05). The two independent variables made significant relative contributions to the determinacy of organizational commitment of university teachers. Premised on these findings it was recommended that the government and university management should improve upon existing motivational strategies to ensure job satisfaction of academic staff in order to enhance their commitment. Actions of government and university authority that would lead to threats of job security among academic staff should be avoided as this could jeopardize their sense of commitment.
Keywords: Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Job Security, Teachers, Universities
A Chemistry Class with Kitchen Resources and Students’ Entrepreneurial Ability (Published)
This paper examined entrepreneurial ability of chemistry students when taught saponification reaction with and without kitchen resources. Saponification reaction was taught using kitchen resources such as, ashes of unripe plantain, ashes of cocoa peels, ashes of husks of oil palm husks, palm oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil and kernel oil were used for the experiments. The sample comprised of 200 students drawn from four secondary schools in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River State. Two schools were used for experimental (using kitchen resources) and two for control (without kitchen resources). Cronbach was used to establish reliability of the instrument which was 0.81.The research used a mix design (quasi experimental and survey design) and 10 items questionnaire as instrument for the research. Data obtained were analysed using independent t-test .The results gave a significant t-value of 4.85. There was a significant difference in the entrepreneurial ability of chemistry students taught saponification reaction with and without kitchen resources. Teachers are encouraged to use kitchen resources in the teaching of chemistry to make students small entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial ability, Kitchen resources, Students, Teachers