Early childhood education in Ghana often focuses on children’s development during age’s three (3) to five (5). While this developmental period should ideally focus equally on mental and physical development, in recent decades an emphasis has been placed on mental development, creating a concurrent de-emphasis on physical development, however the two goes hand- in- hand and should not be considered two separate entities during early childhood development and education.
Teachers however play a critical role in enabling students/pupils to learn to read and write in the early grade. Some of the roles expected of the early childhood teacher include but a few: develop schedules and enforce routines, maintain a safe and comfortable environment, provide age-appropriate supervision and discipline, plan and implement lessons, observe and communicate, address cultural and special needs etc. These roles or duties if implemented by the teacher will help the children develop holistically.
In view of this, the Education Directorate of the Kadjebi District in collaboration with World Vision organized a five-days refresher training workshop for early childhood caregivers and KG teachers on the development and appropriate use of Learning Resources. This will help keep these teachers updated with the latest skills and to refresh their minds of all that they have learnt previously. The workshop took place from 13th -17th February, 2023. Two venues were used: Assemblies of God Chapel and the Kadjebi District Assembly Hall.
The following were the main objectives of the workshop:
a. teachers will acquire additional pedagogical skills in their lesson delivery.
b. support KG teachers with a refresher training in proven ECD instructional methodologies.
c. create print rich materials to be taken to schools
d. teachers will be equipped with the needed and appropriate skills in the creation of teaching learning resources in other to make teaching and learning easier.
e. teachers will be equipped with uniform and standardized daily routine activities.
f. allow teachers to learn from their peers in the form of classroom delivery through simulations.
g. teachers will gain additional skills and confidence to be able to synchronize the SBC and the LR pedagogy.
The Methods employed by the facilitators includes: PowerPoint presentations, Flip Chart presentations, Demonstrations, Think-Pair-Share and Discussions. The participants were drawn from the 28 World Vision Assisted schools comprising of two teachers from KG1 and KG2 and all headteachers from the selected schools including SISOs drawn from the four circuit where the schools are located.