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The decision of the Ministry of Education to compel non-PhD
university lecturers in the country to pursue PhD in their respective academic
areas is a move to follow best practices in education. University is the
highest level of learning; logically, teachers should aspire to the height of
knowledge in order to be able to impart to learners accurate, sophisticated knowledge,
through the best possible classroom approaches. In universities elsewhere, PhD
holders are likely to receive tenure position in a faculty; non-PhD holders might
be employed on contract basis. Therefore, the leeway given non-PhD holders to
upgrade is as humane a gesture as it is pragmatic. If the contracts of all non-PhD
holders were terminated immediately, the institutions would wobble, and
national investment would be wasted.
Despite its appeal, the Ministry should not focus
solely on PhD certificates; rather, it must target a learner-centred system.
Hence, the Ministry should not roll out one blanket under which all
institutions would pursue capacity building.
Traditional universities should pursue a certain line of intellectual
development, while technical universities embark on a practical-oriented human
resource development. The article now focuses on the latter.
The contemporary world operates the Knowledge Economy,
so we must focus on acquired knowledge and applying such effectively for
learner empowerment. Education enables communities to train young generations
for intellectual, socio-cultural, economic, geo-political advancement, to
mention these. The unemployment and sanitation crisis in the country, apathy
towards the environment, unethical behaviour which plunges the nation into
debt, nauseous religious practices, lust for money, and aversion for study/work
– to mention these – among the youth are major indicators that the training
system has failed.
Currently, education in Ghana, largely, embodies commercialization
of information and ostentation. From kindergarten to the university, a
cross-section of teachers and instructors, even institutions devise innovative
ways to siphon money from learners, rather than pursue and share knowledge. Subsequently,
the explosion of capacity building in recent decades has not necessarily
yielded expected advancement in applied research, effective training, solid
skill acquisition, and poverty reduction – especially, among the youth.
Possessing a PhD certificate does not offer any
guarantee that the holder can impart knowledge effectively, in theory and
practice. Many Ghanaians study abroad, in excellent academic environment. Upon
completion, they bring the certificates home and leave best practices abroad. Such
elements might not guide learners to accurate knowledge and career paths. The certificate
is useful in the technical classroom only if it advances balanced intellectual pursuit,
skill acquisition.
Currently, some PhD holders have deficit knowledge in
practical instruction, which constitutes a crucial chunk of competency-based
training. In fairness, they may not solely to be blamed, because the system might
not have equipped them for hands-on training. Thus, even a PhD holder needs technology
education to be effective in hands-on training. In fact, technical education is
faltering, because many of the teachers are not equipped for the technical
classroom.
To deviate from that destructive trend, therefore, the
approach to capacity building should be holistic so as not replicate the skewed
human resource development pattern of recent decades. For starters, all non-professional
teachers should go through the diploma in education programme, which would
include educational technology, which prepares teachers for practical
instruction. Those in IT, engineering, applied arts and sciences should be able
to utilise job sheet, tax and skill analyses for effective hands-on training. Teachers
in communication, entrepreneurship and the businesses should explore authentic
teaching/tasks, case studies and role plays to situate teaching/learning in
simulated practical environment. Then evaluation for promotion would be based
on teachers’ competency in both theory and practice. Let us pursue best
practices.
One adverse effect of the skewed human resource
development has been the neglect of the instructorship and technician groups. Ideally,
lecturers should handle theory, instructors would handle practical instruction,
and technicians handle workshops and laboratories. However, career progression of
instructors and technicians has not received the necessary attention. Currently,
instructors can progress up to chief instructor and receive the equivalent of a
senior lecturer’s salary. Technicians’ advancement ends at chief technician, who
receive the equivalent of a lecturer’s salary. Logically, they upgrade, move to
industry for better remuneration or apply for a lecturer's position for vertical
review. Consequently, both groups are gradually becoming endangered in the
technical university system, which endangerment also implies a rapid extinction
of pure hands-on training, the distinguishing feature of the Technical/Vocational
system.
A spill-over effect is that those at post may not have
acquired current technological skills; additionally, they may be operating in
poorly-equipped laboratories and workstations. Since these support training,
they may actually be imparting training based on old practices or concepts.
Even new technology programmes might
be still seeped in old methods and practices, which work environment would
demotivate personnel. And products might not be adept technologically and might
underperform in industry. NABCO is proof. Therefore, effective restructuring of
the instructorship, technician career paths should constitute a crucial part of
the proposed capacity building of teachers in technical universities.
In reality, a technical/vocational system skewed
towards practice can survive, but when training is skewed towards theory, the prospect
of solid skill acquisition becomes elusive. About two decades ago, HND
graduates handled HND courses. It was possible because those graduates
possessed solid practical skills, which they were able to impart to trainees. In
the 21st Century, the nation needs teaching personnel who balance
competent instruction in both theory and practice.
The Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary education
has lamented the absence of research institutions in the country due to low PhD
holders. The proposed capacity building should culminate in the rebirth of
technical universities as highly-powered research institutions. Teachers and
the taught would be research-oriented, capable operators of the Knowledge
Economy.
Technical education should be the ace up the sleeve of
Government for changing the tide of the nation. The system should uphold sophisticated
skill acquisition programmes that can help to overcome unemployment and cyclical
poverty, gender inequality, dependence on aid, to name four. So while targeting
PhD for capacity, develop instructors and technicians to enhance practical
training. Only a concurrent upgrading of the three groups, targeted investment
in technology and training would ensure a sustainable, productive higher technical
education.
