44135 Joseph Nkyi-Asamoah / Elixir Edu. Tech. 101 (2016) 44135-44141 Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal) Educational Technology Elixir Edu. Tech. 101 (2016) 44135-44141 Impact of Teacher Trainee Sponsorship Scheme on Improving Teacher Supply in Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District of Ashanti Region Joseph Nkyi-Asamoah Wesley College of Education, Kumasi. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: This study investigated the impact of Teacher Trainee Sponsorship Scheme on improving Received: 4 October 2016; teacher supply in the Bosomtwe -Atwima-Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region of Received in revised form: Ghana. Questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data from the District 20 December 2016; Education Office and the District Assembly. The sample included 228 teachers selected Accepted: 31 December 2016; from 45 primary and Junior High Schools.The study revealed that majority of sponsored teachers are native of Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District or share common border Keywords with the district. Most sponsored teachers in the deprived areas have some rural Teacher supply, background. The scheme is faced with the problem of non-payment of regular and Retention, realistic allowances to the teacher trainees. The study revealed that sponsored teachers in Trainee Sponsorship. the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District have high expectations for conditions and facilities in the schools and communities. When the conditions and facilities are favourable, the teachers feel satisfied. © 2016 Elixir All rights reserved. Introduction At the initial stages of educational development in Ghana, Teachers play a central role in the educational enterprise teaching in the schools was modeled on the well known and, therefore, they are trained to be exposed to the knowledge monitorial system of Lancaster and Bell (Hilliard as cited in of subject matter, pedagogy and also equipped with skills to Bame, 1991, p.50) which were popular in Britain and Canada perform social roles in the schools in which they find at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In this system, the themselves. It is in this light that Ansu-Datta (1984) indicated scarcity of trained teachers was to be managed in the special that a teacher is person who: way. For instance, one master or trained teacher was in charge Maintains some kind of order in the classroom as a of a school and a number of monitors were appointed from disciplinarian, transmits knowledge as a mediator of learning, among the brilliant pupils of the schools to help him by being supplements in the school what the parents do at home, in charge of the “mechanical” teaching and rote learning in the decides what is right and what is wrong in the academic field various classes. as also in social interactions, shows sympathy and Similar teaching was adopted in Ghana. However, understanding for children so that they will be safe to confide despite its popularity the monitorial system had to be in him and are supposed to exhibit the moral values of the abandoned in England because among other things, it dominant group in society (pp.116-117). encouraged much mechanical learning and the mentors were The issue above puts the responsibility of teachers in a also immature for teaching, which demanded not only in very vital situation, such that they are required to remain in teaching reading, writing and arithmetic but also the need to one school for quite a long period in order to move the school moral influence on the pupils. Consequently, the country saw forward. Their long stay in a school will enable them to be in the need to tackle the problem of inadequate teachers by a position to gather more experience and apply it to the benefit training professional teachers. of the school and the community as a whole. It is against this The initiative was started by the Basel Mission as they background that teacher education has been considered established a Teacher-Catechist Theological Seminary at important from the colonial era to date. Akropong in 1848 and a second one at Abetifi. These and the One writer, Good as he was cited by Lawton and Gordon Roman Catholic teachers‟ college were the only institutions (2002) defined teacher education as all the formal and for teacher-training education in Ghana until 1909 when Accra informal activities and experience that help to qualify a person Training College was established. Later, the government came to assume the responsibilities of a member of educational in to supplement the effort of the missions and established (teaching) profession and to discharge his/her responsibilities teacher training centre not only for government teachers but more effectively. This explanation thus portrays Teacher also for teachers of all the missions who had no teacher Education as an educational programme designed to equip and institutions of their own. upgrade prospective teachers with instructional skills, In 1922, the Wesley Mission also opened a training knowledge of the subject matter, management and college first at Aburi and later transferred it to Kumasi in 1924 administrative skills and competencies in order that after their to be known as Wesley College. These institutions improved training they can function effectively at the level where they the supply of certified teachers in the country but did not find themselves. completely solve the numerous vacancies in the schools, Tele: E-mail address: [email protected] © 2016 Elixir All rights reserved 44136 Joseph Nkyi-Asamoah / Elixir Edu. Tech. 101 (2016) 44135-44141 especially the rural areas. With regard to the above determine the success or otherwise of the entire programme in consideration, conscious efforts were made in the 1960s to the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District. This study was increase the number of qualified teachers particularly for the an attempt to find out the positive impact or otherwise of the basic level of education but the problem of shortage of teacher trainee sponsorship scheme as practiced in the teachers persisted. McWilliam and Kwamina-Poh (1975) Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District. observed that various efforts were made by government to Statement of the Problem increase the number of training colleges from 31 colleges in Difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers and the even 1961 to 82 certificate colleges in 1966. Consequent to those greater difficulty in retaining teachers to achieve effective efforts, about 9,000 teachers came out of the 82 Certificate „A‟ teaching and learning outcomes have, for some time past, been and „B‟ colleges which existed in1966 and the total number of matters of serious concern for educational authorities and trained teacher on the field rose by 28%. opinion leaders in Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District. Throughout the years training of teachers has not been Even though the district recruits teachers yearly, many schools omitted from the government plan. There has been some are understaffed. A serious look at the district reveals a expansion in the teacher training colleges to admit more relatively high proportion of untrained teachers in some students. The establishment of study leave, best teacher award schools especially those in the rural areas. scheme and re-introduction of the teacher training allowance A casual observation by this researcher and concerns facilitated this move. raised by some residents of the Bosomtwe-Atwima- According to an International Labour Organisation Report Kwanwoma District seemed to suggest that the trained teacher (1998), which focused on the status of the teachers, whereas population is not encouraging, since the inception of surplus numbers of teachers may offer school systems a sponsorship package. The concerns further pointed that efforts chance to make qualitative improvements, teacher shortages to improve the teacher supply situation in the district have never do. The report continues that short falls of well trained seen any appreciable improvement based on some pertinent teachers are known round the world in all income levels but issues. It appears that teacher retention in the district has they are known to be a “chronic” handicap to educational become major concern because these teachers do not like to effort in many developing countries including Ghana. stay in the rural environment for longer periods. The question The most important factor in the education sector in then is, what are the most effective strategies that can be used relation to teacher is how best to find recruitment and in facilitating the entire teacher trainee sponsorship scheme to retention strategies that will bring about improvement in the work effectively in order to bring in the needed teachers and various schools in Ghana. There is the need to find a strategy help them to remain and teach for a long time in Bosomtwe- that attracts the teachers to the teaching field and this strategy Atwima- Kwanwoma District? should be able to maintain them for an extended period of Purpose of the Study time. The purpose of the study was to find out factors that It is, therefore, disheartening to observe that in most rural promote or militate against the teacher trainee sponsorship districts in the Ashanti Region, the trend is that teachers do not scheme and for that matter the success or otherwise of the remain to teach in one school for a long period of time. This programme as practised in the Bosomtwe-Atwima- observation was made by Britwum (2003) when he delivered Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti region of Ghana. the key note address at an inaugural ceremony of the Ghana Research Questions National Association of Teacher Training Colleges Tutors The study was guided by the following research questions. (GHATTCOT) Ashanti/Brong Ahafo zone at St. Louis 1. In what ways are sponsored teachers of Bosomtwe-Atwima- Training College in Kumasi. During his address as the Kwanwoma District placed to teach in the district? Regional Director of Education for the Ashanti Region, he 2.