SCHOOLING PERFORMANCE IN GHANA: THE TEACHER FACTOR AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Ghana has witnessed three major reforms since independence and in between them there has been several review committees on education with the view of improving schooling performance. Considering the pivotal role of the teacher these reforms looked at various aspects of teacher training, teacher welfare and development as key factors in improving education quality in Ghanaian public schools. Some have argued that past reforms had focused mainly on structural changes to education and less on the internal ‘software’ conditions that are likely to have impact on the quality of schooling and that improving teacher quality have not been dealt with from the point of view of specific competencies that were required to ensure that the structural changes to improve access will also improve quality at the school level. This notwithstanding, there seemed to have been genuine efforts made by various governments to address the quality of teaching and learning. The extent to which this has been successful is debatable. But the issue is, performance indicators seem to suggest that little impact is being made on educational outcomes despite consistent efforts by various governments. This paper examines the ‘teacher factor’ in the context of the various education reform interventions and the extent these have influenced education quality in schools by examining selected key performance indicators. The paper further critiques some aspects of these interventions and raises issues that have policy implications on education quality.