Ghana

There is mounting evidence on the positive link between high quality early childhood development (ECD) personnel and the physical, social, and cognitive development of young children.

To bring light to these challenges, and potential responses to them, the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative (ECWI) has developed 6 country briefs which highlight efforts to support the workforce across different geographies and services.

These country briefs were informed by desk reviews and information collected through key informant interviews (KII) with country experts from implementing NGOs, multilaterals, and research institutions, as well as program managers and government officials across 15 countries. After identifying six promising country approaches to highlight, we conducted further desk research and interviews to inform the country briefs. These interviews were particularly helpful for clarifying the key enablers and barriers to implementation in each country as well as the policy lessons for other countries.

The third of these briefs focuses on Ghana. Bridging Access with Quality: Empowering Kindergarten Teachers with PracticalTraining to Support Child-Centered Learning explores the Fast Track Transformational Teaching (FTTT) Program’s approach to enhancing pre-and in-service training that improves kindergarten teachers’ practical skills and ability to implement the national play-based kindergarten curriculum.

Maggie Gratz and Vidya Putcha, Results for Development

2019

Early Childhood Education Pre-Service Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Psychosocial Skills Across the Kindergarten Curriculum in Ghana assesses early childhood education pre-service teachers’ knowledge in teaching psychosocial skills across the kindergarten curriculum in Ghana. The research, published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, questioned 123 pre-service teachers pursuing a degree in early childhood education. The following research questions were the driving force behind this study:

1. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the constituents of psychosocial skills in the curriculum?
2. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the use of interactive techniques in inculcating psychosocial skills across the curriculum?
3. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the use of assessment procedures in inculcating psychosocial skills across the curriculum? 

The study concludes with implications for the early childhood curriculum in Ghana and recommendations for improvement.