“You Need Several Years To Become A Lecturer”

The discussion with regards to whether every lecturer is fit and capable enough to teach at the tertiary level has been a significant argument for some years now.

People have complained that numerous lecturers don’t merit being before college or any tertiary institution in any way to teach, due to their feeble knowledge and lack of techniques and skill.

In accordance with this, the Board Chairman of the Governing Council of Wisconsin International University College Ghana, Noble Justice Isaac Dubose has added his voice to the issue, saying he upholds that affirmation, and that numerous lecturers in Ghana are not fit to teach at that level.

As indicated by him, having a mastery of specialist knowledge does not mean the individual has the techniques and competence to teach at the tertiary level successfully.

Noble Justice Isaac expressed that, the greater part of these lecturers priding themselves around don’t have the expected capability to teach. According to him, they are pupil teachers.

The retired Appeals Court Judge further moaned about the training over the course of the years in different Universities in Ghana which people with PhD and other post-graduate degrees are enrolled just to teach with no post-graduate teaching capability.

He said, prior to becoming a lecturer, you ought to have training in education before you become a teacher. Yet, in Ghana, people go to teacher training colleges, and when they graduate, some schools hire their services and encourage them to proceed to take more time to lecturer at the tertiary level.

He further communicated that, these are people who went through a schedule intended to make them teach at a predetermined level (in elementary schools), but are fairly approached to teach at tertiary levels. He said, they shouldn’t be there, but call themselves University lecturers.

Education Is Endless – American Rapper Ja Rule Goes Back To School

Noble Justice Isaac also noted that, the circumstance in Ghana is in opposition to best practices in many countries in the world.

“If you go to America and you want to teach, you have to take a certificate in teaching. My Daughter is a Lecturer in a University, after her doctoral degree she has to do nine months in pedagogy that is principal in education before she took a license to teach in a University that is people want to go and teach because that have been thought how to teach. In our country just get PhD and you are good to go, go and teach. Ladies and Gentlemen, having been involved in Education in University level for a while, I realized that a PhD is a research degree, and when you research ,you have to go to industry with the research not to go and teach with the research ”

“But here, our emphasis is to go to do research and after you have done the research you go and teach with the research. Is it a correct thing to do. At least if you don’t know what to do copy the people who are leading, how much effort do you put into taking post graduate diploma in education or certificate in education”.

Meanwhile, as a component of Ghana’s tertiary education reform, Ghana’s government has proposed a policy that mandates all tertiary education institution lecturers to possess a postgraduate teaching certificate before they are eligible to teach.

Also, Ghana’s National Council for Tertiary Education argues that having a mastery of specialist knowledge does not imply that a lecturer knows the techniques needed to effectively communicate that knowledge to students. In other words, PhD holders in particular fields of knowledge are not necessarily experts at teaching.

However Justice Isaac Dubose believes:

“The earlier we start redesigning our systems to fit purpose the better it will be for us. Don’t mistake me there are some teachers in the Universities who are good teachers either out of experience or out of natural gift but it is not the way to go”.

Credit: Starrfm