9.1 Introduction

In chapter 1 the challenges facing teacher training in Ghana were clearly spelt out. The first set of issues dealt with problems of teacher quality, and the second raised questions about the capability of teacher training, as currently structured, to deliver the quantity of teachers required at cost-effective levels to meet targets set by education reforms. But, as was noted, these issues point to deeper challenges of teacher training reform that touch on certain fundamental issues concerning the professionalisation of teaching. For example, the philosophy of learning to teach espoused by teacher training systems can send powerful messages about the professional responsibility of a teacher in the classroom. This may be negative or positive. The MUSTER analysis of college curriculum in action suggested that the dominant approaches stressed prescriptive teacher behaviours, and this was reflected in the conception of practice of many newly qualified teachers. In this report, it has been argued that this conception needs to change to a discourse of teacher training which can promote a deeper contextualised understanding of teaching, and which can empower teachers to tackle the challenges and problems of actual teaching in the majority of Ghanaian schools. These, among others, are critical issues that need to be addressed to make teacher training count in striving for educational quality at primary and JSS levels.

In this final chapter we summarise under certain key themes the salient issues that have emerged from the MUSTER work and what they point to.