Abstract
The study used an adaptation of Provus’ discrepancy evaluation model to evaluate a distance teacher education program in the University of Cape Coast, the premier teacher education institution in Ghana. The study involved comparing performance data of the program as perceived by students and faculty/administrators to standards prepared from the program’s design. Performance data was obtained by administering two survey instruments to a random sample of students and faculty/administrators. Discrepancies between performance and standards were reported. The study concluded that although there were some discrepancies between program standards and performance the program is fulfilling its purpose of upgrading the professional and academic performance of a large number of teachers in the public K-8 schools in Ghana.
Highlights
Distance education (DE) as a complementary mode of delivery was initiated as an effort to overcome the challenges of access, equity, cost-effectiveness, and quality for higher education (Association for the Development of Education in Africa [ADEA], 2002; Perraton, 2000)
There is an acute shortage of trained teachers, created by an expansion of pre-tertiary enrollments due to rapid population growth, the success of basic education reform, and the inability of Colleges of Education to produce the required number of teachers because of inadequate infrastructure.This shortage is not limited to Ghana but is prevalent in all countries of sub-Saharan Africa (DeJaeghere, Chapman, & Mulkeen, 2004, 2006)
The research site, the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, has over 8,000 distant teacher trainees in its program, scattered across the country. They are involved in two programs: a three-year diploma in Basic Education (DBE), and a higher, two-year post-diploma degree in Basic Education (P-DBE)
Summary
Distance education (DE) as a complementary mode of delivery was initiated as an effort to overcome the challenges of access, equity, cost-effectiveness, and quality for higher education (Association for the Development of Education in Africa [ADEA], 2002; Perraton, 2000). A study done in 2000 reported that to train all untrained teachers in Ghana by the year 2005 and to achieve a gross enrollment ratio of a hundred percent by the year 2010, the total number of new teachers required per annum would be from 13,000 to 16,000, and this output would have to be sustained up to the year 2010. The Ministry of Education wanted to ensure that teachers would not need to move from their duty stations to seek further education They could remain at post and learn by integrating college work with their teaching work (Darling-Hammond, 1998). DE has the potential to stem high attrition rates of teachers and reduce the migration of teachers from K-8 classrooms to high school or college classrooms after they have received higher qualifications and have gained additional experience
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