Enhance educational leadership to ensure quality learning outcomes — Prof. Adom-Asamoah

A Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Education, Prof. Mark Adom-Asamoah, has emphasised the need to enhance educational leadership to ensure access to quality education and better learning outcomes among students.

Educational leadership is a comprehensive strategy that integrates the strengths, knowledge and commitment of educators and parents to improve the quality of education and to strengthen the broader educational infrastructure.

Prof. Adom-Asamoah said in Ghana, 53 per cent of 10-year-olds did not have proficiency in literacy and numeracy. That, he said, was worrying, and that a bold and urgent action was needed to reverse the trend.

“Teachers attend the teacher training college, and they are made to go through the contents. However, what they need in terms of leadership, management and accountability of the teacher is something that nobody considers, and this has affected the learning outcomes that we get out of training the kids,” he said.

Prof. Adom-Asamoah said this yesterday at the opening of a three-day exposure and learning workshop being organised for operational partners of the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL).

The workshop, which is being organised by the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), has brought together delegates from Kenya, Rwanda and Belgium to learn from one another, observe good practices in school leadership and unlock opportunities for deeper collaboration on school leadership development.

Learning institutions

Prof. Adom-Asamoah suggested that specialised professional leadership and management development training must be provided for individuals holding or intending to hold leadership and management positions in institutions of learning across the country.

In 2021, he said, the Ministry of Education wrote a proposal to Cabinet to ensure that apart from teaching, teachers would have training in leadership and management. He said the Cabinet gave approval which resulted in the establishment of the National Education Leadership Institute which gave way for a pilot project to be run.

Prof. Adom-Asamoah said the project was almost complete, and currently, there were 400 participants from six regions in the country. He said they were made up of regional directors of education, district directors of education, heads of schools and other management members of education.

As things stand, he said, the ministry was waiting for the final memo to be sent to Cabinet for approval for the roll-out in every school.

Educational leadership

The Director-General of the IEPA, Dr Micheal Boakye-Yiadom, said together, they must promote and develop school leadership because it is an effective means to overcome learning poverty.

He said the education space needed a new generation of leaders who could transform their operations to bring about a great change in their working environment and the nation as a whole.

“We know what it means to develop school leadership effectively because it has a very direct relationship with learning outcomes,” he said.