ITECPD Equips Mentors for the School Internship Programme
The Institute for Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development (ITECPD), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), has organised a week-long intensive workshop for trained and untrained mentors for the School Internship Programme (SIP).
The workshop, under theme: “Training and Retraining Mentors for the School Internship Programme”, took place from Monday, 8th to Saturday, 13th February, 2021, at Windy Lodge Hotel, Winneba.
The workshop was designed to train and retrain qualified heads and teachers of educational institutions in UEW partnership schools to serve as mentors for level 400 students embarking on internship practice in the partnership schools. It intended to equip the head-teachers and teachers who will be mentoring final year students of UEW with the professionalism required in the field of teaching.
The Director, ITECPD, Prof. Dandy George Dampson, in his address, iterated that the major point of departure for the workshop was the desire of the Institute to train and retrain potential mentors in the aims and objectives of the new four-year B. Ed. curriculum, especially the SIP.
“My dear participants and facilitators, Internships are a great way to apply the knowledge from the classroom to real-world experiences. Learning is one thing, but taking those skills into the workforce and applying them is a great way to explore different career paths and specialisations that suit individual interests, which is why UEW and ITECPD believes you are the right caliber of participants and facilitators to comprehend this vision and mission successfully,” he stated.
Prof. Dampson added that the Student Teaching Internship Programme represents the capstone or culminating experiences at the UEW, in the preparation of prospective teachers as knowledgeable, reflective practitioners and emerging leaders who would conduct themselves ethically and professionally per the teaching standards of Ghana.
“The semester-long internship will provide our student teachers many opportunities within diverse classroom settings to refine the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they have developed as active participants in their preparation as teachers,” he noted.
The Director of ITECPD entreated attendees to participate actively in the workshop, be dedicated, sacrifice, be selfless, and mentor UEW student teachers without fear or favour, so as to nurture them to compete favourably in the world of work.
“My dear participants, we invited you here to dialogue, critique and help the facilitators to sharpen, refresh and develop a comprehensive mentoring process that will stand the test of time. I encourage you to explore, critique, be analytical and contribute positively to achieve the purpose of this workshop,” he stressed.
The participants were taken through prevalent topics such as “Concepts and Process of Mentoring, the Teacher as a Reflective Practitioner/Teaching Portfolio, Assessments Instruments and Teaching Videos, Counselling in Teacher Education, Classroom Action Research, Teaching Philosophy, Development Teaching Skills, Clinical Supervision, Methodology and Assessment of Teaching Subject Area, and Meaning, Nature, Objective and Scope of Subject Area”.
The experienced and competent facilitators who anchored the topics were Prof. Sally Essuman, Prof. Francis Owusu Mensah, Prof. Samuel Asare Amoah, Dr. Judith Bampo, Dr. Patricia Amos, Mr. Eric Ofosu-Dwamena and Departmental Lecturers.
Also present to grace and support the workshop were the Principal, College of Languages Education, Ajumako, Prof. Dominic Kwaku Danso Mensah; Dean, Faculty of Educational Studies, Prof. Samuel Hayford; Dean, Student Affairs, Prof. Ernest Akwasi Amponsah; Head, Directorate of Quality Assurance and Assessment, Prof. Obed Acquah; Director of Ghana Education Service, Effutu Municipal, Mrs. Mabel Judith Micah; and Deputy Registrar, ITECPD, Mr. Steve v. Kamassah.