NTC Provisional Teaching License Questioned By Auditors… Where is the License itself Then?

The National Teaching Council (NTC) is mandated by Education Act 2008 (ACT 778) to ensure the training and production of quality teachers in Ghana. The section ten (10) of the ACT requires the Council through its governing body to:

• Advise the Minister:
  • on matters relating to the professional standing and status of teachers; and
  • on teacher education, including the provision of facilities  for In-Service Training and the employment of teachers;
• To recommend to the Minister professional standards required for the registration of Teachers;
• To periodically review professional practice and ethical standards for teachers and teaching;

The National Teaching Council which has been mandated to License all teachers in the country currently is giving Provisional Teaching license to Teachers before giving them a licensing ID.

To be a teacher in Ghana after university or College, One must write a Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) before employment.

After the Examinations One qualifies for a Provisional Teaching  License which could be downloaded on the official website of the NTC or go to the Office for Collection.

Information reaching us indicates some Auditors are requesting for the actual License since the current one on their file is a Provisional Teaching License.

The Provisional teaching License comes with

The logo of NTC,

The full name of the holder,

The picture,

The date of birth,

Qualification,

Gender,

Nationality,

Expiry date,

Holders signature and a signature of the Executive secretary.

The license also shows the various licensing ranks and a Bar code for verification.

Sample……..

seekersnewsgh.com was immediately contacted by some teachers to make the verification for them.

Speaking to the NTC head office, there happen to be no other License coming  as an actual License or Original License. The current Provisional License is an acceptable one. Any one called on this can contact the Head office for verification.

After the Provisional License , Teachers are to register on the Teacher Portal Ghana for a renewable Biometric License card . Which have their name, SSNIT number, License Number etc.

Sample of the card surfaced online

After the licensing, one will have to gather CPD points and build a portfolio within a period, without the two, the teacher’s license will not be renewed and will not be allowed to continue teaching.

About the CPD and the Professional Development. 

These are few documents from NTC about the Teacher’s Continuous  Professional Development.

The Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development Framework (‘TCPD Framework’) is designed by the National Teaching Council (NTC) of Ghana and formalizes a teacher’s responsibility and commitment to being a professionally competent and relevant practitioner.

The Framework serves as a guideline for Teachers, Education Directors, Teacher Education Service Providers and other stakeholders on provision of quality teacher training programmes for In-Service Teachers. The Framework has identified different activities which have been grouped as Mandatory, Ranked Based and Recommended activities.

Teachers at specific ranks are to access activities from both Mandatory and Ranked Based Trainings. In. addition, they are required to select any of the categories within the Recommended Trainings to meet a required TCPD point at that rank in a-3year TCPD cycle.

The teacher can access trainings from the employer either at the school level through Professional Learning Communities-PLC (School Based, Departmental Based or Cluster Based) Community of Practice-CoP (Workshop for Heads of Institutions or School Improvement Officers (SIO) or teachers for a particular subject or teachers of a particular class (BS3, BS1, KG2) or teachers assigned with common roles and responsibilities.

Such programmes are mostly supply driven. Teachers can also use the teachers’ portal to access TCPD activities from Accredited Service Providers on Demand.

Development Partners and NGO’s working closely with the Ministry of Education are also certified to collaborate with District Education offices to provide supply driven programmes to teachers. NTC will collaborate with NIB to monitor such trainings to ensure standards are met.

The framework provides formulas for calculating TCPD points at their respective ranks. TCPD activities are documented in Teachers’ Logbook as backup records which are transposed to the teacher’s online account.

Names of certified activities are saved in the portal for CPD providers to select and award points to teachers who may attend that programme.

In addition to the TCPD points, teachers are also required to build their own portfolio for assessment and these two (TCPD points and Portfolio Assessment Grade) are used to determine the professional standing of the teacher.

Should a teacher meet the TCPD point requirements but failed in Portfolio Assessment or the other way, that teacher cannot renew his or her license and cannot practice as a teacher according to the Teacher Regulatory ACT of Ghana.

Teachers who accept postings to where the employer and the National Teaching Council define as deprived area are given additional opportunities to access 2 demand deriving CPD programme which shall be organized by the employer in collaboration with the National Teaching Council without any payment by the employee except for transportation and feeding. 

Cycle of TCPD and Allotment of Credit Points 

TCPD programmes run for a cycle of two (2) years. This implies that every registered teacher has two

(2) years to earn the minimum credit points stipulated for his/her level/rank. This rule applies to teachers at all levels of the Education system, both public and private sectors including holders of administrative positions. A teacher must be physically present and receive a certificate of attendance at the end of any programme to earn credit points allotted to that category of TCPD. The table below shows the categories of TCPD programmes that must be attended and the minimum credit points to be earned within a period of two (2) years.

Suggested TCPD Points Required by Teachers on the Designated Ranks within the two year Cycle

Note: Every teacher should have at least 34% of the TCPD points per year. On the average, teachers at levels where the academic calendar operates for three terms (Trimester) shall have minimum of three supply driven trainings per term making a total of Nine (9) trainings per year and Twenty-seven (27) per the 3-year TCPD cycle. Similarly, teachers at the levels where academic calendar operates for two terms (Semester basis) shall have a minimum of Six (6) supply driven CPDs for a semester, making a total of Twelve (12) per year and 36 per the 3-year TCPD cycle.

source. National Teaching Council/ An Employer