The leader of the Working Group on the Teaching Profession held a series of meetings with country and regional TMS groups between January and March 1999. The meetings were aimed at facilitating TMS activities on the ground.
Ghana Country Working Group
At its January 31 - March 30 meeting Ghana reported progress in many areas: reconstitution of the Ghana Country Working Group; the 1995 TMS; revisiting the study on the motivation and conditions of service of teachers; establishment of the Ghana Teaching Service Council; launching of programs for the training of trainers for school inspectors and for the in-service training of headteachers using the Ghana Headteachers' handbook; decentralization of resource allocation to districts; the establishement of District Education Oversight Committees and School Management Committees. Overall, the key activities of Ghana's TMS country action plan have been incorporated into the country's Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education program.
Ghana also took the following decisions at this meeting: it will lead the process to establish a West African TMS regional group and to create a Forum for Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Education in West Africa; and, it will design a training program for school inspectors.
SADC-TMS regional group
The SADC -TMS regional group met in Windhoek, Namibia (March 21-22, 1999). Participants were pleased with the publication of the four training modules for School Inspectors developed by and for the region. They suggested that the modules be distributed rapidly to enable more countries to undertake national training programs. Participating countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - were cautioned to set themselves feasible training targets and to attach clear performance benchmarks to their programs. The need to institutionalize the training of school inspectors was discussed. It was decided that a group of SADC-TMS resource persons should undertake a quick feasibility study to establish how best this can be done at country or regional level. The meeting agreed to consider developing an additional training module for school inspectors. The Group also decided to hold a meeting in September 1999 in Maputo, Mozambique to report their activities to the SADC Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Education.
Kenya Country Working Group (Nairobi, March 25, 1999)
The Kenya Country Working Group held its meeting in Nairobi, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education. The meeting reported progress made in the following areas: the development of three training modules for school inspectors (which differ in focus from those of the SADC region); and the development of the Teacher Resource Centers Baseline Study Instrument.
The meeting was also informed of the Country Working Group's plan to organize a regional seminar for Teaching Service Commissioners. This will be the first seminar ever to focus on Teaching Service Commissioners. Policy issues, problems and topical issues affecting Teaching Service Commissions will be discussed. Tentative arrangements have been made for the seminar to be held in Kenya in July 1999.
For further information, please contact:
Henry Kaluba
Commonwealth Secretariat -
Education Department
Human Resource Development Division
Marlborough House - Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5HX, UK
Tl : +44/171 747 6276 -
Fax : +44/171 747 6287
E-mail : h.kaluba@commonwealth.int
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