The Centre for Teacher Professional Development, in collaboration with the Montessori Foundation Ghana and the Department of Basic Education, has organised a two-day workshop on the “Montessori Approach" for basic school teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis to upgrade their teaching skills to ensure a standard-based curriculum.
The workshop was designed to provide educators with essential skills and practical tools to enhance their teaching methods grounded in the Montessori philosophy, which encourages independent learning and holistic development.
The Department of Basic Education is set to introduce a certificate course in Montessori education in the forthcoming sandwich academic year.
The President of Montessori Foundation Ghana, Miss. Katherine Akua Akoto Bamford said the Montessori method allowed children to learn in a gradual process through visualising and identifying sounds.
She said that practical life was the first curriculum area of Montessori to make children thrive in the classroom.
President of Montessori Foundation Ghana, Miss. Katherine Akua Akoto Bamford facilitating the training
Unlike the traditional system, she added, children in Montessori schools learn in a more flexible atmosphere, where each child gains an understanding of what they study at their own pace.
"They are designed to help children master skills over time through their self-directed practice”, she said.
Miss. Bamford, who is the Managing Director at Coco's Montessori School, also indicated that Montessori materials were often practical with child-sized furniture in classrooms and children were usually taught in mixed-aged classrooms.
"The same teacher generally stays with children for their entire time in one grouping, to get to know the students very well and help guide their learning”, she continued.
She added that the focus of Montessori education was not on the number of children trained but the quality of education given.
In a remark, the Director of the Centre, Dr. Bernard Yaw Sakyi Acquah, said the Ghanaian education had moved from an objective-based curriculum to a standard-based curriculum, which required learners to be actively involved in the process of knowledge creation, with teachers taking on a facilitation role.
He noted that the era where teachers taught students from their level of understanding was over and urged teachers to guide learners to the concept they were learning.
Participants in a practical session at the training
A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Basic Education, Dr. Mrs. Joyce Esi Tawiah-Mensah, said the sensitization workshop would be beneficial to early grade teachers to incorporate practical activities based on Montessori approaches.
She urged teachers to take advantage of the course to make their classrooms interesting for their pupils.
Participants were given certificates of participation.
This workshop was the first of two capacity-building workshops to be held this year. The next is scheduled for August this year at UCC.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC