Vision statement:
To play a leading role in the training of high calibre personnel for Ghanaian educational institutions and research educational systems; adopt a range of theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches; and enhance policy and practice in education by providing high quality programmes in education, training and consultancy with and for its key constituencies, locally and internationally.
Mission statement:
To provide opportunities for the development of critical thinking, to challenge both staff and students to be creative and responsive to national needs and aspirations and to forge links with local and international institutions of higher learning.
History:
The College of Education Studies is the foundation of the University of Cape Coast. When the then University College was established on 1st October, 1962, it was entrusted with the task of training graduate teachers in Arts and Science for the secondary schools, teacher training colleges, etc. Consequently, in 1964, it was re-named the “University College of Science Education” and Education which had previously formed part of the Arts, was established as a separate Faculty in view of the crucial role it was to assume within the re-organised degree structure. Thereafter, Education became a compulsory component of the three subject teaching courses leading to B.A. and B.Sc. (General) Education degrees offered by the University College. The structure continued through 1971 when the institution became a full-fledged University by an Act of Parliament until 1998 when only students belonging to the Faculty of Education were required to study education courses.
The need to run the University on Collegiate basis emerged in line with Key Thrust 10 of the University’s Strategic Plan-2012-2017 (i.e Improve upon Management Capacity and Institutional Governance System). Consequently, the University adopted the collegiate system in August, 2014 which led to the upgrade of the then Faculty of Education became a two-tier College known as College of Education Studies (CES).
In the course of the implementation of the Collegiate System, it was noted that the departments that comprised CES were too large, with disconnected activities and mandates which hampered smooth administration and management. There was, therefore, the need for further re-structuring into a three-tier system that allowed large departments to be broken down into smaller departments/centres/units. A proposal for restructuring into a three-tier system was sent to the Academic Board and approval was granted the College to run the system in August, 2016. In view of the approval of the three-tier system, the institutes/departments/centre/units which performed similar functions and run related programmes were re-organised into three Faculties and a School. The main aim was to improve management, share expertise, make efficient use of resources and have effective running of academic programmes.
Core Values:
Diversity: Relying on the strength we have through the diverse background of our students, staff and faculty, we provide equal opportunity to all and strive to care for each other both personally and professionally.
Openness: We are open to accepting multiple perspectives from our students, staff, faculty and our stakeholders.
Transparency: We operate in a transparent manner that portrays our accountability to each other, our students and the general university.
Collaboration: Guided by the knowledge that one person does not have all the answers we are dedicated to a constructive and team-oriented working and learning environment.
Excellent Service: To make our students competitive in today’s contemporary world, we make every effort to provide them with excellent service.
Continuous professional growth: We strive to attain operational excellence by providing professional development activities for our staff in an on-going manner.
Innovation: We encourage innovation through creative and critical thinking and the use of contemporary technology.
College/Faculty/School/Department:
College of Education Studies
About College/Faculty/Department:
The College of Education Studies (CES) is one of the five Colleges in the University of Cape Coast. It has the mandate of training high calibre personnel for Ghanaian educational institutions, research educational systems and training of other professionals for all sectors of the economy.
Teaching Philosophy:
The philosophy underlying teacher preparation and development in our College has the following four (4) key dimensions:
Develop creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students to make them life-long learners.
Provide inclusive and equitable learning opportunities to engender learning progress of all students.
Promote student knowledge construction and provide opportunities for them to take responsibility for their learning.
Optimise emerging instructional methods and technology
We believe that skill development and conceptual understanding are legitimate goals of instruction, in that each builds on the other, and that even a skill can be learnt with meaning. Consequently, we encourage faculty in the College to create an environment that promotes the development of our programmes. To achieve this, we strive to provide opportunities for our students to connect new experiences with already existing ones. Faculty are, therefore, encouraged to draw on relevant and appropriate indigenous knowledge that students bring to the learning situation to scaffold their understanding of concepts to make learning relevant.
We envision that Faculty adhere to the belief that knowledge must be socially constructed because teaching in our College is also driven by the constructivists’ philosophy of learning where the necessary environment is created for both teachers and students to jointly co-construct knowledge with tolerance. We, therefore, encourage our students to dare to conjecture in class, reflect on their thinking, communicate that learning in meaningful ways to their peers and be open to alternate views from their peers until a shared understanding is developed. Faculty are also encouraged to show interest in the learning progress of all students, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity and socio-economic backgrounds.
Our College also seeks to prepare the type of teachers who will empower their students to be curious, critically minded and dare to explore. We believe that our teaching should promote risk-taking by the learner, foster critical thinking skills and also develop a questioning learner who is not afraid to critique existing knowledge. Our roles involve striving to ensure that lecturers are facilitators of knowledge who promote learner-centred teaching, are given opportunities to actively engage with the environment to generate knowledge and are, by so doing, able to take full responsibility for their own learning. By ensuring reflective thinking, conjecturing and communication among students, we ensure that our students develop creativity and problem-solving skills.
In all these, we have a commitment to incorporate contemporary and innovative methods of teaching that utilise emerging technologies in ways that result in maximizing learning in the programmes. We seek to develop teachers who are able to adapt and model best practices to teach in different ways to cater for different learning styles.