Teacher trainees’ perception of their competence: a study of selected seventh day adventist teacher training college trainees, Asokore, Ghana

Abstract

Ghana like all nations needs useful and good quality education that will help in the country’s development. This can only be done when teachers are well equipped and competent enough to teach. Teacher competence is therefore very much necessary for the development of education. The study was, therefore, designed to find out teacher trainees’ perception of their competence. This was to find out how prepared they were after their initial training to teach. The researcher reviewed related literature on the topic, using mainly the library. Questionnaire was the instrument used in collecting data. One set of questionnaire was designed and administered to teacher trainees who had completed their one year teaching practice under mentorship. Random sampling procedure was used to select a sample that comprised 80 teacher trainees. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The main findings were that: (a) Teacher trainees saw themselves as competent after going through the new programme which is the in-in-out programme at the teacher training college. And (b) the development of the teacher must be done in a holistic way, which should include an appropriate balance of general education, academic specialization as well as professional studies. Among the recommendations made were that, during the period of mentorship more subject matter content should be taught at the study cycle meetings. On-campus teaching practice must be effectively done in all subjects