Training and development needs of public senior high school information communication technology teachers in the Accra metropolitan area

Abstract

A major identifiable challenge facing the development of the full potential of ICT for education, research and development in Ghana has been the brain drain syndrome and inadequate ICT professionals. This study therefore sought to assess the training and development needs of the public senior high school ICT teachers in the Accra Metropolis. The study employed a cross sectional design. Questionnaires were used to acquire data. There were 19 public SHS in the Accra Metropolis with an ICT teacher population of 60 at the time of the study. This number in addition to the nineteen heads of the institutions as well as the ICT coordinator gave a total of 80 who formed the population for the study. The results indicated an inadequate and imbalance distribution of ICT teachers. Sixty teachers had to teach 26,789 students giving a ratio of 1 teacher to 446 students. Resources for teaching the subject were also woefully inadequate. The results also indicted that very few public SHS ICT teachers in Accra Metro could effectively express their knowledge and skills in ICT. Many of them (71.7%) exhibited average knowledge and skills in the subject. The study concluded that there was inadequate human resource to effectively handle the subject. Also, a gap existed between the knowledge and skills of ICT teachers in Public SHS in the Accra Metropolis and the knowledge and skills required to perform their job. It is thus recommended that the public SHS in the Accra Metropolis be provided the necessary resources whiles regular ICT training should be organized for the teachers.