Teaching Notes: Some Headteachers Rejecting Printed Notes?

Since the introduction of the new curriculum in 2019, Teaching notes or Lesson plan preparation has evolved.

The first rule of conduct for teachers in the code of conduct for teachers is on teaching notes.

A teacher shall prepare relevant and adequate teaching notes for his/her work in advance. It shall be the responsibility of the head of the institution to see to it that this is done. 

If teachers print and submit teaching notes or lesson plans prepared for use in schools by others, does that amount to not performing their duties? Is the rule regarding the preparation of lesson plans or teaching notes cast in stones and must be handwritten? This is the bone of contention that needs to be interpreted.

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Innovation and information technology have influenced lesson plan preparation. This has led to the writing and preparation of teaching notes and their sharing via Education blogs, websites, and WhatsApp among others.

Based on the above, it has become apparent that all teachers in both public and private schools only need to access these files, prepare adequately and teach content based on the daily lessons.

Prior to this innovation, teachers were tasked with the daunting task of preparing weekly forecast and lesson plans or teaching notes in customized teachers’ notebooks.

Today, there are headteachers who are reluctant to accept such lesson notes.

These headteachers prefer handwritten lesson notes or plans to typed and printed copies.

In the 21st century, IT must continue to drive and influence traditional functions of the teaching profession.

Rejecting such notes and calling for handwritten notes is rather unfortunate.

This new way of presenting the teacher’s readiness for lessons makes the teacher’s work less stressful and saves time for in-depth research and preparation.

Resistance to this change by some headteachers will fade out with time.

Before the introduction of this approach, some private schools already required teachers to type and forward soft copies of their lessons for each week for vetting.

For some headteachers, it may seem that the new soft copy lesson notes which are printed by teachers have come to stay and they have embraced the trend. The Ghana Education Service is yet to officially speak on the matter.

Headteachers must reinvent themselves and catch the innovative fever with lesson plans.

Both teachers and heads of schools must embrace modernity, innovation, and information technology to empower teachers in the teaching and learning process.

Sadly, some headteachers don’t want to notice accept the fact that that we were are in the IT era where we don’t need to write notes with our pens or rewrite them in teacher’s notebooks.

If making learners recopy text from textbooks verbatim is wrong and old-fashioned, then asking teachers to copy prepared printed lesson notes into teacher’s notes is wrong.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) must come clean, clear, and indicate what teachers must do.

We are in the era of knowledge sharing, information; we are harnessing technology and computing for education purposes. COVID-19 is still around and might have taught us many lessons. Headteachers must be thinking of accepting lesson notes prepared or submitted by their teachers in soft copy form in the near future.

The old-fashioned approach needs to be shelved. At worse, lesson notes need to be printed as booklets per subject for teachers in public and private schools for teaching learners.

This way school leadership can shift from vetting, and focus on monitoring implementation, empowering teachers with the necessary resources to reshape the teacher’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Kill the resistance to change, education is dynamic and the processes within it are transforming globally.

Teachers in Kenya for example do not write lesson notes. They use the same approach Ghanaian teachers have adopted. Let’s benchmark best practices. The time is now!.

Just my thoughts again…

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Agree or disagree? Leave a comment, let us start the debate…

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Source: Wisdom Hammond | Ghanaeducation.org