The Most Difficult Codes of Conduct That Teachers Break In The Classroom

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The Ghana Education Service (GES) Code of Conduct for teachers contains several dos and don’ts that teachers are required to obey as part of their professional conduct and behaviour, however, the rules that govern the giving and marking of Exercises under section 3.2 are among those that some teachers easily break.

It is possible that some teachers may have lost sight of these rules or do not even know they exist.

Below are the specific codes of conduct as captured by the 2017 revised Ghana Education Service (GES) Code of Conduct.

The Most Difficult Codes of Conduct Teachers Break In The Classroom

i) A teacher shall set adequate amounts of written and practical exercises and give homework in all subjects that he/she teaches.

How many teachers in private and public schools give adequate exercise? The word adequate as used in the code is relative. Take a teacher in a public school who has between 45 and 80 pupils in the same class, and is required to give adequate written and practical exercises. This is just impossible, hence breaking may not be a big deal unless a teacher does not assess the learners at all, and this has been consistent over time.

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ii) A teacher shall mark and evaluate all written/practical exercises promptly and carefully.

Some teachers break this rule easily and very often, you cannot blame the teacher for this. If the teacher has so many students in his class and has to mark all the scripts and go a step further to record these exercises, he or she may be overwhelmed by the volume of work and may end up seeking help from colleague teachers or may ask learners in higher classes to help do the marking. In some instances, exercise books are shared among learners to be marked after short quizzes or tests.

iii) A teacher shall set, mark and manage his or her own end-of-term examination.

This rule, for now, is on the low side because examinations in public basic schools have been on hold for many terms now. However, it is not uncommon to see teachers give out objective test papers to be marked by brilliant learners in school or in class. In some instances, some students with good-looking handwriting are made to record into the continuous assessment book and even report cards. This helps teachers to complete marking and recording on schedule so that learners can take their report cards home on the day of vacation.

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iv) A teacher shall not make derogatory remarks in the exercise books of the child.

Have you seen a big zero with eyes over 10 in an exercise book of a student before? What of “You are not serious” or “Silly boy” well these used to be the case some time in the past. In recent times, it is not really a common practice. School managers and head teachers are constantly calling for books to check the exercises and lessons assessed by teachers, and hence teachers are not making such comments any longer. But only God knows what they say silently when they mark a disappointing exercise.  Truth be told, there are educators who still make such comments and may verbally abuse the student while marking an exercise.

 

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v) A teacher shall not under any circumstance make a pupil/student copy exercises/notes on the chalk/whiteboard while he/she is present or absent; it is a duty that is the sole responsibility of the teacher.

This particular one is still a common practice in many schools. Learners with the best handwriting must copy prepared notes on the board for others to copy. They also write exercises on the board. Per the GES code of conduct, teachers cannot ask learners to do this whether they are present or not. Well, sometimes a teacher may leave some instructions and work with a colleague to attend a meeting or undertake an official duty outside the class or school. He or she would often leave exercises with a colleague teacher to be given to the students, but if that teacher who is to write the lessons on the board is equally busy, he or she may call one of the students to get it done. Per the GES code, this must not be the case.

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These are the Most Difficult Codes of Conduct That Teachers Break In The Classroom, per our estimation. Well, what are your thoughts on these? Leave your comment right on this post.