Two Open Seminars by Dr. Ampiah

This is Liu Jing. As Yuki introduced, we were also happy to have Dr.Ampiah, Dean, Faculty of Education, Univesity of Cape Coast, Ghana, to give us two open seminars regarding education issues and the role of research in Ghana on Jan.20, 2011 and Jan.24, 2011.

In the first seminar titled Pathways to effective school and classroom assessments: The case of Ghana, Dr. Amipah introduced the different pathways classroom assessment taken in Ghana over the past twenty years. Due to the complicated procedures of the assessment, the unstable policies and the limited capability of the teachers, Dr. Ampiah showed us the strengths, weaknesses and constraints of the classroom assessment. By the end of the seminar, he shared with us his suggestions for policy makers, teachers, curriculum developers, and teachers to improve classroom assessement in schools in Ghana. Also, he showed his concerns on the strong influence of politics on education.

The second seminar gave focus on language of instruction in elementary school education. With a big arguement on relations between language and identity, Dr. Ampiah started his presentation. After the policy review regarding language of instruction in Ghana, Dr. Ampiah raised the discussion on why language policy is not working in Ghana through analysis on attitude towards langauge policies at different levels. Finally, he concluded his presentation by leaving us and himself a big and difficult quesiton: What is the appropriate language for education in Ghana?

The two interesting presentations gave a vivid picture of the education in Ghana. At the same time, they also left us, students learning education development, what is our role in these education issues? and What should we do?