Working Together for GCED in Ghana - APCEIU-IEPA Joint Capacity-Building Workshop on Empowering Educational Leaders through GCED

APCEIU-IEPA Joint Capacity-Building Workshop on Empowering Educational Leaders through GCED was held in Accra, Ghana from 23 August to 25 August. The workshop was co-organized by APCEIU and the Institue for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), the UNESCO Category 2 Centre in Ghana. The 3-day workshop targeted GCED-related stakeholders in Ghana to enhance dialogue and cultivate ideas and possibilities to mainstream GCED into the Ghanaian National curriculum through APCEIU’s GCED Curriculum Development & Integration Project (2022-2024). The workshop was attended by more than 60 education stakeholders from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ghana, Institue for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), National Teaching Council (NTC), and Ghana National Commission for UNESCO (Ghana Natcom) and resource persons from other countries.

The workshop started with the opening remarks from Mrs Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, Secretary-General of Ghana Natcom, Dr Michael Boakye-Yiadom, Director-General of IEPA, Mr Diallo Abdourahmane, Head of UNESCO Accra Office, and Mr Hyun Mook Lim, Director of APCEIU. The first part of the workshop targeted general discussion and networking with GCED-related stakeholders in Ghana and the second part of the workshop focused on GCED in the Ghana curriculum, with participants coming from curriculum-related stakeholders.

The workshop included sessions for understanding the current situation of the education system both at the global level and the national level, sharing the key issues and challenges of GCED and discussing GCED mainstreaming strategies. To come up with the key strategies to strengthen GCED in Ghana, GCED pedagogical approaches and GCED efforts from other countries in the African region were also shared.

Through the workshop, participants learned that while GCED topics and themes are already embedded in the Ghanaian Competency-based Curriculum, particularly in the subject, ‘Our World and Our People’, the curricular activities in school should align the intended curriculum embodied in the Ghanaian national curriculum framework and syllabi to enhance the GCED implementation in Ghana. From this point of view, the workshop discussion focused on how to reduce the gap between the intended curriculum and the implementation.

The Workshop was concluded with the closing remarks from Dr. Michael Boakye-Yiadom from IEPA and Dr. Hyunmook Lim from APCEIU. Both directors encouraged all stakeholders to enhance their synergy in advancing GCED in Ghana, particularly through the GCED CDI Project.

Following the workshop, Ghana will conduct situational analysis and develop GCED teaching and learning materials to strengthen GCED implementation in the Ghanaian school curriculum through the GCED CDI Project with IEPA and NaCCA, the implementing agencies designated by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ghana.