College Climate and Teacher-Trainee’s Academic Work in Selected Colleges of Education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

The study aimed at investigating the extent to which College climate (Leadership roles/practices and Class size) impact on academic work of Teacher-trainees. A survey research design was used for the study because it involved a study of relatively large population who were purposively and randomly selected. A sample size of 322 out of the population of 1850 from Offinso, Akokerri and Wesley Colleges of Education comprising 226 males and 114 females were used for the study. A questionnaire and an interview guide were used to collect data for the study. The data collected were analyzed using Means, Standard deviations and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study established that effective leadership roles and practices of Principals and Tutors had impact on the academic work of Teacher-trainees. By implication, good leadership practices had a positive relationship with students’ academic work. The results of the ANOVA tests indicated that there was no significant difference in the means of the responses on College class size provided by the respondents (p>-.05). The implication is that large class sizes turn to affect classroom teaching and learning as compared to small class size. The respondents from Offinso College had the lowest mean of 2.41on infrastructure, implying that their College infrastructure was the least developed. However, the respondents of Akokerri had an overall mean of 3.55 which implied that their College infrastructure was moderately developed. The study also revealed that, the higher the academic qualification of college tutors in their respective area of study, the more likely they are to impact positively on the academic work of Teacher-trainees. Keywords:Leadership, School/College Climate, Organic Leadership and Transformational Leadership

Teachers’ Concerns Towards the Implementation of ICT Curriculum in Basic Schools in Kumasi Metropolis

The study sought to assess concerns of teachers regarding the implementation of ICT curriculum in basic schools in Kumasi metropolis. It also examined the relationship between gender and teachers’ stages of concerns. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting the sample for the study. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was modified and used to gather data from 181 male and 165 female ICT teachers. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing the data. Results showed that teachers generally had high consequence and informational concerns and low concern at awareness stage. This indicates that teachers were more bothered on the impact of the ICT curriculum on their students and also lacked requisite knowledge and skills in implementing the curriculum. Moreover, the independent sample t-test conducted revealed statistically significant relationship between gender and informational, management, consequence, collaboration and refocusing concerns. It was recommended among others that GES should embark on rigorous educational programmes in order to upgrade teachers’ knowledge and skills on the ICT curriculum. Keywords: Basic school teachers, Gender, ICT curriculum, Teachers’ Concern