Teacher Trainees’ Attitudes toward the Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education Program in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine teacher trainees’ attitudes toward the Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education Program (UTDBE) in Ghana. Participants were a purposive sample of 284 TTs (139 female; 145 male) enrolled in the residential session of the UTDBE program in two colleges of education. A 21-item 5-point Likert-type questionnaire served as the data source. The predictor variables were year in program, sex, marital status, grade level, and age. Attitude served as the response variable for the study. Overall, only 38.38% of the TTs reported positive attitudes toward the UTDBE. Logit model analyses indicated year in program and grade level were significant predictors of attitude, while sex, marital status and age were not. TTs in their second year were less likely than those in the first year to report positive attitudes toward the UTDBE. Similarly, TTs teaching primary classes were less likely to report positive attitudes toward the program than their colleagues in kindergarten classrooms. Keywords: Attitudes, teacher education, Ghana, untrained teachers