This year we are delivering a year of support for Newly Qualified Teachers. These teachers have graduated from either OLA College of Education or Holy Child College of Education and were trained as part of our Fast-track Transformational Teacher Training project whilst on the practical placement year of their Diploma in Early Childhood Education.

From our own internal learning and an independent evaluation from Innovations for Poverty Action we have learnt that Newly Qualified Teachers need support in their first year of teaching and face a number of challenges. One key challenge they face that this project helps to mitigate is that of Ghana Education Service District support. Some of the communities new teachers are posted to are not familiar with the active and play based teaching method they have been taught to use. Ghana Education Service officers have a vital role to play in supporting head teachers and Newly Qualified Teachers.

This project provides sensitisation workshops to Ghana Education Service officers and last week we held a workshop in the Tarkwa district in the Western Region. Officers from both Tarkwa and Prestia Huni Valley-Bogoso districts attended the workshop. The workshop introduced the Ghana Education Service officers to the principals of the teacher training that the Newly Qualified Teachers were introduced to last year and showed them the benefits of implementing the active and play based teaching method. By doing this we hope that the Ghana Education Service officers will support the Newly Qualified Teachers in their implementation of the new teaching methods and so enable thousands of children to receive a quality kindergarten education.

We were delighted with the great enthusiasm and commitment shown by the Ghana Education Service officers who agreed to hold circuit area meetings and further district sensitisation with the Newly Qualified Teachers helping to expand the awareness of the project in their districts.