Sabre Education were thrilled to continue our partnership with Chance for Childhood, as we delivered a second round of intensive training workshops for teachers and headteachers in ten schools across four districts in Accra, Ghana.

The training was attended by key Sabre and Chance for Childhood staff, as well as the districts’ Special Education Coordinators and School Improvement Support Officers.

The key areas of focus were literacy and assessment:

1. Kindergarten literacy:

Participants were taught techniques to help learners improve their vocabulary, confidence, and oral language skills, using activities such as ‘Show and Tell’, in which children describe an item in the classroom or brought from home.

The student teachers were also introduced to the concept of auditory discrimination, which is the learners’ ability to recognise, compare and distinguish between distinct and separate sounds. This forms an essential aspect of kindergarten (KG) learning, helping children to begin blending sounds and reading simple words in their second year of KG.

Teaching children to be able to decipher and enunciate individual word sounds and phonics is a key skill to kickstart the reading process.

2. Kindergarten appropriate assessment:

The training participants were introduced to the concept of learner assessment, particularly the observation of learners’ development in psycho-social, numeracy, pre-reading, creativity and pre-writing skills using the Pupils Achievement Checklist.

Teachers were also taught how to develop student portfolios, so that they can assess learners and record their progress over the term.

Chance for Childhood concluded the training with a session on inclusive education, which recognises all students’ entitlement to a learning experience that respects diversity, enables participation, removes barriers and considers a variety of learning needs and preferences.

Feedback from the session was overwhelmingly positive, and both Sabre and Chance for Childhood are excited to start visiting the teachers’ classrooms to see the training in action.