Teacher Professional Development in Ghana with Ellen Abakah

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When learning outcomes are poor, the blame lands on the teacher. Dr Ellen Abakah has spent her research career asking whether that's fair — and what would actually help.

In Episode 21 of Let's Talk Education Africa, host Stephen Senyo Tettegah sits down with Dr Ellen Abakah — a faculty member in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Ghana, and a widely published researcher on teacher professional development. A practitioner, researcher and lecturer with experience across Ghana and beyond, she brings the rigour of her PhD fieldwork (completed in Australia) to a subject that touches every classroom on the continent.

The conversation moves through:

· The state of teaching in Ghana — conditions, pay, and the image of the profession
· Why poor learning outcomes get blamed on teachers, and what else is at play
· The gender dimension — teaching seen as "women's work," and the case for work-life-balance policy
· The resources problem — teachers trained in CPD but with no tools to apply it
· Her core argument — give teachers autonomy over their own professional-development pathways
· Why self-directed, informal learning outperforms standardised top-down CPD
· The case for collaborative teacher learning
· How CPD should target teachers' actual classroom needs

──────────────
00:00 Welcome
00:30 Episode 21 — teacher professional development
01:00 Introducing Dr Ellen Abakah
03:30 The state of teachers in Ghana
07:30 Why learning outcomes get blamed on teachers
11:30 The gender dimension of teaching
13:30 The resources problem — CPD with no tools
21:30 Give teachers autonomy over their development
23:30 Self-directed learning beats standardised CPD
25:00 The case for collaborative learning
58:00 Closing reflections
──────────────

????️ Host: Stephen Senyo Tettegah
???? Guest: Dr Ellen Abakah — Department of Adult Education, University of Ghana
???? Recorded in Accra, Ghana
???? Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Audiomack and wherever you get your podcasts.

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References named in the episode:
· University of Ghana — Department of Adult Education (Dr Abakah's faculty)
· Continuing Professional Development (CPD) — the frame of the conversation
· T-TEL — cited on pre-service teacher-training reform (see Episode 15)

#LetsTalkEducationAfrica #TeacherDevelopment #GhanaEducation