A two-day capacity building workshop for basic school heads has been held at the University of Cape Coast to equip heads of basic schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis with Leadership for Learning skills.
The workshop, organized by the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), a UNESCO Category 2 Centre of Excellence began on Tuesday April 8th 2024 and ended on Wednesday 9th April, 2025 and featured head teachers from both public and private schools within the Cape Coast Metropolis.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the workshop, Director-General of IEPA, Professor Michael Boakye-Yiadom noted that the workshop aimed to improve the educational leadership skills of the target group.
He emphasized that effective school leadership goes beyond administrative tasks and focuses on improving learning outcomes. He stressed on a shift from school heads merely handling paperwork to prioritizing student learning and ensuring its success.
“Leadership has always been important and if you look at the basic education level, previously, many school heads were only interested in administrative work,” he stated. “They sit in their offices go through documents, go through register and all that but now the focus has shifted.”
“So, as a school leader your focus is to ensure that learning gets better. Your focus is to ensure that learning outcomes are achieved.”
The Cape Coast Metropolitan Director of Education, Mrs. Phyllis Asante Krobea who also spoke to the media commended the IEPA and stressed that the workshop would help the headteachers influence their teachers to provide quality education.
She said it has been their desire to have intermittent training for headteachers and the capacity building has come in timely.
“Since we appointed some as heads, we have never had the opportunity to train them. So, knowing that IEPA is good in giving leadership skills, when they came to us, as part of their celebration, to give training to our teachers, we jumped on that opportunity.”
She believes that the training will position the headteachers to influence their teachers to deliver quality education stating that “this is in a good direction.”
Some participants who attended the IEPA workshop praised its value in addressing current challenges in education.
They emphasized the need for periodic training, enhanced collaboration between schools and stakeholders like the Ghana Education Service (GES), the importance of addressing teacher mental health, and navigating discipline in the absence of corporal punishment.
They were optimistic that the training would help them to implement positive change in their respective schools.
One said “I’m thinking it should be a very periodic something that GES should do because day in and day out the curriculum is changing and the way the kids are behaving is changing. Community interaction is not there. So there are many problems and challenges that we are facing at the moment at GES. So, I think that this is not going to be a nine-day wonder. GES, the whole sector must come in, all the stakeholders must come on board to help in shaping the curriculum.”
The participants were taken through interactive sessions on topics such as “Leadership for Learning”, “A Vision of Success for Schools” and “Distributed Leadership”. The topics were aimed to provide the participants with relevant knowledge and skills to help them lead in their various schools which will translate into the provision of quality education.
The capacity-building workshop forms part of the Institute’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The anniversary celebration is under the theme “IEPA @ 50: Innovating for Educational Impact and Excellence”.
Source: Afote Asomdwoe Laryea/Benedicta Kartey / Benedicta Fanny Opare/ATLFMNEWS
