A Comparative Study of the Teaching Efficiency of Outreach Trained and Non-Outreach Trained Basic School Mathematics Teachers in the Central Region of Ghana

This study sought to find out whether there are differences in the teaching efficiency between outreach trained teachers and their non-outreach trained colleagues. The outreach programme is an in-service programme which was designed by the University of Cape Coast in 1997 to help upgrade trained certificate “A” teachers to Diploma and degree levels and also reduce the annual shortage of teachers which is caused by increasing demand for further studies by classroom teachers. The study was carried out in the Central Region of Ghana using the survey method. Two hundred and seventy questionnaires were administered and responded to by 58 participants of the in-service training, six non-participant teachers, 40 headteachers and 20 circuit supervisors. Twelve teachers, six each of the participants and non-participants had their lesson observed. One INSET participant and two headteachers were interviewed. Analysis of the results revealed that outreach trained teachers were found to have a higher teaching efficiency than their non-outreach trained colleagues. The study further revealed that teachers observed did not generally make use of teaching learning materials in their lessons. The study recommended that there is the urgent need to encourage teachers to develop the habit of using teaching aids in their lesson to facilitate proper understanding of mathematics. Keywords: teaching efficiency, in-service training, distance educationMathematics Connection Vol. 6 2007: pp. 21-3