Teacher unions have been urged to drive educational policies to ensure their effective implementation in the country.

This is because teachers know the realities of the educational system, and therefore, would be able to tell the government where there are gaps.

The Director of Research of the GNAT Institute of Research and Industrial Relations Studies, Dr Linus Linnaeus Tannor, said: ‘’We should not wait for the government to rather come up with these policies and we only react to them".  

The director also said that policy makers must move from being just regulators to visionaries, while the role of unions must also move from advocates to architects.

He was speaking at the Seventh Quadrennial and Regional Conference of GNAT in Accra yesterday.

The three-day conference is on the theme: “Educating an African fit for the 21st Century: The role of policy makers and the unions in Ghana”.

Training

Dr Tannor called on policy makers to prioritise long term investment in teacher training for the digital age to equip them with the requisite knowledge to be able to deliver quality education to learners.

He also urged teacher unions to lead the future by influencing policy, shaping professional development, and being champions of education, and not only defenders of welfare issues.

“We, as teachers, are not just transmitters of knowledge. We as teachers are shapers of values — the values that the 21st Century Africa needs.

“We, as teachers, are the builders of minds, critical thinking and creativity, and we as teachers are the architects of national identity.

“But let's not pretend. Our educational system is facing deep cracks and you can see the foundation cracking.

Deep cracks of what, disillusionment in terms of low morale of teachers, under-investment and outdated relevance,” the director said.

Collaboration

Dr Tannor further said that unless teachers, unions and policy makers acted together, “we risk collapse”.

Being fit for the 21st Century, he said, was not just about tools and gadgets, but about preparing learners to solve problems “we have not yet seen, it's about using technologies that we have not yet imagined and it's about preparing learners for jobs that are not yet existing”.

“Academic brilliance is not just about books. The 21st Century learner is very curious and creative — they want systems that will allow them to explore, they want policies that will allow lifelong learning.

The 21st Century child is digitally affluent and uses text technically,” the director added.

Support

The President of GNAT, Rev. Isaac Owusu, called on members to rally support for the leadership in the association to champion their cause.

He said they must be proud of themselves as GNAT members.

For her part, the Greater Accra Regional Chairperson of GNAT, Sarah Oye Owiredu, said the region had been able to hold itself together in spite of challenges, adding that there was increase in membership.