Educators and policymakers want to strengthen teacher preparation in order to improve student learning, but evidence is lacking about what makes training most effective, especially in early childhood education. Researchers evaluated a pre-service mentoring and training program for student teachers of kindergarten in Ghana’s Western region. 

Preliminary Key Findings

»  The training program significantly improved student teachers’ implementation of the curriculum and knowledge of early childhood education and development.

»  The program’s impacts on teachers’ professional well-being were mixed: FTTT teachers had higher levels of motivation and feelings of personal accomplishment, but lower levels of job satisfaction when placed as full-time teachers.

»  One year after being placed as full-time teachers, these improvements had not translated into improved child learning or development outcomes.

»  An additional four-day head teacher sensitization training did not have any impacts on teaching quality or child outcomes.