The Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) has undergone significant reforms aimed at streamlining the assessment process for teacher trainees and strengthening the link between academic training and professional qualification.
Under the old GTLE system, candidates were required to sit for the examination one year after completing their teacher training. This has now been cancelled. Under the new GTLE structure, the exam is integrated into the final-year examinations of teacher training institutions.
Another major change concerns the examination centres. Previously, candidates were not allowed to write the exam in their own colleges or training institutions. This policy has been scrapped. The new arrangement allows candidates to write the GTLE in their respective colleges or institutions, making the process more convenient and less stressful.
The assessment structure has also been revised. In the old system, there was no practical or teaching practice component in the Pedagogy paper — the entire score was based on a 100% theoretical test. This has been cancelled. Now, the practical teaching practice accounts for 30% of the total Pedagogy score, while the theoretical component makes up the remaining 70%. This ensures that trainee teachers are evaluated not only on theory but also on their real classroom performance.
These reforms follow the Minister of Education’s recent announcement that the licensure examinations, in their old form, would be cancelled by the end of August. Education stakeholders have largely welcomed the new structure, describing it as a more practical, relevant, and holistic way of assessing Ghana’s future teachers.
