ABSTRACT
The role of pre-tertiary teacher education institutions in shaping the professional identity and practice of teachers in sub-Sahara Africa, in response to the changing demands of teaching and learning, has been called into question in several studies. Where teacher education reforms have been initiated to achieve this goal, much attention has focused on fostering learner-centred pedagogy (LCP) to improve interactive and activity-based learning. This chapter presents classroom observation, interview and focus group discussion data from four teacher education institutions that were studied in Ghana as part of the Teacher Preparation in Africa (TPA2) research project (see Akyeampong et al., 2012). It illustrates how institution-based teacher education, by excluding how pupils learn to interact and use instructional materials in real classrooms, produces an experience of learning to teach that is superficial. The chapter concludes with some implications for researching teacher education and the reforms needed to improve impact in Ghana and similar contexts in sub-Saharan Africa.
