Oyibi (GAR), Aug. 4, GNA - Ghanaian teachers and their United States counterparts on Monday began a four-day international conference in Accra aimed at sharing ideas to improve teaching and learning in both countries.

About 200 junior and senior high school teachers are attending the conference, being organized by the Valley View University (VVU) under the theme: "Getting Smarter about Teaching and Learning." Mr Samuel Bannerman Mensah, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said at the opening of the conference that continuous training for teachers was necessary to enable the educational system to respond to emerging technological and global trends. He said it was only through training that the educational system could turn out products that met current demands of society and the economy and harness efforts in the sub-region to attain quality education.

Touching on them theme; Mr Bannerman- Mensah noted that getting smarter about teaching and learning would involve pragmatic teaching that could elicit effective learning. He therefore charged teachers to develop passion for their work, saying, "the difference between a good teacher and a great one isn't expertise, it comes down to passion".

The Director-General also urged them to always study their students to enable them to adapt their teaching to suit their needs and create a conducive environment for teacher-student relationship. Mr Abrahm Okrah, Acting Head of the Education Department, VVU, said the conference further demonstrated the University's commitment to improving teacher education in the country. He said VVU was one of the few private universities to introduce courses in teacher education, and would therefore not relent in efforts to provide training that would help address education problems in the country.

Dr Seth Laryea, President of VVU, called on government to do more in improving working conditions of teachers, since it was only when they were well- motivated that they could be innovative and work harder. He expressed the hope that the University would make the conference an annual event for more teachers to benefit. Ms Gwen Wesley, the US Team Leader, thanked the University for the opportunity and expressed optimism that the collaboration would grow the educational systems both in Ghana and the US. 4 Aug. 08