Above: Attendees of the first International Educators’ Summit learning from global education experts.
How does a nation transform its instructional culture? In Ghana, education leaders are finding that the key lies not in mandating change from above, but in supporting each other to turn their schools into true learning organizations.
Ghana ASCD, which was established in 2017 to be a catalyst for international educator collaboration, is helping education leaders move beyond the hierarchical structures established in colonial times. Ghana ASCD’s National Educational Leadership Institute (NELI) guides education leaders at the school, regional, and national levels through intensive self-reflection and collaborative planning, emphasizing the power of distributed leadership teams. Leaders learn to identify complementary expertise among their staff, develop unified visions for change, and strategically manage the transformation process. At the school and classroom level, Ghana ASCD helps educators recognize and reform traditional teacher-directed instruction to create more dynamic learning environments.
To build on the energy from these year-long efforts, Ghana ASCD held its first International Educators’ Summit in July 2024, which brought together over 700 educators from 14 countries. Through keynote sessions, presentations, and focused dialogues, participants explored innovative approaches to school transformation that could be adapted for their own contexts. As one participant noted, “I now have new thinking about the education structure and a renewal in the belief that change begins with me.”
Credit: Photo Courtesy of Nana Belinda Amoah
Ghana ASCD team member Emmanuel Doodo shares lessons from folktales with upper elementary students at Evangelical Presbyterian School in Madina, Ghana.
Ghana ASCD also crafts community partnerships with local schools. Ghana ASCD staff and members foster literacy through their “Reading into the Future” program, which supports young learners in low-resourced schools. Reading circles, book donations, and literacy assessments help create a culture of reading beyond school walls.
As the work of Ghana ASCD demonstrates, transforming instructional culture requires both systematic leadership development and strong community engagement.
