Professional Learning of Teachers in Ethiopia: Challenges and Implications for Reform
Vol
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Recommended Citation
0 Fekede Tuli Gemeda University of Ambo
1 Päivi Tynjälä Professor University of Jyväskylä
Part of the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
-
Professional Learning of Teachers in Ethiopia: Challenges and Implications
for Reform
Fekede Tuli Institute of Education and Professional Studies, Ambo University, Ethiopia Päivi Tynjälä Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Abstract: Continuous professional development of teachers is of growing
interest globally, as it is considered vital to cope effectively with ongoing
changes and to improve the quality of education. This qualitative case
study explores potential and actual barriers that hinder teachers’
professional development in Ethiopian schools. Data was collected via
interviews and focus group discussions from 37 purposively sampled
participants. The study reveals three major challenges in teachers’
development: 1) conceptions and conceptual issues related to teaching,
professional development and mentoring, 2) management and leadership,
and 3) teachers’ work conditions. The need to reconsider educational
change management strategies, reform teacher education, strengthen
research-based practices, renew management and leadership culture,
and improve teachers’ work conditions are thus found to be the areas
identified as needing interventions.
Introduction
The world is in a constant state of change in every aspect: technologically, socially,
politically, and economically. This demands a nation’s school system to be responsive and
continuously update the capacity of its staff. To this end, professional development programs for
teachers are seen to play a vital role, as they provide opportunities for teachers to learn and grow
within the profession. This in turn is expected to have an impact on student learning
(Lowden,
2005)
.
In the last two decades, the Ethiopian government has embarked on a massive expansion
of the national education system with the intention to transform the country. The increasing
access to education was also fueled by the government’s promise to meet its official educational
goals such as achieving universal primary education in 2015 and secondary education in 2020.
Though tremendous achievement has been made in terms of quantitative expansion, the quality
of education has been deteriorating and student achievement declining (Fekede & Fiorucci,
2012; Lemlem, 2010; National Agency for Examinations (NAE), 2011; Oulai et al., 2011;
Tessema, 2006). The professional development of teachers is considered to be an essential
component and strategy in efforts aimed at improving the quality of the schools
(Guskey, 2000)
.
To this end, a centrally designed professional development program have been disseminated in a
top-down fashion and implemented prescriptively across the country. The overall aim of the
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) program is to improve teacher effectiveness and
raise the achievement levels of students in Ethiopian schools
(Ministry of Education [MoE],
2003; 2009)
. It is expected that effective professional development opportunities for teachers
will renew their capacity to improve classroom practices and will have a positive impact on
student learning and achievement
(Darling-Hammond, 2000; Goldschmidt & Phelps, 2010;
Guskey, 2000)
. Currently, schools are challenged to raise student achievement through the
provision of CPD.
The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges that exist in the Ethiopian
education system, especially those aspects that may become potential barriers to the teachers’
professional development and provide the necessary considerations to create an effective
professional learning. In the next section, the recent literature on teachers’ professional
development in Ethiopia is discussed.
Professional Development of Teachers
Craft (2000)
asserts that if schools are about promoting the learning of pupils in a
changing world, then education professionals learning throughout their career is essential.
Fullan
(1991)
defined teachers’ professional development as the sum total of formal and informal
learning experiences throughout a teachers’ career from pre-service teacher education to
retirement. Correspondingly,
Wei et al. (2009)
conceptualise professional learning as a product
of both externally provided and job-embedded activities that increase teachers’ knowledge and
change their instructional practices in ways that support student learning. Both emphasise that
learning will occur both in formal and informal ways. This conception of professional
development thus challenges the traditional, training-focused approach to teachers’ learning that
gives more emphasis to formal learning. In current global educational practices, the emphasis on
the utilisation of both formal and informal learning in professional development has become
even strengthened (...truncated)