Perceived Implementation of Teacher Education Curriculum in Ethiopia: A Look for Congruence between Intended Reform and Actual Practice

Abstract

This study compared the teaching and assessment practices of 396 randomly selected teacher educators drawn from 8 Colleges of Teacher Education (N=234) and Universities (N=162) throughout five regional states in Ethiopia. Data were collected using a 42-item questionnaire.  The questionnaire was divided into two subscales as teaching practice subscale (TPS) and Assessment Practice Subscale (APS). In addition, a classroom observation checklist with 30 items was used to collect qualitative data from four classrooms. Findings indicated that about 81.4% of college instructors witnessed the constructivist-oriented implementation of the teacher education curricula in their respective institutions, while none of those in the universities remained either pure behaviorist or constructivist in overall teaching practice. Teacher educators in the two types of institutions are inclined towards constructivism, but still, colleges are superior to the universities in formative continuous assessment practice. The study concludes that the constructivist reform effort is supported by college-level teacher educators while universities preferred an eclectic position. Their assessment practices are also in agreement with the reform agenda, but teacher educators at colleges proved to be superior to their university counterparts.  It is recommended that university-level teacher educators revisit their instructional management and technology integration practices to catch up with the planned reform.