Summer Upgrading Program at Colleges of Teacher Education and Its Impact on Improving Teachers’ Professional Growth and Students’ Achievement: Experiences from Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

Teacher education and teachers’ professional competence as critical pillars guide efforts about educational growth in Ethiopia. The Tigray Regional State of Ethiopia embarked on a summer upgrading program for teachers from a certificate level to a diploma level in teaching at primary schools with the ultimate goal of improving teachers’ competence and students’ achievement. This study investigated the summer upgrading program and its impact on improving teachers’ professional growth and students’ achievement. A survey design was employed with multistage sampling and a sample of 514 upgraded teachers. A questionnaire, classroom observations, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were employed. Data analysis revealed statistically significant differences between gender and among zones. The proportion of students with scores above 50% increased across the years with a 7% increase from 2014 to 2015, and a 10% increase from 2015 to 2016, while the proportion of scores above 75 was shown to be 1% from 2014 to 2015, and a 3% from 2015 to 2016. A significant difference was also observed between the expected and observed values in the proportion of students in each category of scores. Finally, the study concluded that the upgrading worked out for self-reflected professional growth, but not consistently on the learning achievements of students. It was recommended that to mitigate related problems concerned bodies should put in place mechanisms to ensure upgraded teachers demonstrate continued engagement in their schools; align the workplace situation and the upgrading programs, and devise ways of tracking career structure such as taking a certain number of credits each year.