Ethiopian Journal of Teacher Education and Leadership

Early Childhood Care and Education in Ethiopia

2023-03-01T13:04:09+00:00

Early childhood care and education in Ethiopia is a critically important topic for consideration to promote the holistic development of citizens, quality education as well as the country's economic development. Indeed, these days it is encouraging to note that there have been promising initiatives in early childhood care and education to ensure access and equitable education in the years to come. This article first presents the theoretical foundations and global trends of early childhood care and education. It then highlights indigenous childrearing practices, traditional early childhood education, and the development of modern early childhood education in Ethiopia. It also briefly discusses the preparation of early childhood education teachers and provides an overview of policy directions and strategies in the country. The article concludes with a reflection on the current state of early childhood care and education and its future prospects in Ethiopia.

Teachers’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Visualization Techniques in the Teaching-Learning of Middle School Science and Mathematics Subjects in Ethiopia

2023-03-01T13:07:36+00:00

This study assessed teachers’ knowledge, attitude and practices of visualization techniques in the teaching-learning of science and mathematics subjects in middle schools in Ethiopia. The study employed survey study design. Quantitative data were collected using a self-report questionnaire from 151 middle school science and mathematics teachers selected from two regional states and one city administration of Ethiopia using cluster sampling method. Qualitative data were also generated using interview in order to augment the quantitative data. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were used to make meaning of the collected data. Results indicated that science and mathematics teachers’ knowledge, attitude and practices in implementing visualization techniques were below the average or expected value. There was no significant difference in teachers’ knowledge, attitude, and practices of visualization in designing lessons, teaching concepts, exposing students to practice, and assessing students’ progress on visualization techniques with respect to gender, qualification, and subject matter. It was recommended that schools provide the appropriate tools, teachers should be given training on how to implement them, the textbooks and teachers’ handbook should be revised by incorporating the appropriate visualization techniques, and supporting the teachers in the implementation of visualization.

Biology Teachers’ Metacognitive Awareness of Teaching: The Case of Biology Teachers in Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching Program

2023-03-01T13:23:50+00:00

Metacognitive awareness of teachers has been considered as an important focus area of educational research. The objective of this study was to examine metacognitive awareness of biology teachers. The study used a descriptive research method. The study involved 90 biology teachers enrolled in summer I and II postgraduate diploma in teaching program. Data were collected using the 24-item Metacognitive Awareness Inventory for Teachers (MAIT) developed by Balcikanli (2011). The analysis was made using an independent sample t-test and a one- way ANOVA. The results revealed that the biology teachers have a high level of metacognitive awareness of teaching. No significant differences were found in metacognitive awareness in relation to teachers’ gender, bachelor degree program and teaching experience. However, a significant difference was found out between gender, bachelor degree program and teaching experience in the planning sub-component of metacognitive awareness. The finding indicated that female teachers were better aware of planning than males with respect to bachelor degree program and experience. Moreover, there was a significant difference in awareness to the subcomponents of knowledge of cognition. The result indicated that Biology teachers were more aware of declarative knowledge than procedural knowledge. Although there was a variation in some components of metacognition, biology teachers attending postgraduate program had high metacognitive awareness.

Emergency Education’ in Sweden: Implications for Sustainable Development through Education for Newly Arrived Students

2023-03-01T13:26:43+00:00

This article reports part of a research project that investigated the learning and social inclusion conditions of ‘newly arrived students’ in Swedish primary schools in two municipalities. Newly arrived students are the category of students who have lived abroad and started their education in Sweden when they were seven years old or older within the last four years. Most of these children and youth have a history of migration. This article focuses firstly on the Swedish migration context, the ‘migration crisis’ in 2015 and the changes in the Swedish reception system that took place soon thereafter and, second, ethnographic observations from Primary Schools of two specific perspectives in education, namely a perspective on ‘Framing of the day and the lesson’ and ‘Study tutoring in the mother tongue in regular teaching’. The results indicated that strong supporting structures and structured social interaction are needed as well as caring and empathy on the part of teachers to promote learning and social inclusion of newly arrived students are required. Furthermore, study tutoring in the mother tongue in regular teaching seems to be important while the study tutors’ view of their mission varies.

Staff Complaint Reasons and Handling Mechanisms: Sebeta Town Administration Education Office in Focus, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

2023-03-01T13:37:43+00:00

The objective of this paper was to investigate the nature of staff complaints in Sebeta town education office. The study also assessed the reasons for complaints and examined ways of handling the complaints. In the research, case study research design was used. Data were collected through semi- structured interview guide from four team leaders, four staff members as well as three discipline committee members working in the education office. The respondents were selected purposefully. Based on the research findings, complaints in the office have emanated from the manner the organization is structured with regard to departments and human power, the way of doing things (stringency and unfairness), individual differences, and the challenges from the management. Though the management was open to deal with the complaints from the staff, some of the most common complaints by employees were low pay and benefits, unfair and frequently changing organizational structure, absences of promotion, and high work load. Most employees believe that their concerns cannot be solved at office level. Despite the availability of formal committee at office level to deal with grievance from the employees, nearly all complaints fail to pass through this formal channel.

EJTEL Vol 1, No 1, Nov 2022 Issue

2023-03-15T13:28:37+00:00

Ethiopian Journal of Teacher Education and Leadership Volume 1 Number 1 Editorial

2023-03-04T09:01:39+00:00