Availability and Use of Instructional Materials in Tigray Primary Schools

Abstract

No one disputes the role and function of instructional materials in enhancing the
quality of education. Instructional materials have different names such as
instructional technology (Brown and others, 1985), instructional media (Heinich,
1989), audiovisual materials (Dale, 1969), etc. For a long time, they have been
distinctly known as teaching aids, a concept squarely tied to a teacher-centered
model (Amare, 1996: 93-106).
In the New Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia (NETP) instructional
materials are classified under what is called Education Support -- educational
materials, educational technology and educational facilities. This classification,
however, fails to satisfy all-inclusiveness and mutual exclusiveness in the
categorization process, because instructional materials are part of education
technology. In addition, the status given to instructional materials in this context
very closely resembles the old model of the teaching-learning process ( Amare,
1995: 1996).