Standards for the Preparation and Development of Teacher Educators in Ethiopia: Policy versus Practice

Abstract

The article reports results of part of a study assessing the characteristics, roles, and competencies of teacher educators in Ethiopia. It specifically focuses on assessing the standards of teacher educators in Ethiopian colleges of teacher education. The study used a mixed method design and drew data from analysis of key global and local documents and a questionnaire administered to 106 teacher educators from 10 teacher education colleges. The information gathered through a review of documents was analyzed by sorting it into categories. The categories used for the analysis and subsequent discussion were standards; experience and professional development of teacher educators. The questionnaire was used to gather data on the profile of teacher educators and their views on how to improve the preparation and development of teacher educators in Ethiopia. Results indicate that some of the key policy documents duly recognize the need for setting standards for teacher educators as part of the strategy to improve the quality of education in Ethiopia. Some of the important elements of the standards for teacher educators (e.g. collaboration) have been given due attention whereas others (e.g. engagement in digital literacy) have been overlooked. Besides, the study shows that a significant proportion of teacher educators had no exposure to formal pedagogical preparation. This is the case mainly among teacher educators in the social science and natural science streams. Policy and practical recommendations have been forwarded.