Ethiopian Journal of Teacher Education and Leadership

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

Aklilu Dalelo — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards Energy and Climate Change Literacy among Primary and Middle School Teachers

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Energy and climate change literacy is high on the agenda in the education sector, including in the contexts of primary and middle schools. Energy and climate literacy efforts, when combined and ideally infused throughout the curriculum, are believed to address the causes, effects, and risks of climate change and appreciate the range of options to minimize negative impacts and maximize resilience. It is also believed that environmental and climate change education goals cannot be achieved without knowledgeable and committed teachers. With this understanding, the present study sought to assess the energy and climate change literacy among primary and middle school teachers in selected cities in Ethiopia. The primary and middle schools in five cities, namely, Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Hawassa, Diredawa, and Jimma were the sites of this study. The sampled schools and respondents were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Quantitative survey data were collected using knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire items. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and ANOVA. The findings indicate that while teachers' knowledge of the fundamentals of climate change and climate science is relatively low, their performance on the facts and principles behind the use of energy resources and their utilization is quite promising. It is also found that teachers seemed to have unsatisfactory views about issues related to the production and use of energy resources. On the other hand, the participants of this study reported a great deal of engagement in most of the energy and environmental protection activities. The Ministry of Education should have to work to enhance primary and middle school teachers' awareness and competence on energy and climate change.

Pandemic Schooling and Teachers’ Professional Identity in the Era of COVID-19 in Ethiopia: Summer-in-Service Trainees in Focus

Berhanu Abera — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread school closures, impacting teaching and learning across countries. At the epicenter of the virus, in Ethiopia, students and teachers were obliged to stay at home where remote learning was not arranged well. After a few months of school closures, classes were reopened with emergency measures in place. However, the teaching and learning process faced significant challenges, and the professional identity of teachers was adversely affected during the pandemic schooling. This study aims to explore the professional identity of in-service teachers in this context. The study utilized a narrative inquiry approach and involved purposefully selected summer-in-service teacher trainees based on three criteria. Data were collected using four instruments: documents, in-depth interviews, reflective journals, and a questionnaire. The findings indicate that the arrangements made for remote teaching or e-teaching had a detrimental impact on the effectiveness of pandemic schooling. Teachers' adoption of pedagogy suitable for the pandemic was also found to be limited. The study further confirms that COVID-19 has influenced the identity formation of teachers, as they experienced concerns and panic regarding their health security. Based on these results, conclusions were drawn, and implications for teachers' professional development programs were presented.

Physics Teachers’ Perception and Practice of Formative Assessment: The Case of a Secondary School in Addis Ababa City

Nega Deriba, Mekibib Alemu — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study explored how physics teachers in a Secondary School perceive and practice formative assessment and the challenges. A case study research approach with qualitative analysis technique was employed and the data was collected through the administration of classroom observation and interview. In addition, the questionnaire was used to triangulate the results obtained from the observation and interview. The case was taken from Addis Ababa, secondary schools which have a large teacher population and enough facilities. All the available fifteen physics teachers were taken as sample respondents for the questionnaire and five teachers were observed while teaching in the classroom and the same teachers were interviewed. The findings show that physics teachers fail to assess their students effectively and do not give them enough feedback. Although most of the physics teachers reported that they mostly implement formative assessments in their classrooms, the observation data does not support their claim. Despite this, the teachers mention several factors that hinder them from fully implementing formative assessment practice, such as the overloaded curriculum, big class sizes, and lack of training on assessment. Some of them also blame the students for their lack of interest in being assessed and participating. The main result of this study also shows that physics teachers, regardless of their background, have a fragile grasp of what formative assessment is. This implies that it is essential to address teachers’ issues related to their perception which differs from their practice of formative assessment. Further, more research is needed on the physics teacher education curriculum to examine how assessment course is trained and how much formative assessment is incorporated in it to implement formative assessment as they perceive.

Determinants of Teachers’ Time-on-Task in Ethiopian Schools

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Recent World Bank data suggests that there is a learning poverty in the Low-Income Countries; of which Ethiopia stands at the center stage. Teachers’ time on task is critical for student learning and achievement. Several research investigations have established a strong nexus between teacher instructional use and student learning outcomes. Yet, teachers' inefficient use of time on task has become a grave national concern in Ethiopia. This study has made a modest attempt to examine the role of selected proximal (personal, institutional, and environmental) factors that are believed to affect teachers’ instructional time use. A quantitative research design was used to generate data where a questionnaire was administered to a total of 1,139 teachers (66% females) drawn from a sample of 343 primary schools from nearly all the regions of Ethiopia (except Tigray Region). Findings indicated that female teachers were more resilient to factors that impact teachers' time on task; that teachers with a qualification of bachelor’s degree found it difficult to work in rural areas; that teachers with medium teaching experience (6-10) were more likely to get diverted from using their instructional time; that married teachers with family responsibilities tended to miss their teaching time more than their unmarried counterparts; that rural teachers were more readily wasting their instructional time; that instructional time was wasted while working to meet financial needs, and generally that primary school teachers were negatively affected by factors external to the school and waste instructional time thereof. Furthermore, it was noted that training for teachers could improve their practice but not their instructional time management skills and practices. Primary schools, which were ill-equipped with internal and external resources were repellent to their teachers. Finally, critical measures that would help to address the problems were suggested.