Pedagogical Science Practices in Public Higher Education Institutions of Ethiopia: Progress Made but Challenges Remain

Abstract

The contribution of education to the overall development of a nation becomes evident especially through higher education. This is because higher education is considered a key to delivering the knowledge required for ensuring sustainable development. Studies reveal a strong positive correlation between higher education participation rates and levels of development, as high levels of education are essential for designing and producing new technologies, and enhancing innovative capacities for the development of a society. While the reforms of higher education in high-income countries have received much attention, relatively little is known about the change dynamics in higher education system in developing countries. Therefore, with this research I want to contribute to a better understanding of higher education system in Africa, from the perspective of the type of pedagogy being practiced frequently and its consequences in producing competent graduates for the world of work by taking Ethiopian public higher education system as a case. To this end, data were collected from selected higher education institutions’ officials and instructors using questionnaire and interviews. The collected data were analyzed using mixed method. Findings of the study revealed that despite the offering of on-job pedagogical science trainings in the sample universities, little progress has been made in terms of applying student-centered pedagogy. Most of the instructors in the institutions still predominantly use traditional teaching methods. It is recommended that instructors in higher learning institutions should use critical pedagogy. Keywords: higher education, pedagogical science practice, progressive pedagogy, traditional pedagogy, transformative pedagogy