Ethiopian Secondary School Research Articles

School administrators’ perceptions and challenges in the implementation of general secondary school geography curriculum

This study aimed to examine the implementation of the geography curriculum, particularly from the perspective of school administrators. The research explores the perceptions and challenges these administrators face in implementing the general secondary school Geography curriculum in Ethiopia, focusing specifically on the Sidama Regional State. The study employed qualitative research methods, gathering data from 11 purposefully selected respondents, including principals, department heads, and supervisors from six general secondary schools. In addition to interviews and observations, supplementary document analysis provided further insights into the state of curriculum implementation. The findings reveal that the implementation of the geography curriculum is generally ineffective. A key issue is the limited familiarity of administrators with the curriculum content, along with their lack of active engagement in the process. This lack of engagement significantly affects the overall effectiveness of curriculum delivery. The study also found that professional development opportunities for geography teachers are inadequate, which hinders efforts to enhance teaching quality and effectiveness. Among the main challenges identified were low motivation among educators, limited time for lesson preparation, and a predominant reliance on traditional lecture-based methods rather than student-centred instructional approaches. Additionally, language inconsistencies were evident, particularly with English usage deviating from national guidelines, which in turn impacted the performance of both teachers and students. The study also noted a significant scarcity of resources, including a lack of teaching materials and professional development opportunities, which further hindered effective curriculum implementation. Considering these findings, the study emphasizes the need for enhanced teacher training, improved resource allocation, and strategic support to create a more conducive learning environment. The implications of these findings are significant for policymakers, educational leaders, and curriculum developers, suggesting critical measures to strengthen curriculum delivery and improve educational outcomes in Ethiopian secondary schools.

Investigating Blended Leadership Dynamics: Analysing Transformational, Transactional, Laissez-Faire, and Instructional Approaches in High and Low Achieving Secondary Schools in Ethiopia

This study delves into the leadership practices within secondary schools in the Gedeo Zone, with a specific focus on those achieving high performance. Employing an embedded mixed research design, the study selected four high-performing and eight low-performing schools. Data collection methods encompassed surveys, document analysis, focus group discussions, and interviews, engaging 48 principals, 311 teachers, 6 senior teachers, and 7 supervisors, totaling 372 participants. Statistical analyses including regression, correlation, and independent t-tests, coupled with thematic analysis, were utilized. Both qualitative and quantitative findings indicate notable differences in leadership practices between high-performing and low-performing schools, with principals in high-performing schools demonstrating a blended approach of instructional and transformational leadership styles. Positive correlations emerged between principal effectiveness, employee effort, and satisfaction, linked to the adoption of instructional and transformational leadership styles. Regression analysis suggested that blended leadership styles positively impact academic achievement in high-performing schools but may have adverse effects in low-performing schools due to insufficient implementation of such leadership styles. The study proposes that principals in Gedeo Zone's secondary schools adopt a blended leadership approach, incorporating full-range and instructional models to enhance school performance. Additionally, the education department in the zone is encouraged to arrange workshops integrating full-range and instructional leadership practices. Received: 11 March 2024 / Accepted: 29 October 2024 / Published: 05 November 2024

Reflective teaching in Ethiopian secondary schools: examining teachers’ characteristics and engagement

ABSTRACT This quantitative study surveyed 361 secondary school teachers in South and Central Ethiopia to examine their engagement in reflective teaching and its relationship with gender, qualification, and teaching experience. The study used descriptive survey design and structured questionnaire to collect data. Results indicated that teachers had minimal overall engagement in reflective teaching. Results also showed insignificant difference between male and female teachers’ engagement in reflective teaching. However, there were significant differences in teachers’ engagement in terms of their qualification and teaching experience. In this regard, teachers with Bachelor of Education had the highest level of engagement, followed by Master’s and Applied degree holders. In addition, mid-career teachers had the highest level of engagement, exceeding the level both novice and veteran teachers had. The findings suggest the need to revisit existing pre-service teacher education programme, identify teachers’ engagement patterns, identify their specific needs, design and run tailored in-service professional development programmes, and establish support system to promote reflective teaching in Ethiopian secondary schools. Most importantly, the findings suggest the need for teachers to actually engage in reflective teaching in their professional contexts.

The Effect of Mind Mapping on EFL High School Students’ Collocation Learning

The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of mind mapping on Ethiopian secondary school students’ English collocation learning. The study specifically tried to check the effectiveness of mind mapping on adjective-preposition and verb-noun combination collocations. A sample of 110 grade 12 students who were learning in two sections at Majete General Secondary School, North Shoa Zone, Ethiopia, participated in the study. One of the two sections was randomly assigned to an experimental group, while the other one was labeled as a control group. A pre-test and two post-tests were used as data-gathering instruments. The data were analyzed by using mean scores, paired samples, and independent sample t-tests. The results revealed that although the two sections had no significant difference in their pre-test results, in the immediate and delayed post-tests, the score of adjective-preposition & verb-noun collocations of the experimental group students was significantly higher than the score of the control group students who learnt those collocations without mind map. Based on this, it could be concluded that using mind map was an effective strategy to improve EFL high-school students’ collocations learning. Accordingly, it is recommended that EFL teachers and students should use mind-map during their collocations lessons.

Using recasts to enhance students’ English question production: Ethiopian secondary school students in focus

Using recasts to enhance students’ English question production: Ethiopian secondary school students in focus

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for validating a distributed leadership inventory for secondary schools in Ethiopia

This study aimed to validate the Ethiopian version of the distributed leadership inventory (DLI-Eth) and evaluate its psychometric properties. The survey was administered to 714 randomly selected teachers. The data were subjected to data cleaning and preliminary analysis for normality and multivariate assumptions using SPSS version 23 with an extension of AMOS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to identify the cluster of items and test model fit. The principal component analysis extraction method with varimax rotation revealed a significant four-factor solution. The four-factor structure accounted for 70.04% of the cumulative variance. The results showed that the proposed model met the acceptable model fit. The study concluded that the DLI-Eth is a good tool for measuring distributed leadership functions in Ethiopia. Moreover, this paper makes a practical contribution to future leadership investigators by providing a validated inventory to broaden our understanding of distributed leadership in a non-Western context.

The potential of lesson study in enhancing secondary school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical practices in lesson planning: evidence from Ethiopia

PurposeThe main purpose of this study was to explore how engaging in lesson study enhances secondary school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical practice in lesson planning in Jimma, Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a design-based research approach with qualitative and quantitative data collected from two secondary schools, and 12 mathematics teachers. A purposive sampling technique was used to select participants. Interviews, observations, questionnaires and document analysis were the main sources of data. Qualitative data were analyzed using themes with the support of Atlas-ti qualitative data analysis software. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon ranked signs test.FindingsThe findings revealed that engaging secondary school mathematics teachers in lesson study enhanced their lesson planning competence. As a result, teachers began to carefully plan detailed lessons, use curriculum materials and create more student-oriented lessons. Lesson study was found to be a potent model on which to build secondary school mathematics teachers’ lesson planning competence. Hence, it would be rewarding to integrate lesson study into the present school-based teachers’ pedagogical capacity-building program in the study settings.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from particular localities with a small sample size in the quantitative phase. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize to the entire secondary school teachers in the country. However, thick descriptions were provided that would allow readers to determine the transferability of the findings to their specific school context. Future research should investigate the effects that enhanced TPP in lesson planning has on teachers’ mathematics teaching in more schools using a larger sample size.Practical implicationsThis study provides insight into and empirical evidence of how engaging in the process of LS is essential to enhance teachers’ lesson planning competence. It adds important knowledge to a small but growing model of lesson study research. It also informs future researchers in the practical use of LS where lesson planning is a crucial concern in many secondary schools of the country.Originality/valueThis research was originally conducted to build mathematics teachers' pedagogical practice in lesson planning through lesson study in Ethiopian secondary school contexts.

Exploring Ethiopian Secondary School Science Teachers’ Conceptions about the Nature of Scientific Knowledge (NOSK)

This study examined secondary school science teachers’ conceptions of the nature of scientific knowledge (NOSK). The participants were convenient samples consisting of 48 (M = 38, F = 10) teachers from three secondary schools. An open-ended questionnaire was administered to collect data. Qualitative analysis involved comparing teachers’ responses to experts’ views on NOSK. Frequency counts and percentages were also used to describe the NOSK conceptions of participants. Based on the findings, the teachers held informed conceptions on two NOSK tenets and naïve conceptions on four of them. The participants generally held a naïve conception of NOSK, as evidenced by the fact that their conception aligned with informed conception only on two of the seven assessed NOSK aspects. Future research should use large samples, employing a quantitative approach to reveal secondary school teachers’ NOSK conceptions.

Enhancing School Organizational Health: Exploring the Nexus of Professional Development, Transformational Leadership, and Cultural Intelligence in Indian and Ethiopian Secondary Schools

Enhancing School Organizational Health: Exploring the Nexus of Professional Development, Transformational Leadership, and Cultural Intelligence in Indian and Ethiopian Secondary Schools

Network failure in Ethiopian education

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the factors that limit ICT-integrated teaching in Ethiopian secondary schools. Following Actor-Network Theory, the relationship between teachers and ICT materials is interpreted as a sociomaterial network in which the material and the human dimensions are intertwined. Qualitative data was collected via interviews carried out with school insiders (32 teachers, 30 students, 6 vice-principals, 6 ICT technicians) and several school outsiders – respondents involved in ICT-based education from stakeholders such as the Ethiopian government, international organisations, aid agencies, and ICT companies. Findings indicate a fragile network, weakened by poor teacher training, antipathy towards technology and inadequate materials. These factors reinforce one another, and the restoration of the network is further compromised by unfavourable institutions at the school and national levels.

The Mediating Role of Teachers’ Attitudes toward Instructional Supervision in the Association between Instructional Supervisory Practice and Teachers’ Job Performance

The school needs to pay instructional supervision considerable attention to implement better teaching-learning procedures that will result in a more effective education. These procedures ought to remain democratic and cooperative. The attitude of the teachers toward supervision influences the outcomes of the supervision process. Therefore, in the context of secondary schools in Ethiopia's Dembecha area, this study sought to explore the mediating effect of teacher attitude to instructional supervision in the relationship between job performance and instructional supervisory practice. A mixed research design that was convergent parallel was utilized. Using comprehensive sampling, all four principals, two secondary school supervisors, and three hundred teachers participated in the study. Consequently, the study discovered that although teachers' work performance was at a moderate level, the status of instructional supervisory practice and their attitudes about it were at a low level. There were positive, significant, and moderate levels of correlation between instructional supervisory practice, teachers' attitudes toward instructional supervision, and teachers' job performance. Finally, the study revealed that teachers' attitude toward instructional supervision has a mediating impact on the association between instructional supervisory practice and job performance. In terms of practical applications, this study supports educators and school administrators in recognizing the benefits and drawbacks of instructional supervision and in implementing corrective actions to address the issues secondary schools encounter. Secondary schools’ instructional supervision practices need to be improved further to be widely accepted by teachers and put into practice.

History education in Ethiopian secondary schools (1943–1991): Why it could not yield the desired results? A historical analysis

History education in Ethiopian secondary schools (1943–1991): Why it could not yield the desired results? A historical analysis

Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks

There is broad consensus that citizenship or civic education plays an important role in preparing democratic, tolerant and socially active citizens, although the role of civic education in achieving this goal in divided societies is far from straightforward. There is also the interdependent goal of developing a good person and a good citizen. In order for this to be successful, the content and pedagogy integrated into the formal curriculum (core curriculum framework and textbooks) play an indispensable role. This article examines how the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen are presented as learners' distinctive personal development in the Ethiopian civics textbooks (grades 9 to 12) and to what extent the learning activities in textbooks enable learners to explore alternative qualities of a good person and good citizens. The study mainly used quantitative content analysis method. All pages of the textbooks were used as units of analysis. The results show that the textbooks presented the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen as distinct dimensions of students' personal development. However, almost two third of the contents emphasize social self-identity (good citizens), while a fifth of the contents deal with autonomous self-identity (good person). The results also reveal that there are open-ended and future-oriented learning activities that can help students discover alternative characteristics of a good person and a good citizen. Most studies on Ethiopian secondary school and university students question the extent to which students develop and demonstrate desired goals of civic and ethnical education. The effectiveness of civic and ethical education in divided countries where the goals of the formal curriculum are not reinforced by macro-social political conditions and other factors of socialization are discussed.

Testing and validating the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (CASEL) model in the context of Ethiopian secondary schools: Factorial analysis

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is widely recognized for fostering students' social and emotional skills essential for academic and personal growth, yet culturally validated SEL assessment tools are scarce, especially in Ethiopia. The study aimed to establish a psychometrically sound measurement scale to assess SEL and competence in secondary school students in eastern Ethiopia. Utilizing a correlational research design, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were employed to develop a suitable SEL measurement model. The sample comprised 406 participants, including 294 teachers and 112 students. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for SEL subscales ranged from .81 to .85, indicating reliable internal consistency. Construct reliability and validity were confirmed through composite reliability, maximal reliability, and discriminant and convergent validity checks. The refined four-factor model revealed the interrelatedness and significance of SEL components, with social awareness emerging as the most significant indicator. The study underscores the importance of context in shaping SEL constructs and highlights the need for educational strategies that consider cultural and contextual factors. The findings enhance the understanding of SEL in eastern Ethiopia and advocate for empirically-driven approaches to construct validation, emphasizing the interconnected nature of SEL domains in educational interventions.

The Relationship Between Students Reading Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension Among Ethiopian Secondary School Learners

The Relationship Between Students Reading Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension Among Ethiopian Secondary School Learners

Challenges and Prospects: Understanding Teachers' Attitudes towards the Teaching Profession in Ethiopia

This study investigates Ethiopian secondary school teachers' attitudes towards their teaching profession, focusing on gender, education qualifications, and subject streams. It provides nuanced insights into the reasons behind negative attitudes, exploring societal attitudes, low salaries, and challenges faced by teachers. Using a cross-sectional design, 351 secondary school teachers in different regions completed a comprehensive questionnaire during their summer in-service training at an undisclosed university. Findings reveal that approximately half of the teachers exhibit negative attitudes, linked to societal attitudes and inadequate salaries. The study also examines the teachers' motivations for choosing the teaching career and reveals that most secondary school teachers joined the teaching profession because of a lack of alternative professions. The study also finds no statistically significant differences in attitudes by gender, education qualification, or subject stream. The study concludes that teachers fall short in student service delivery and strongly recommends that policymakers attract high-achieving individuals by offering competitive salaries, improving working conditions, and emphasizing the positive impact of teaching on societal development. Future research could employ qualitative methods to delve deeper into the underlying causes and nuanced situations influencing teachers’ perspectives on their profession in this, and other, low-income countries.

Impacts of Combined Reading Strategy Instruction on Ethiopian Students’ Strategy Use and Perception

The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of combined reading strategy instruction on reading strategy use and perception of Ethiopian secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test-post control group design, eighty-seven students were selected from two intact classes that were assigned to the control and experimental groups. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the data. After identifying students' level of reading strategies, students in the experimental group were explicitly taught a combination of reading strategies. The training took four months and at the end of which, a questionnaire was administered to both groups, whereas the interview was conducted only with the experimental group. ANCOVA and interview findings indicated that students in the treatment group greatly benefited from the training. Hence, it was concluded that combined reading strategy instruction is vital for EFL students to increase their reading strategy use and awareness which in turn helps them to improve their reading comprehension problems. Finally, it was recommended that EFL teachers should consider the role of combined reading strategies during teaching reading.

ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN ACTIVE LEARNING: EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS, PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTATION

The current study was mainly aimed at exploring teachers’ perceptions, practices, and challenges of implementing their role in active learning. The total population of the study were 37 English language teachers in Kambata Tembaro Zone, Ethiopia. Data for the study were collected via a questionnaire and focus group discussion. The data collected via a questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively by using statistical package for social science and qualitative method of analysis was applied for the data gathered via focus group discussion. The findings of the study revealed that teachers lack clear understanding of their role in active learning and they were not properly accomplishing it in teaching the English language. Knowledge, skill, and aptitude gaps among teachers and students and unsuitable school environments were reported as major challenges affecting the implementation of active learning. Awareness creation and capacity-building workshops were recommended for the teacher and students to improve the implementation of active learning in secondary schools in Ethiopia.

Key Characterizes of Education Sector Development Program for Quality Improvement of Primary and Secondary Schools in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian government prioritizes education because it believes it is important for reducing poverty and developing the country. The education system has four levels: pre-primary, primary, secondary, and higher education. Pre-primary education is for children aged 4-6, primary education is for children aged 7-14, secondary education is for children aged 15-18, and higher education is for students of all ages. The preparation process for the Ethiopian Social Development Plan (ESDP) was flexible and adapted to the specific context. This approach was a major factor in the success of the process. Therefore, this study does not provide a one-size-fits-all template for preparing other ESDPs, but instead highlights the general principles and issues that are important to consider. Expansion is a central and outstanding feature of the many changes that have characterized the Ethiopian education system at all levels. This trend is likely to continue, as evidenced by the Education Sector Development Program. Primary and secondary education research and policy studies are too numerous to list. The MOE’s management capacity can be evaluated by relevance (participatory planning), efficiency, and effectiveness.

The Influence of High-Stakes English Examinations on Students’ Out-of-Classroom English Learning Practices: A Comparative Study

Exams with high stakes may affect test takers’ learning endeavors. Given the students’ different academic backgrounds, it is not yet clear how much of an effect the tests will have on their out-of-classroom learning practices. This study, thus, aimed to close the knowledge gap by employing a mixed method of embedded research design and collecting data via questionnaire, focused group discussion (FGD), and document analysis. The questionnaire was administered to a stratified random sample of 94 12th grade students. The students with their one-semester academic achievements were selected from two secondary schools found in East Wollega zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, multivariate and one-way ANOVA. The data gathered through document analysis and FGD were to substantiate the questionnaire. The contents of the three consecutive years of past Ethiopian Secondary School Leaving Certificate English Examination (ESSLCEE) questions were analyzed quantitatively. The qualitative method was used to conduct FGD with the selected participants from each school. The recorded data were subsequently transcribed, translated, analyzed, and discussed thematically. The study found significant differences between students of low-achieving groups (“Fair” and “Satisfactory” scorers) and high-achieving groups (“Very Good” and “Excellent” scorers) in studying non-ESSLCEE-related learning activities out-of-classroom. However, no statistically significant differences were observed between low-achieving groups and high-achieving groups regarding practicing ESSLCEE-related language components. The washback of high-stakes ESSLCEE on students’ out-of-classroom English learning practices was observed regardless of the students’ specific academic achievement groups they belonged to. The results suggest that there are differences in the impact of high-stakes exams on the efforts that students from different academic backgrounds make for out-of-classroom learning practices.