Care and support in the classroom : the case of three teachers in their cassroom in an elementary school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Ethiopia is a country represented by the three wide horizontal strips of green, yellow and red coloured national flag constituting about 70 million people. It is an old nation with people proud of their culture and civilization. Like several other countries, Ethiopia is a land of a multitude of nations, nationalities and people with diverse languages, religion and culture. Like other developing countries, in Ethiopia, the low socio-economic condition, the traditional beliefs of child rearing practice, the family size and the low educational background of the family put adverse pressure on the socio-emotional and learning development of Ethiopian children. Many children are underachievers due to the lack of proper guidance and support from their adult caregivers. For most Ethiopian children elementary school teachers play the role of caregivers next to the family due to the lack of early intervention services. Economically affected nations such as Ethiopia expect much from elementary school teachers since they are better trained and responsible to give systematic support to fill the missing gap from the children s home environment in the endeavour to influence the socio-emotional and learning development of the children in their early years. Thus, elementary school teachers are expected to be responsive to the needs of their students. Teachers affection, warmth, encouragement etc are the bases for the socio-emotional and learning development of the students in their early years of age. Classroom care and support have been the focus of this baseline study. To be able to create safe classrooms in which students feel safe and supported this qualitative study examined the care giving behaviour and self perception of three teachers in their classrooms. The teachers general views and attitudes towards their students were found to be positive. Love and care are viewed as parts of the duties and responsibilities of the teachers. The existing national educational policies have become solid grounds in the process of knowing the needs and interests of the students and meeting them. However, it was found out that the methods of assessment used by the teachers were not satisfactory. The enormity of the class size, parental low socio-economical backgrounds and the wide age gap among students in class have been the major challenges of the teachers to provide quality care and support to their students. The study made use of the eight guiding themes of the ICDP adapted for school-age children to evaluate the quality care giving behaviour of the teachers in the classroom teacher-student interactions. Teachers showed a good deal of interest to talk to their students individually and as a group. Teachers have also been seen praising and acknowledging their students. In general all the eight guiding themes have been manifested within a wide range of frequency counts. The method of teaching that teachers often used, the concern of the teachers to consider the interests of their students when they organized their classrooms and the overall communication among the school staff members have been motivating and encouraging to the teachers. The physical condition of the classrooms and the access and quality of the teaching materials need to be improved to motivate the students learning. Based on the findings through multiple data sources the study forwarded possible recommendations within which on-job training for teachers about the nature and development of the needs and level of mastery of students, feasible and effective methods of assessment were emphasized. The study also indicated the need for school support units and school-based intervention programs where multi-professional assessment and support for students are given to assist teachers.