Ethiopia in Transition: A Multicultural Education Perspective on Teacher Education Policies, Curricula, and Practices

Abstract

This dissertation explores the extent to which the Ethiopian government’s diversity-oriented policies have been effectively transferred and reflected in the country’s secondary teacher education policies, curricula, and institutional practices using multicultural education as a guiding concept and analytical tool. Teacher education is the focus of analysis based on the assumption that it can be used as a strategy to effectively implement the diversity-oriented policies as it may have a multiplier effect in terms of fostering a better understanding about issues of diversity. In Ethiopia, unlike pre-primary and primary teacher education institutions which accommodate prospective teachers within the respective regional states, secondary teacher education institutions host prospective teachers from all over the country. It is assumed in the study that secondary teacher education can instill knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to effectively implement issues of diversity. A multilevel analysis research design was used to analyse issues of multicultural education at the secondary teacher education policies, curricula, and institutional levels. Banks’ (1995, 2006, 2010) five dimensions of multicultural education and Banks’ (1993, 2001, 2006) four approaches to the integration of ethnic and multicultural education contents into teacher education curricula were used as analytical frameworks. The sources of data included the Ethiopian constitution, the education and training policy and the cultural policy documents, in general, and the secondary teacher education policy documents and curricula, in particular. The experts who designed the teacher education policies, i.e. the Teacher Education System Overhaul (TESO) and the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT), were also used as sources of information together with secondary teacher education institution officials, teacher educators and prospective teachers. Document analyses, content analyses, questionnaires, and interviews were instruments of data collection. The data were analysed using mixed methods. The results of the study revealed a sporadic and fragmentary treatment of issues of diversity in the secondary teacher education policies, curricula and institutional practices. In other words, the expectation that the Ethiopian government’s diversity-oriented policies have been effectively transferred and reflected in the country’s secondary teacher education system is not realized. It can be concluded that the current Ethiopian secondary teacher education system is not designed in a way which acknowledges the country’s multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic characteristics and/or in line with the diversity-driven policies. Suggestions which are assumed to alleviate these problems are put forward in the study.