The current teacher education programs in Ethiopia: reflection on practice

This study threw light on the current practice of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching Program at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. The study focused on the enrolment, graduation and attrition proportion of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching candidates in the year 2011 and 2015. The 2011 and 2015 academic years have been purposively selected because the in-out-in and in-out training modalities were introduced in these academic years respectively. To this end, document analysis and interview were employed as the means of data collection. The enrolment of 427 candidates in 2011 academic year, and 268 candidates in 2015 were considered to view the total number of graduates in the subsequent years. The data collected were analyzed using numbers and percentage for quantitative data, and description was employed for the qualitative data. Finally, it was discovered that the attrition proportion was very high for 2011 and 2015 academic years. For example, the total of 179 candidates (41.92%) graduated from 427 candidates who were enrolled in 2011 academic year. Similarly, in 2015, from the total of 268 candidates, only 118 candidates (44.03) graduated. Consequently, 50.08% and 55.97% of the candidates left the training in 2011 and 2015 academic years respectively. The study also shows that candidates were not interested in the program since most of them joined the program because of lack of any other job opportunities. From the study, further deliberation on the motivation and retention mechanisms of the candidates was implied. Various stakeholders, Ministry of Education, Regional bureaus, universities, etc. need to join their hands so as to further strengthen the current Teacher Education Programs.