Figure 1. The status of democratic administration and work culture in schools: teachers’ and students’ responses
Mulugeta Yayeh Worku
E-mail: gashu65@gmail.com
Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies
Faculty of Educational & Behavioral Sciences
Bahir Dar University
Abstract: This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of principals in managing the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. To accomplish this task, a mixed research approach, using both quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis methods, was employed. Data sources of the study were 300 Grade Eight students and 25 civic and ethical education teachers, from 15 primary schools found in two woredas (districts) of East Gojjam Administrative Zone, Ethiopia. Data collected through questionnaire and interviews were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Accordingly, it was explored that the curriculum of civic and ethical education in primary schools studied has been in the process of ‘implementation’ without sufficient and meaningful support and active involvement of principals. Put differently, primary school principals were not found satisfactorily discharging many of their responsibilities in relation to the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. In view of this, areas of intervention that could possibly mitigate the problem are forwarded.
Keywords: conducive school environment, curriculum implementation, stakeholders of civic and ethical education
Ethiopia is one of the few Sub-Saharan African countries with long tradition of schooling. Some historical sources trace the beginning of formal indigenous education at least as of the 6th century AD (Solomon, 2008; Teshome, 1979). However, until the first decade of the 20th century, it was traditional in approach and religious in nature. As a result, many educators indicate that this traditional/religious education was not in a position to address the socio- economic and political problems of the country and to transform the life of its people (Solomon, 2008; Seyoum, 1996). It seems that this general educational milieu that instigated the then transitional government of Ethiopia to formulate and introduce a new education and training policy in 1994. The policy envisages the preparation of educated and trained human power capable of actively participating in diverse economic, social and political lives of the country (TGE, 1994).
In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in the world, it was as of the 1990s that citizenship education1 with the name of civic and ethical education is given much attention. This was due to the major socio-political developments that took place in the country (MoE, 2007; Girma, 2006; Akalewold, 2005). In 1994 the Education and Training Policy (ETP) of the country was promulgated by giving much attention for citizenship education (Solomon, 2008; TGE, 1994).
1 In this article, citizenship education and civic and ethical education are used interchangeably.
In various parts of the policy, there are statements/phrases that justify this contention. For instance, the two out of the five general objectives of education and training in Ethiopia, are closely related to the mission of citizenship education. They read as follows:
From the above statements, one can understand that in Ethiopia the idea of creating responsible, competent and democratic citizens is the major goal of education in general and civic and ethical education in particular. Briefly, this policy document envisages the creation of informed, participant and democratic citizens who could contribute a great deal in the democratization process and play significant role in coping with various problems of the country.
Currently, civic and ethical education is one of the topical issues in the education system of Ethiopia. It is a statutory subject to be taught in all educational institutions of the country. In this regard, the government had introduced a curriculum policy for civic and ethical education (MoE, 2007). In the policy document, implementation strategies are clearly indicated. Major actors/stakeholders that should play a prominent role in the implementation process of the subject are also enumerated. As a head of school organization and management, school principals are considered major actors in the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. Their responsibilities are also clearly indicated. Hence, this study investigates the effectiveness of primary school principals in discharging their responsibilities in the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum.
Though citizenship education has been increasingly recognized as one of the mechanisms for preparing good citizens who could play important roles in addressing the various problems of their societies, the desire for good citizenship seems an agenda not yet addressed (Mulugeta et al., 2011; MoE, 2007; Akalewold, 2005). Some local studies conducted on civic and ethical education uncovered that the subject has been at a process of implementation without addressing major variables of curriculum implementation.
At the very beginning, the public in Ethiopia was suspicious of the reason behind teaching civic and ethical education. People, including school practitioners, were opposing its curriculum believing that the subject was an ideological instrument coined by the ruling party with the aim of creating docile and subservient citizens to the existing regime (MoE, 2007; Girma, 2006). Secondly, there was acute shortage of professionals at its implementation stage (MoE, 2007). Hence, the implementation of the curriculum of civic and ethical education was by far inconsistent with the ideas and suggestions of prominent scholars of the field and the rhetoric of the Ethiopian government (Mulugeta et al., 2011; MoE, 2007; Akalewold, 2005).
Due to the above mentioned and other related problems, the attempt to produce good citizens in Ethiopia who could contribute significant role in alleviating national and global problems seems less successful. Supporting this, many studies (Mulugeta et al, 2011; MoE, 2007; Junedi, 2006) and popular discourse unveil that citizenship education in Ethiopia has not been creating citizens who could actively participate in all developmental issues of the country.
The mission of civic and ethical education, the preparation of good citizens, could be best realized if and only if the factors that affect its implementation are thoroughly researched and addressed. Hence, this study aimed at investigating one of such factors i.e. the effectiveness of primary school principals vis-à-vis the implementation of civic and ethical education curriculum. To that end, the study was organized under the following research questions:
Generally, this study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of primary school principals in managing the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. The study also aimed at achieving the following specific objectives.
Educators from the field of curriculum and instruction unanimously stress on the fact that the principal’s leadership is critical to the success or failure of curriculum implementation. According to Ornstein and Hunkins (2004), principals are key guarantors of successful implementation. Fullan (1991, p. 143) too underlines the centrality of the role of principals for curriculum implementation when writing:
Because of their closeness to the classroom situation and their opportunity to alter workplace conditions, probably the most powerful potential source of help or hindrance to the teacher in the implementation process is the school principal.
Effective principals regularly and frequently check on the teachers to solicit needs and inquire how things are going on. This, according to Solomon (2008), has the merit of making teachers feel valued and cared for, and a clear signal is given so that the change is of high priority and deserves attention. Effective principals often visit classrooms to lend their support and provide pressure as they discover what is happening in classrooms. Facilitating change, helping teachers, working together, assessing and furnishing school improvement are some of critical roles of principals that facilitate successful implementation of curriculum.
The success of curriculum implementation in citizenship education, like any curriculum, is determined by the effectiveness of school administrators. School principals play indispensable roles for the realization of the mission of citizenship education. Hence, principals are expected to undertake tasks that are vital for the smooth implementation of the subject. Following are principals’ major responsibilities in relation to the implementation of civic and ethical education.
It is increasingly argued and accepted by scholars that the implementation of citizenship education requires the democratization of schools (Osler & Starkey, 2004; Davies et al., 1999). For these scholars, democracy cannot be learned without a democratic school setting, and as a result, all school activities should be carried out in accordance with fundamental democratic values. Sharma (2006) too indicates that the nature of schools should reflect the various principles, procedures and cultures of democracy so that students may possibly learn to live democratically.
From the preceding ideas, it is clear to understand the fact that the values taught in citizenship education such as democracy, rule of law, justice and equality are less likely to be realized if the nature of schools fail to reflect them. Put differently, authoritarian nature of school organization and administration is incompatible with the teaching of citizenship education. The implication of these ideas is that school principals, as head of school organizations, should work hard in order to establish democratic school organization and work culture as the issue has an enduring impact on the implementation of civic and ethical education curriculum.
The teaching of citizenship education requires flexible time table to exercise such activities as whole school events, service learning and different activities outside the classroom. Hence, school principals should ensure flexible timetable to local needs and situations. Teachers should also be given freedom to modify the curriculum in line with different requirements (Sharma, 2006; Osler & Starkey, 2004).
The task of fostering citizenship values is not an issue to be left only for a group of teachers. That is, all teachers of the school including non-civic and ethical education teachers and support staff should play an important part in the process of implementing the subject (MoE, 2007; Taneja, 1990). Supporting this idea, Taneja (1990) has the following to say:
The responsibility of such education [citizenship Education] devolves upon every subject and every teacher on the staff. The teachers of language, mathematics, science, art, music, etc, have the supreme responsibility of inculcating among the children the values, ideals and skills of good citizenship (Taneja, 1990, p. 231).
The view of Taneja implies that every teacher in the school should teach citizenship values in his/her own field of study. Therefore, principals are required to create awareness among their staff and mobilize the entire staff vis-à-vis the teaching of citizenship education. Mechanisms that help the entire staff contribute to the successful implementation of civic and ethical education need to be discussed.
For citizenship education to be realized, the education of citizens must be seen as a responsibility shared among schools and other institutions within the society (Cogan and Derricot, 2000). The family, religious institutions, civic society organizations, the media and other institutions should contribute great part for effective implementation of citizenship education. Therefore, school principals should establish strong partnership with these institutions (MOE, 2007; Sharma, 2006; Davies et al., 1999).
The hidden curriculum, which is also called the informal, unofficial and implicit curriculum, is one of the forces that influence schooling either by supporting or weakening the accomplishment of schools' mission (Davies et al, 1999; Reed et al., 1998). It is a concept that denotes the informal aspects of life in the school environment (Reed et al., 1998). According to Riner (2000), they are unplanned experiences that happen by chance and can cumulatively have a substantial impact on the characteristics and outcome of students' learning.
From the above ideas, it is not difficult to understand that unless the informal aspects of life in the school environment (particularly the interaction among all school communities) reflect the values cherished in the curriculum of citizenship education, any attempt to foster them through the formal curriculum will be of a worthless effort. Stated another way, students cannot wholeheartedly accept and practice the values they learn in civic and ethical education classrooms if the hidden curriculum fails to reflect them. Hence, school principals need to give due attention for this issue.
In Ethiopia, principals are recognized as one of the decisive partners in the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. Accordingly, they are made to shoulder too many responsibilities in its implementation. Their responsibilities are enumerated in the curriculum policy of civic and ethical education, and the following are the major ones:
To sum up, principals as head of school organization and administration as well as potential stakeholders in the implementation process of curriculum implementation, have a central position for the successful implementation of citizenship education. Hence, their roles need to be given due attention.
The purpose of this study was to investigate principals’ effectiveness in managing the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. To accomplish this task, a mixed research approach was employed.
Major data sources of this study were students (Grade Eight) and civic and ethical education teachers selected from two woredas (districts) and fifteen primary schools (teaching from Grade 1- 8). The two woredas were selected purposively for geographical convenience and user friendliness criteria.
Then, from these schools, three hundred Grade Eight students were selected using systematic random sampling technique. The reason to select students only from Grade Eight was the fact that they are the most matured students (in terms of both age and academics) in primary schools so that they could provide better data than students of other grade levels. All of civic and ethical education teachers, twenty-five in number, were selected using comprehensive sampling technique.
To obtain the necessary data pertinent to the study, the following data gathering instruments were used.
Questionnaires. Two sets of questionnaires, one for civic and ethical education teachers and another for students, were developed. Both closed ended (in the form of rating scale, having three scales) and open-ended questions were developed and administered. Both questionnaires were prepared in Amharic language. In order to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaires, pilot testing was made in one primary school. The cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of students and teachers’ questionnaires were found to be 0.84 and 0.81. After the reliability and validity of the questionnaires were checked, the necessary measures were taken to make the instruments more reliable and valid.
Unstructured interview. This was used in order to substantiate the data collected through questionnaire. The interview was conducted with civic and ethical education teachers. In addition to the above two instruments, unstructured observation aimed at examining the hidden curriculum and the availability of instructional materials in connection with the teaching of civic and ethical education was employed.
Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were employed. Descriptive data analysis techniques i.e. frequency counts, mean, percentage and standard deviation were employed in order to analyze quantitative data. Besides, the qualitative data was thematically analyzed through narration and description.
As indicated earlier, the general school climate, particularly the nature of schools’ organization and administration, the interaction among all school personnel, as well as the hidden curriculum have strong impacts on students’ learning of civic and ethical education. Therefore, it was with this contention in mind that this section has been treated.
The existence of a democratic and enabling school organization and administration
is one of the key requisites for effective implementation of citizenship education.
Hence, this sub- section treats the status of this issue in the schools studied.
Figure 1. The status of democratic administration
and work culture in schools: teachers’ and students’ responses
As illustrated in Figure 1, the majority of respondents (56% of the teachers and 55% of the students) rated the status of democratic administration and work culture in their schools as low. These data were consistent with the qualitative data obtained through interview. Accordingly, one of the teachers evaluated her principal as follows:
Our principal pretends as if he were a democratic school leader. However, in reality he is not a democratic leader. The various activities/decisions made by him did not reflect the major principles of democracy. For instance, he is not interested to make an open discussion both with teachers and with students.
This respondent further indicated that:
He [the principal] practices an obvious discrimination among school teachers. He does not treat the staff equally. He also punishes students corporally.
From this data one can easily understand that basic concepts of democracy- open discussion, fairness, equality, rule of law…were not practically reflected in the day-to-day activities of school principals. Furthermore, it is also possible to comprehend that some of the issues raised above (e.g., corporal punishment) were open violations of what students were taught in the curriculum of civic and ethical education.
What can be deduced both from the quantitative and qualitative data is that,
one important pre-requisite and critical strategy for effective implementation
of citizenship education i.e. the prevalence of democratic school administration
and work culture was yet immature in the schools studied. This finding entails
the need for urgent intervention as many scholars contend that the cultivation
of good citizenship is almost impossible only by imparting knowledge and without
having general democratic methods at school level (Osler & Starkey,
2004; Davies et al., 1999; Taneja, 1990).
In the same vein, respondents were requested to rate the extent to which their schools’ administration had reflected other values of civic and ethical education in their day-to-day activities. Their response is summarized in the following figure.
Figure 2. Effectiveness of principals in practicing
the values of civic and ethical education: teachers’ and students’
responses.
As it can be seen from Figure 2, the majority of respondents (52% of teachers and 54% of students) indicated that their principals’ effort in practicing and reflecting the values incorporated in the curriculum of civic and ethical education was low. Therefore, what could be inferred at this stage is that principals did not successfully discharge one of their responsibilities in connection with the implementation of civic and ethical education.
Respondents were asked to rate the status of some of the indicators of the hidden curriculum in their respective schools. Their responses are presented in the following table.
Table 1 Students’ and Teachers’ Ratings on
the Status of Hidden Curriculum
*The aggregate mean for the two groups is 1.599
Table 1 above illustrates the prevalence of two different opinions concerning the status of the hidden curriculum in connection with civic and ethical education. The overall mean of teachers’ response (2.72) suggests that indicators of the hidden curriculum were above the expected mean (2.00). To the contrary, students’ overall mean (1.54) indicates that their status was below the expected mean. The aggregate mean of the two groups of respondents (1.599) indicates that the status of the hidden curriculum was below the average. This implies that the hidden curriculum which has a strong impact in enhancing or retarding the development of social values (Riner, 2000; Davies et al., 1999; Reed et al., 1998) was not satisfactorily managed.
Many scholars in the field of citizenship education stress that the teaching of values could not be effectively materialized without the involvement of many individuals and institutions (Davies et al., 1999; Taneja, 1990). In the same allusion, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education emphasized that different stakeholders, including non-civic and ethical education teachers are responsible to teach (both explicitly and implicitly) the values of civic and ethical education (MOE, 2007). It was with this idea in mind that this section has been treated.
Before looking at the status of major stakeholders’ participation in the implementation process of civic and ethical education, teachers were asked to describe the efforts made by their principals in creating awareness about the essence and significance of the subject for its stakeholders. Accordingly, one of the teachers has the following to say:
For the last six years, I have been teaching civic and ethical education in this school. On those days, I did not remember any awareness creation activity conducted by our school for stakeholders of civic and ethical education. As to my knowledge, any consultation program with different stakeholders, including the school community, concerning civic and ethical education has never been attempted.
The above excerpt indicates that one of school principals’ responsibilities in connection with the implementation of civic and ethical education i.e., creating awareness on the multi- faceted issues of civic and ethical education for major stakeholders (MoE, 2007) had not been adequately materialized. This result is found to be consistent with the findings of Mulugeta et al (2011) and MoE (2007). Concerning the involvement of non-civic and ethical education teachers, civic and ethical education teachers responded as follows.
Table 2 Involvement of Non-Civic and Ethical Education Teachers in The Process of Teaching
Civic and Ethical Education: Teachers’ Response
From Table 2, it is possible to understand that non-civic and ethical education teachers’ willingness and effort in teaching citizenship values was not as expected. For instance, 68% of the respondents replied that other school subject teachers’ willingness to cooperate with civic and ethical education teachers was low. Likewise, 76% of the respondents responded that the effort of teachers of other school subjects to teach the values of civic and ethical education in conjunction with their subject was low.
The data obtained through the unstructured interview supported this finding. One of the teachers explained non-civic and ethical education teachers’ level of involvement as follows:
Though there is a slight improvement, still many things have remained unresolved. For example, other teachers’ initiation to support us in teaching civic and ethical education is too negligible. Once we had invited some teachers to teach member students of civic and ethical education club. However, their response was not encouraging.
From these data, it is possible to deduce that one important variable for effective implementation of civic and ethical education curriculum was missed in the schools studied. This implies that many non-civic and ethical education teachers do not discharge their responsibility of assisting the teaching of citizenship education. Stated in another way, the expectation of the Ethiopian government (MOE, 2007) and suggestions of many scholars of citizenship education (Sharma, 2006; Taneja, 1990) on the involvement of non-civic and ethical education teachers were found to be at their lowest stage.
Involvement of other stakeholders in the implementation process of civic and ethical education
Teachers were requested to rate the overall status of stakeholders’ participation in connection with civic and ethical education. Their responses are summarized in the following figure.
Figure 3. Overall status of stakeholders in the implementation process
of civic and ethical education: teachers’ ratings
As depicted in Figure 3, the overwhelming majority of civic and ethical education teachers (70%) rated that the overall status of stakeholders’ participation in the implementation process was low.
To sum up, school principals did not fulfill their roles and duties of awareness creation and mobilization of stakeholders in the implementation process of civic and ethical education in a way the Ministry of Education and many scholars suggested.
Principals are given numerous responsibilities in connection with the instructional process of civic and ethical education (MOE, 2007). These include the provision of sustainable on-job training for teachers, fulfilling instructional materials and mobilizing other school subject teachers in the implementation process of the subject. Hence, teachers were asked to evaluate their principals’ effectiveness in discharging these responsibilities. Their responses are summarized in the following table.
Table 3 Principals’ Effectiveness in Assisting the Instructional process
of Civic and Ethical Education: Teachers’ Response
As shown in Table 3, most respondents rated principals’ major responsibilities in connection with the instructional process of civic and ethical education as low. For example, their effort to arrange on-job training for civic and ethical education teachers was found to be unsatisfactory as 80% of the respondents rated it to be low. Besides, most of the respondents (76%) reported that their principals did not allow them to have a flexible timetable to practice some time taking instructional strategies. Similarly, 64% of the respondents replied that their school principals’ overall support in teaching civic and ethical education was low.
Therefore, from these data it is possible to conclude that principals are not satisfactorily discharging their responsibilities of assisting the instructional process of civic and ethical education. This finding is consistent with the finding of Mulugeta et al (2011) and Junedi (2006).
The availability and utilization of quality instructional materials is one important factor that contributes to the effective implementation of curriculum. In line with this, principals in Ethiopia are expected to render unreserved effort to fulfill instructional materials essential for civic and ethical education (MoE, 2007). Accordingly, teachers were asked to rate the status of basic instructional materials of civic and ethical education in their respective schools. Their response is presented as follows.
Figure 4. Status of civic and ethical education
instructional materials: teachers' response
As depicted in Figure 4, the overwhelming majority of respondents (72%) rated the availability of fundamental instructional materials of civic and ethical education as low. The rest of the respondents rated it to be medium (24%) and high (4%). This finding is consistent with what the researcher informally observed in pedagogical centers and libraries of the eight primary schools. For instance, in all of the schools observed, international documents such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which are important for the teaching of civic education (MoE, 2007), were completely unavailable. Audio-visual materials and periodicals too were not available in many of the schools. Only regional and federal constitutions were available in all schools. However, it was soon explored that the ratio of these national documents to the total number of school community members was by far inadequate.
Therefore, from these results, it is not difficult to generalize that instructional materials that could reduce verbalism and increase student attention and participation in the teaching learning process of civic and ethical education were not adequately fulfilled and utilized in the schools studied. This epitomizes that principals’ responsibility to “fulfill the necessary instructional resources of civic and ethical education” (MoE, 2007) was not satisfactorily discharged.
This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of primary school principals in managing the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum. To that end, data were collected from 300 Grade 8 students and 25 civic and ethical education teachers, in 15 primary schools found in two woredas of East Gojjam Administrative Zone. The data collected through questionnaires and interviews were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques.
Based on the data collected, analyzed and interpreted, the following findings were obtained.
Principals’ Effectiveness in Creating Conducive School Environments
Principals’ Effectiveness in Creating Awareness and Mobilizing Stakeholders of civic and ethical education Curriculum
Principals’ Effectiveness in Supporting the Instructional process of civic and ethical education
From the foregoing discussions, it could be concluded that the curriculum of civic and ethical education is being implemented in primary schools without sufficient and meaningful support from principals. Put differently, primary school principals are not found properly discharging many of their responsibilities in the implementation process of civic and ethical education curriculum.
This implies that much work should be carried out by different bodies to improve the situation and ultimately to help realize the mission of civic and ethical education. The researcher believes that this could be possible if the following measures are properly accomplished.
As a final point, since the above issues are meant for the proper implementation of the curriculum of civic and ethical education and ultimately the preparation of good citizenship, all concerned bodies need to give much credence for them.