The Place of Society and Societal Issues in the Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia: A Content Analysis
Abstract
Using the Social Reconstructionist educational philosophy as a theoretical framework, this study attempts to understand the place of society and major societal issues in the current Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, an analysis was made both on the manifest and latent contents of the whole policy document. The analysis revealed that in the present Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia, words, concepts, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that reflect basic ideas of the Social Reconstructionist educational philosophy were not satisfactorily incorporated. Besides, though some societyrelated concepts were explored, contents dealing with sensitive social, economic, and political problems were not adequately included. Based on the above findings, therefore, it is concluded that the Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia has not satisfactorily echoed society and major societal issues, particularly those that are given much emphasis in the Social Reconstructionist educational philosophy. Hence, towards the end of the article areas of intervention that could possibly ameliorate this problem are highlighted.References
Amare Asgedom. (2009, May 13–15). From knowledge acquisition to knowledge application: The case of curriculum inquiry in Ethiopia. Paper presented at the 1 International Conference on Educational Research for Development, College of Education, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Brameld, T. (1971). Patterns of educational philosophy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, INC.
Apple, M. W. (1990). Ideology and curriculum (2 nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Damtew Wolde. (2008). The role of education in addressing environmental problems and sustainable development of Ethiopia. IER FLAMBEAU, 15(2), 1-38.
Counts, G. (1932). Dare the school build a new social order? New York: The John Day Company.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.
Ellis, A.K. (2004). Exemplars of curriculum theory. New York: Routledge.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.
Harber, C. (2004). Schooling as violence: How schools harm pupils and societies. London: Routledge.
Hill, L. G. (2006). Principles for education of the social reconstructionists and critical theorists: A yardstick of democracy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgia Southern University
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks: SAGE publications.
Maguire, M. & Dillon, J. (2007). Education policy and schooling. In Dillon J. & Maguire M. (Eds,), Becoming a teacher: Issues in secondary teaching (3 rd ed.). Berkshire: Open University Press PAGE NUMBERS
McNeil, J. D. (1996). Curriculum: A comprehensive introduction (5 th ed.). New York: Harper Collins College Publishers
Ornstein, A. C. & Hunkins, F. P. (2004). Curriculum foundations, principles and issues (4 ed.). Boston: Pearson education, Inc.
Ornstein, A. C. & Levine, D.U. (2008). Foundations of education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
Quisumbing, L. R. (2002, November 29). Citizenship education for better world societies: A holistic approach. Paper presented at the 8th UNESCO APEID international conference on education, Bangkok, Thailand.
Reese, W. J. (2007). History, education, and the schools. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Reese, W. J. (2001). The origins of progressive education. History of Education, 41(1), 1-24.
Russell, B. (2010, 1932). Education and the social order. New York: Routledge
Schiro, M. S. (2013). Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
Solomon Areaya. (2008). Policy formulation, curriculum development and implementation in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: The Book center (AAU).
Stanley, W. B. (1992). Curriculum for utopia: Social reconstructionism and critical pedagogy in the postmodern era. New York: SUNY Press.
Stanley, W. B. (2011). Curriculum theory and education for democracy. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 6 (1), 44-56.
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and practice. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Tekeste Negash. (2006). Education in Ethiopia: From crisis to the brink of collapse. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrika Institutet.
TGE-Transitional Government of Ethiopia (1994). Education and training policy. St. George Printing Press: Addis Ababa.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
