Ethiopian Teacher Education Sytem: Barriers and Contradictions

Abstract

This research explores some contradictions, dilemmas, and chaos in Ethiopian teacher education. It illuminates how
state actors have been engrossed in and obsessed with the rhetoric of system overhaul and reform, and yet continues to signal
contradictory messages in their discourse and practices. The paper points up that three years after a comprehensive 'teacher
education system overhaul' was declared, the state 'change agents' themselves are not yet familiar with and conversant in the
metaphors and curricular concepts their overseer consultants had introduced to them. Indicators have been identified from what I
term 'formalistic' documents, school observations and the author's direct experiences that show schooling and teacher
preparation activities do not match in aims, practices, and conceptions. Rather, as the paper argues the mismatches and
disconnects seem to reflect the depth of the confusion and the superficiality of the engagement to change and improve teacher
education in Ethiopia. Finally, the paper puts forward the strong need for a revisit of the conceptual, discoursal, and practical
state-of-the-art.