Browsing by Author "Worku, Selemon"

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    Impact of curricular reforms in the vocational education of Ethiopia
    (2016) Worku, Selemon; Nickolaus, Reinhold (Prof. Dr. phil.)
    The impetus for this project was a pragmatic concern for the impact of Curricular Reforms (CRs) implemented in Ethiopia between 2001 and 2010. This study considers the two CRs conducted in Ethiopia. Firstly, the input-based curriculum reform (IBCR) was implemented between 2001 and 2005. Secondly, the outcome-based curriculum reform (OBCR) was implemented between 2006 and 2010. Different countries TVET benchmarks were adopted in Ethiopia since 1994. For example, mainly from Germany, Australia and the Philippines. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the CRs on the vocational education of Ethiopia. Specifically, it deals with the relevance of the reforms to the status of TVET graduates and thereby employer. Four specific objectives were designed, such as 1) to provide a comprehensive picture of the impact of TVET CRs implemented in Ethiopia from 2001 to 2010, 2) to investigate the factors that influence the effective implementation of TVET CRs conducted since 2001, 3) to evaluate the impact of the TVET CRs by comparing the current pictures with earlier pictures over the decade since 2001 and 4) to develop a decision support model of a TVET curricular reform process. To attain the objectives of the study, the following four parts were investigated. Firstly, curriculum reform from the perspectives of TVET instructors and principals was examined empirically. Here, mainly nine relevant issues regarding CR were considered. For example, a) curricular intervention factors, b) constituency participation in designing TVET curriculum, c) nature/extent of curriculum design, d), factors causing CR, e) internal factors influencing effective implementation of CRs f) external factors influencing effective implementation of CRs, g) impact indicators of CRs, h) graduate relevance, and i) employer relevance. Reliability of these nine scales was checked empirically before analysis. Secondly, the curriculum reform from the perspectives of TVET graduates was investigated. It considers issues, such as relevancy of skill training at colleges, relevance of apprenticeship/cooperative training in industries, relevance of competency in the workplace, competency assessment of TVET graduates, employment of TVET graduates, quality assurance, and income of TVET graduates. Thirdly, employer perspectives on curriculum reform was explored by considering issues, such as employer participations in TVET curriculum, apprenticeship/cooperative training, employer involvement in TVET, graduate employment, quality assurance, and employer relevance of CR. Fourthly, TVET officials’ perspectives on TVET curriculum was also evaluated by considering related issues on TVET curriculum reform. This study is an exploratory case study. The methodology requires the adoption of the two distinct stages within the study "exploration" and inspection" (Blumer, 1988). The exploration stage includes the data analysis based on the perspectives of TVET instructor and principals, TVET graduates and employers. The inspection stage considers the data analysis based on the data collected from the interview with the officials responsible for TVET curriculum. Generally, this study used mixed methods, the quantitative and the qualitative approaches. To investigate the conceptual variation, the analysis were conducted mainly based on three different comparatives. Firstly, between the IBCR and OBCR, secondly, between type of TVET institutions (public, private and NGO) and thirdly between TVET instructors and principals. Unintended comparative analysis also conducted for some items based on the characteristics of the respondents. Finally, the study considers two theoretical models. Firstly, the factors that influence CR, which outlines ten different factors (Gruba et al., 2004). Further, two additional factors were added that may exceptionally influence the CR in the Ethiopian context. Secondly, the factors influencing effective implementation of CR as internal and external factors (Bransch, 2005). Consequently, this study proved the two models empirically. In general, the analysis of these data led to generating the conclusion and recommendation for future study in the area of TVET CRs broadly.