Gugssa, Mulugeta Awayehu

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

Unveiling in-service teachers' conceptions of 'environment' and 'environmental education': an Ethiopian perspective

By Gugssa, Mulugeta Awayehu

Underpinned by the premise that teachers' conceptions determine their lesson planning and instructional practices, the study elucidates the prevalent ideas of teachers about two basic constructs: environment and environmental education. The study applied a phenomenographic framework to identify patterns in the conceptions of 17 primary school teachers in Ethiopia. The analysis relating to conceptions of 'environment' distinguished three distinctive categories: (1) object-focused-environment as an isolated physical entity, (2) utility-based-environment as a resource for human benefit and well-being, and (3) interactional-environment as a web of relationships between humans and natural elements. Most teachers had an object-focused perspective. Teachers' ideas about 'environmental education' similarly generated three core categories: (1) knowledge acquisition-in the form of environmental information to be passed on to pupils, (2) utilization of resources-as a means to exploit natural resources, and (3) care for the environment-as a key means by which to educate citizens about desired pro-environmental behaviours. The knowledge-centred category was the most dominant conception. Finally, the authors found that teachers who viewed the environment through an object lens understood environmental education as knowledge-centred education. The implications of these findings in informing professional development activities and directions for further research are presented.

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The Implementation of Andragogy in the Adult Education Program in Ethiopia

By Desta, Samuel Zinabu

Although there are multiple studies about the application of andragogy in multiple disciplines, studies on the implementation of andragogy in basic adult education/literacy programs are too limited in the Ethiopian context. The overarching purpose of this study was to scrutinize the implementation of andragogy in the Integrated Functional Adult Education [IFAE] program in Ethiopia. A qualitative case study design was employed to guide this research. Through in-depth interviews and observations, the data were collected from purposively selected five facilitators and five learners. The findings of this research revealed that andragogy was not implemented satisfactorily as expected. The facilitators did not communicate the objectives of the session before each session and their effort in making adults self-directed learners is limited. The adult learners' experience is not considered as a resource in the facilitation process. The learning content is determined by curriculum developers, and the facilitators teach the learners as it appears in the textbook without contextualizing it with the adult learners' lives. The extrinsic motivational strategies are mostly employed to sustain adult learners in the IFAE program. The results of this study also revealed that the needs assessment of adult learners has never been done so far. The adult learners did not participate in the facilitation process. In general, the facilitation process seems dominated by prescriptions and pedagogy dependent, which is incongruent with andragogy.

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