Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching(PGDT) Pre-service Teacher Development Policy Reform Initiative: Its Practices, Outcomes and Challenges in Bahr Dar University (BDU)

Post graduate Diploma in teaching (PGDT) is secondary education teacher training policy reform and program that has been designed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education (EMoE) in 2009 for delivering pedagogical, professional, foundational, behavioral and practicum courses in consecutive models. This study intended to investigate PGDT’s focus on why and how MoE adopted it, its practices, its outcomes and its challenges in Bahr Dar University (BDU). This study employed case study qualitative research design involving key informants from employers, teacher educators and student teachers, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), national policy documents, literature reviews and personal observations. The practice and outcome of PGDT policy reform and program failed in BDU or across Ethiopia, whereas the same initiative was successful when implemented in other countries. The major challenges for failure were teacher educators variable involving their attitude, commitment, competence; prospective student teachers variables comprising their attitude, commitment, intelligence; political, social and economic contexts including democratic work culture, budget availability, donor-driven initiative, social respect to teaching profession; institutional and MoE leaders variables like competence, commitment, knowledge of new initiative, leadership skill, and lack of genuine policy rhetoric and narratives. PGDT policy reform and program involves three teacher graduate values such as learner centeredness, teacher identity and serving the profession values together with skill and knowledge dimensions as outcomes. Rigorous interventions and adjustments in the abovementioned factors by teacher educators and MoE play a vital role in making PGDT policy or program effective and successful in BDU. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.