Active learning in Ethiopia : implemented in and through colleges of teacher education

Active Learning in Ethiopia

Implemented in and through Colleges of Teacher Education

Suzanna van der Meer

August 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS ... 4

1. INTRODUCTION ... 5

1.1 Problem statement ... 5

1.2 Social and scientific relevance ... 5

1.3 Research questions ... 6

1.4 Thesis Outline ... 7

2.THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 8

2.1 Active Learning ... 8

2.2 Role of the teacher ... 9

2.3 Teacher education ...10

2.4 Teachers’ peer learning and shared ownership of educational change ...10

2.5 Implementing educational change: a conceptual framework ...12

3.CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND ... 15

3.1 Country profile...15

3.3 The Basic Education Quality Improvement Program/ BEQIP ...17

4.METHODOLOGY ... 18 4.1 Site description ...18 4.2 Sample ...19 4.3 Observations ...20 4.4 Interviews ...21 4.5 Focusgroup discussion ...21 4.6 Data analysis ...22

4.7 Limitations of the study ...22

4.8 Ethical considerations ...23

5. FINDINGS ... 24

5.1 Support from Outside Agencies ...24

5.1.5 Concluding findings for this construct ... 30

5.2. Profile of implementation ...30

5.2.7 Concluding findings for this construct ... 39

5.3 Capacity factors to support innovation ...40

5.3.5 Concluding findings for this construct ... 51

6. CONCLUSION ... 52 6.1 Main findings ...52 6.2 recommendations ...54 6.3 Future Research ...55 References ...57 Appendix I ...61

Interview Questions ... 61

Observation matrix adapted from BEQIp ... 63

Time on Task Form ... 64

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the many people who supported me in writing this thesis. First of all I want to thank the staff of the Ethiopian Development Expertise Center for hosting me and facilitating me in the field visits I had to make. I also thank DEC for connecting me with my research partner and translator, Tolasa Adugna, without whom my research would not have been possible. Moreover, I like to thank Aniley Amentie for his trust and for welcoming me into his organization. I thank, Gezahegn, Siyane and Telahoun and all other colleagues, for their guidance and for sharing their office, sharing lunch and coffees, and all other ingredients for great working days. I am grateful to Mitiku for his company and good sense of humor and for guiding me around in Addis Ababa.

I thank all those who have participated in this research: the teachers, students and deans at the Colleges of Teacher Education, and the officers of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education.

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Hülya Koşar Altinyelken for her valuable support and her boundless commitment to help me overcome challenges in the research and thesis writing process. Her constructive comments and suggestions were vital in writing this thesis. With her understanding of the difficulties in doing research in Sub-Saharan Africa, she helped me to accept unforeseen situations.

I am grateful to Edukans, especially to Hendrien Maat, for the confidence to assign this research to me. I also thank Hendrien for inspiring me with her ideas and suggestions throughout the work.

I thank my parents, brother and sister for their support, trust and interest in my research. My brother in particular for his help in preparing my trip to Ethiopia. I would like to express my deep appreciation to Jacob for patiently listening to my worries and stories and for always boosting my confidence.

I thank Destaw for living up to my persistent believe in the good heartedness of local people, letting me work in his student-room when my neighborhood was hit by electricity cuts.

Last but not least, I thank my friends and housemates for sending me to the university when needed and even more for kidnapping me away from there for the necessary swimming breaks. They miraculously managed to make the period of thesis writing a warm, unforgettable and joyful time.

LIST OF ACRONYMS

AL Active Learning

ALM Active Learning Methods

CTE College of Teacher Education

CPD Continuing Professional Development

EFA Education for All

DEC Development Expertise centre

ESDP Education Sector Development Program MoE Ministry of Education

NGO Non-governmental Organization

PLC Professional Learning Community PS Primary School

ZPD Zone of Proximal Development ZFI Zone of Feasible Innovation

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The 2013/2014 Monitoring Report of Education For All (EFA) highlights a worldwide learning crises, mainly concentrated in developing countries (UNESCO, 2014). This crisis does not concern school enrolment rates as such, it concerns poor learning outcomes of millions of children who are enrolled at school. Worldwide 130 million children who are in school are unable to read, write, or do basic mathematics (UNESCO, 2014). This urges the EFA global development framework to dedicate more attention to educational quality, next to their conventional focus on access to schooling (UNESCO, 2014, p.5). The recommendations of this report clearly target the training and commitment of teachers by stating that to end the learning crisis “all countries, rich or poor, have to make sure every child has access to a well-trained and motivated teacher” (EFA, 2014, p.304). As suggested in part 3 of the EFA report, under the header ‘Supporting teachers to end the learning crisis’, teachers are key actors to improve education quality and they have to be assisted herein. (EFA, 2014. pp. 49-52). In line with a vast body of literature (Dale, 1946;Vygotsky, 1978; Bransfort et al. 2000; Prince, 2004; Hattie, 2009) the EFA report recommends teachers to implement learner-centered pedagogy in which students actively construct knowledge through various activities and learning styles. If teachers activate students to involve in diverse learning activities in the classroom, children will learn and remember much more from the lesson (Hardman, 2009; Hattie, 2009; Dale, 1946). This is what the project under study, BEQIP, aims to achieve through improvements at Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs). The adaptation of new pedagogies within the nation’s educational system strongly depends on the interpretations, expectations and knowledge of both student and teacher at the Colleges of Teacher Education. As Cochran-Smith (2003, p.25) states: “If we are to have teachers who are change agents, we must also have teacher educators who are prepared to be the same”. Nevertheless, few prior studies on pedagogical change have focused on colleges of teacher education. This study focuses on the teaching and learning of prospective teachers at Ethiopian CTEs. Based on field work conducted at three CTEs in Ethiopia, this research studies the Basic Education Quality Improvement Program (BEQIP). BEQIP aims to capacitate CTE teachers and through them their students, to employ active learning methods.

1.2 SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE

Since the 1980's a worldwide rise of reforms oriented towards learner-centred education and active learning pedagogy has taken place. As opposed to teacher dominated education learner-centred education gives more control to the learners. Learner-centred education involves the students and teacher in collaborative interactions, whereby the learners’ personal interests, need and learning preferences are guiding (Sweisfurth, 2013, p.p. 10-12). Next to this cognitive narrative, which is mostly emphasized by donor agencies, Sweisfurth distinguishes a preparation narrative. In the preparation narrative learning is assumed to serve the development of skills that support the knowledge economy. This narrative provides a more critical view on the economic and political motive behind educational development aid. Likewise,

Altinyelken (2010b, p.11) argues that the worldwide rise of neoliberalism evoked a more instrumental paradigm in educational change initiatives. Consequently, policy makers in many countries influenced by the global economy discourse now define education in terms of investment in ‘human capital’ (Altinyelken, 2010b, p.11). Casale (2010), describes active-learning as a donor-driven pedagogical method in international educational development. She maintains that “Active learning is commonly externally transferred to developing countries with little follow-up on whether and how it is adapted in the local context” (p.27). Some critics see this as a form of modern imperialism or neo-colonialism, for these types of pedagogy reflect western liberal ideals (Allais, 2012; Schweisfurth, 2013). Yet, Casale (2010)underlines that active learning is not imposed in a prefixed form, rather adapted to fit the local context resulting in e.g. 'Ethiopianized active-learning'.

Numerous researches have presented the challenges of implementing active-learning and child-centered pedagogy at primary schools in developing countries (e.g. Akyeampong et.al., 2013; Altinyelken, 2010; Sriprakash, 2010; Serbessa, 2006). Few have focused on the Colleges of Teacher Education (CTE's) which are crucial sites for the development of prospective teachers’ skills, knowledge and attitudes. In Ethiopia diverging pedagogies are promoted mostly since the 1994’s Educational Sector Strategy policy of the Ministry of Education. To enable teachers to use various pedagogies, instead of the teacher-dominated approach, the ministry identified teacher education as a target for improvement (MoE, 1994). The success of pedagogical reforms strongly depends on the willingness and ability of teachers to change their everyday pedagogical practices. According to Pontefract and Hardman (2005, p. 102): “Although teacher training colleges might advocate child-centred approaches, they are unlikely to be practiced or are little understood. Once in the classroom teachers will teach as they were taught themselves”. Others studies in Ethiopia have pointed out the importance of students’ attitudes to new pedagogies (Hout, 2013; Casale, 2010). Findings from Van Hout (2013) reveal that many CTE teachers in Ethiopia have the impression that their students prefer traditional learning styles rather than forms of active-learning. Likewise, Casale (2010) identified the attitude of CTE students and lack of receptiveness for active learning as reoccurring challenge to the introduction of active learning in Ethiopia.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Since two decades various effort are made to introduce ‘Active Learning’ in the Ethiopian education system. This research study is on one of those efforts, being the Basic Education Quality Improvement Program, BEQIP, and its effects in three Colleges of Teacher Education. Colleges of Teacher Education in three different regions of Ethiopia are visited, which all take part in the Basic Education Quality Improvement Program. To get insight in its implementation, lessons were observed and interviews were conducted with students, teachers and deans of these colleges. To understand the broader context of educational change in Ethiopia, interviews were taken at the Ministry of Education and desk research was conducted.

The main question in this study is:

How do teachers and students understand and implement active learning pedagogy at Colleges of Teacher Education in Ethiopia, and what are the perceived outcomes of this pedagogy?

This research question will be addressed in the following sub-questions:

1. How is active learning introduced to CTEs in Ethiopia and how does the cascade-model function to spread this pedagogy?

2. How is active learning understood by teachers and students in the CTEs and what outcomes do they perceive form it?

3. How is active learning implemented by teachers and students in the CTEs?

1.4 THESIS OUTLINE

This thesis contains six chapters. Following this introductory chapter, the contextual background will be elaborated in chapter two. The third chapter provides the theoretical and conceptual foundations for this study and consequently introducing the guiding constructs: Support from Outside Agencies, Profile of Implementation, and Capacity Factors. Hereafter the methodology employed throughout the research will be explained in chapter four. The resulting findings are mapped out in chapter five, ordered according to the three guiding constructs of the conceptual frame as introduced in chapter three. Finally in the sixth chapter the research questions are answered, recommendations for policy and practice are proposed, and further research is suggested.

2.THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 ACTIVE LEARNING

In the past two decades worldwide efforts to improve educational quality encompassed adoption of ‘progressive pedagogies’ based on the rhetoric of constructivism (Altinyelken, 2010b) In line with constructivist ideas, these pedagogies stimulate students’ active involvement in learning. The program under study aims to do so by promoting and introducing Active Learning in colleges of teacher education (CTEs).

Active learning however is a very broad term. Depending on the theoretical scope it might concern the cognitive style of individual learners, the classroom environment as well as the teaching methodologies and learning aids, which are all relevant for this study. Approaches including child centred education, students centred education, cooperative learning, child centred pedagogy and active learning often have major overlap, but are not exactly the same (some are more specified, other more all-encompassing) (Keyser, 2000; Van Harmelen, 1998). Cooperative learning for example does not by itself contain all aspects of active-learning. As Keyser (2000) explains, cooperative learning is an approach which structures students into groups with defined roles for each student and a task for the group to accomplish. This is one of many methods of active learning (Keyser, 2000). Keyser defines active learning to encompass any teaching method that gets students actively involved.

Van Harmelen (1998) recognizes the overlap of the concepts child-centred and learner-centred, as they are both alternative to rote learning and transmission educational models. Both concepts attribute to active learning. Literature on both concepts mostly refers to the founding fathers of constructivism, Piaget, Dewey and Vygotsky. However they differ in the sense that child centred education is essentially linked to a particular perception of childhood, whereas learner centered education is concerned with how learning occurs and knowledge is acquired by all learners (Harmelen, 1998 p.1). In the program under study the childhood paradigm is relevant, since it concerns training prospective primary-school teachers on how to approach their future students (children). Whereas they themselves are to be approached as adult learners. So even if their CTE teachers perfectly employ appropriate active learning methods for the college curriculum, these cannot be copied straightaway to the primary schools.

In the description of the program under study, BEQIP, various elements determine active learning. These elements will be taken together for composing the definition of active learning used throughout this paper: Various learning styles, Higher-order thinking, Constructivist learning, Cooperative learning (Maat, 2014; Klarenbeek, Maat & Verboom, 2012).

With regard to Various learning styles Maat (2014, p.8) further elaborates -since each person learns differently- a good teacher should address all of the following learning styles:

o Watching pictures, demonstration, graphs o Listening story, discussion, lecture

o Doing field work, drawing, moving

Higher order thinking is another element that is defined in BEQIP to be important for students’ learning. Referring to Prince (2004) higher order thinking is attributed to 'active learning' as a process whereby students practice activities such as reading, writing, discussions, or problem-solving that promotes analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the class content (Maat, 2014).

Furthermore the definition of 'active learning' used in this paper is founded on constructivist ideas of Dewey (1938) and Vygotsky (1978). From their ideas Chisholm & Leyendecker (2008) abstracted the following main features:

• Knowledge is not transmitted, it is constructed in the mind of the learner. Learning is a mentally active process, and learning results from personal interpretation of knowledge;

• Learning is a process in which meaning is developed on the basis of prior knowledge and experiences. Prior knowledge and experiences are determined by culture and social context;

• Language influences culture and thinking, and is central to learning and the development of higher cognitive processes. (Chisholm & Leyendecker, 2008, p.197)

Cooperative learning, as a structured form of group work where students pursue common goals with a focus on cooperative incentives rather than competition to promote learning (Prince, 2004, p. 223), is one -but not the only- way to empower above mentioned features.

2.2 ROLE OF THE TEACHER

A prevalent misconception concerning learner-centred education is that teachers do less work than learners (Van Harmelen,1998). Opposing this, Van Harmelen underlines that learner-centred education requires a great deal more effort from the teacher compared to conventional teaching. She compares the social constructivist teacher to the leader of a choir who both ensures the harmony of the many voices and arranges the musical scores (p.7). Similarly, Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) argue this new pedagogy to have three major implications for teaching and teacher preparation, teachers must: 1. draw out and work with the pre-existing understandings that their students bring with them, 2. Teach some subject matter in depth –providing many examples for the same concept- and provide a firm foundation of factual knowledge, 3. Integrate the teaching of meta-cognitive skills into the curriculum in various subject areas (pp.19-21). Accordingly, Hattie (2009) critically reflects on the often heard dichotomy of 'teacher-centred' versus 'students -centred' approaches. He combines rather than contrasts teacher-centred teaching and student-centered learning. He criticizes the often portrayed dichotomy which considers direct 'teacher-centred' teaching as bad and constructivist teaching as good (Hattie, 2009).

2.3 TEACHER EDUCATION

Several authors emphasize teacher education to be a key factor in promoting a new pedagogy, e.g. active learning (Niemi, 2002; Smith & Girod, 2003; Fullan 1991). According to Smith and Girod (2003) teachers are to bridge the gap between the unique sets of interests of children and the factual knowledge of the curriculum*. This can be done by active learning methods, triggering the child’s involvement and engagement. Smith & Girod (2003, p.305) state that pre-service teacher education is the key to enable teachers with the skills needed to engage and attract children in learning experiences. For CTE students, as well as for other students, school experiences influence their attitudes towards education (Elffers et.al. 2012). Implementation of active learning creates new demands on teacher education, for the teacher’s role and position will change toward being a tutor (Niemi, 2002, p.765). Teachers are not expected to effectuate this change alone, rather with support of networks and co-operative projects. This is required for the cultural change in teacher education needed to evoke active learning (Niemi, 2002).

Another supportive feature for teacher education as a place to implementing new pedagogy has to do with the students as prospective teachers. Smith & Girod (2003) argue that they would need less convincing than the in-service teachers to change their teaching methods. Prospective teachers generally accept that they are still in the process of mastering these competences, while in-service teachers might experience this as ‘going-back’ to that phase.

2.4 TEACHERS’ PEER LEARNING AND SHARED OWNERSHIP OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE

Teachers’ peer learning is a crucial element of the educational change programme in this study. This is not a process that can be simply turned on, it requires a suitable organisational environment. Literature on Professional Learning Community (PLCs) and Collaborative Learning elaborately explicate ways to enable such learning processes. According to Rogan and Grayson (2005) The context of a developing county brings along extra challenges.

In many developing countries, teachers have neither the experience nor the expectation of collaborating with their peers. On the contrary, they may shun peer collaboration for fear of exposing their areas of weakness (Rogan & Grayson 2005).

Whereas, Fullan (1992) argues, to enable change, peer learning works effectively for it combines pressure and support in a kind of seamless way. To overcome resistance and meanwhile limit the waste of resources, both pressure and support are required in change processes (pp. 91).

Furthermore, theories on professional learning communities can be looked into if it comes to peer-learning among in-service teachers. The research report “Creating and Sustaining Effective Professional Learning Communities” by Stoll et. al. (2006) explains the outcomes, characteristics and processes that serve and are served by professional learning communities (PLCs). Effective professional learning communities in schools

could result in outcomes regarding: professional learning, pupil learning, and shared understanding of the PLC (Stoll et. al., 2006).

Abundant processes of collaborative learning are required both to maintain and to serve professional learning communities. Castelijns, Vermeulen and Kools (2013), drawing on a vast body of literate of collaborative learning, compose a spiral model for collective learning. The model consists of six phases, after which new ambitions are defined and a new cycle starts. The first phase is to define an ambition. A collective ambition can derive from various starting points and serves to trigger community members to collaboratively develop. Secondly information, relevant to the collective ambition, has to be collected. In this phase data collection within the community’s context is essential and is escorted by consultation of experts, research and literature. Thirdly, the information has to be interpreted, cultivating an ongoing dialogue among colleagues within and outside the school. In the fourth phase community members have to decide upon consequences of this interpreted information pursuing actions in their daily practices. Action is the fifth phase and has to go hand in hand with monitoring. Sixth phase entails the evaluation of the process and outcomes of this serve as input for a new cycle (Castelijns et al., 2013).

Role of school ethos and ownership for educational change

Even though it is an ill-defined concept, ‘school ethos’ plays a crucial role in enhancing peer-learning and advancement of a professional learning community. Manchester and Bragg (2013) associate ethos with concepts such as “climate” or “culture”, they argue for viewing school ethos in dynamical terms interacting with wider society. Furthermore they propose to conceive school ethos as continually negotiated, emerging from every day, shared processes of relationships and interactions and from material and social aspects of the environment. Leithwood et al. (2007) reviewing the school improvement literature finds various arguments for the importance of teacher involvement in decision-making, teachers’ strong collegial relationships and the relationships they maintain with their principals, to enforce school improvement and change. However, even when distributed leadership is present, change cannot be effectuated through trust and cohesion alone (Leithwood et al., 2007). Leithwood et al. emphasize that organizational change requires coordination and capacity building with those who have the work experience and those in formal leadership positions. Since the 1980s ‘school ethos’ has been identified by policymakers and in particular by the School Effectiveness and School Improvement movement as a capacity factor for organizational success (Manchester and Bragg, 2013). Despite the variety in definitions of School ethos, they mostly all are composed of aspects of the school environment (materialist and non-material) and relationships between those within it (Manchester and Bragg, 2013). In the Oxford dictionary ethos is defined as The characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its attitudes and aspirations.

School ethos is also considered to be of influence on the students within schools (here CTE students). McLaughlin (2005) draws attention to the idea of school ethos as a subject/resource for learning in the sense that offers important lessons for young people about citizenship. The way the school is organized and run gives influences how they perceive the wider society and their potential role in it.

The above conceptualized theories contribute to on ‘collaborative learning’, accompanied with the concepts ‘ownership’ and ‘school ethos’ turned out to be highly relevant to investigate the Basic Education Quality Improvement Program, BEQIP. External and internal facilitators can influence the school staff’s capacity to develop and sustain effective PLCs taking into account the characteristics of an effective professional learning community Stoll et. al. (2006) :

1. Shared values and vision about pupil learning and leadership 2. Collective responsibility for pupil learning

3. Collaboration focused on learning

4. Professional learning: individual and collective 5. Reflective professional enquiry

6. Openness, networks and partnerships 7. Inclusive membership

8. Mutual trust, respect and support (Stoll et.al., 2006)

Implicitly 'Shared Understanding' is mentioned both as an outcome as well as a characteristic, but no standard procedure is mapped to reach this. Efforts from inside as well as outside agencies to effectuate change in Ethiopian Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) will be evaluated with the conceptual frame introduced hereafter. Hereby keeping in mind the above mentioned potentially supporting characteristics. Ideally ownership of organizational change would be evoked by a positive school ethos and collaborative learning. Fullan (1992, p.92) explains ownership in terms of understanding and being skilled to accomplish change. He states it to be not purely a matter of being in favor of a particular change. True ownership is rather and outcome of a successful change process than something acquired beforehand (Fullan, 1992).

2.5 IMPLEMENTING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In the program under study, the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of educational change are named, being: active learning through the colleges of teachers education in Ethiopia. Now it is time to look at ‘how’ such a change can be implemented and to assess the efforts taken so far. As the former chapters show, several authors mapped out factors, elements, constructs and processes to be taken into account while studying the implementation of educational change.

Fullan 1991 categorized critical factors affecting implementation in 3 main groups. (1) the characteristics of the innovation or change project, containing: need, clarity, complexity and quality/practicality. (2) Local roles and characteristics, containing: district, community, principal and teacher. And (3) External factors, being government and other external agencies (Fullan, 1991). These all will be dealt with in the conceptual framework chosen for this study, ordered differently though. Next to these factors Fullan underlines the importance of how stakeholders perceive the need and progress of this specific educational change. While implementing, they must be convinced of the significance of the needs addressed (as compared to other improvement needs). Meanwhile those involved have to experience

some tangible success towards meeting these needs (Fullan, 1991). For investigating change implementation as a process throughout ‘time’, Fullan’s schematic framework is not ideal. Rogan and Grayson (2003) offer a conceptual framework which has quite some overlap with Fullan’s theory, however they approach ‘profile of implementation’ as a construct to be seen over time and herein pointing at the ‘presence of the next steps’ as a key feature of the process of implementation. Rogan and Grayson (2003) made six propositions -with regard specifically to the theory of curriculum implementation- relevant to change of teaching and learning. These are:

1. Innovation should be just ahead of existing practice. Implementation should occur in manageable steps

2. Capacity to support innovation should be concurrent with efforts to enrich the profile of implementation.

3. Outside support should be informed by the other two constructs, matching outside support with capacity, and capacity with desired implementation

4. All role players need to re conceptualize the intended changes in their own terms and context. 5. Changing teaching and learning is a change of culture not a technical matter.

6. There should be alignment between the three constructs and the primary level (e.g. the learning experience). (Rogan & Grayson, 2003, pp. 1195-1201)

Moreover, they sketch a theory of implementation serving as a guide for school-based practitioners, policy-makers and other change actors (Rogan & Grayson, 2003). The theory builds upon three constructs, Support of Outside Agencies, Profile of Implementation, and Capacity Factors.

Support of Outside Agencies includes both physical and non-physical assistance provided by outside agencies which can be any organization outside of the school e.g. government departments of education and as well as non-governmental organizations, community based organizations and foreign aid agencies. These agencies highly vary in the extent to which they can apply pressure on a school. The governmental agencies have legal ground, while other organizations have to gain legitimacy in exchange for the assistance/incentives. As to Fullan (1992, P.91) both pressure and support are important to implement change without resistance while neither wasting resources.

Profile of Implementation should serve to understand to what extend initial ideas of a given proposal, are put into practice. (Rogan & Grayson, 2003). This construct requires at least the vague definition of what constitutes ‘good practices’. It should be identifiable what these look like in the classroom. The nature of change should not be perceived in terms of ‘all-or-nothing’, rather as an unpredictable long-term process characterized by the ‘presence of the next steps’ (Rogan & Grayson, 2003 p.1181).

The third construct in the framework, Capacity Factors, refers to the capacity within the schools to support or hinder the implementation of new ideas. This includes both physical and non-physical capacity. As Rogan and Grayson argue the use of physical resources requires extra attention for the context of developing

countries where scarcity is a prevalent restriction. Consequently, policy-makers should focus even more on 'how' change is to be effectuated, instead of purely focusing on ‘what’. Previously the translation from ‘what’ to ‘how’ has received insufficient attention in change implementation. Programs are launched as soon as a desired educational change is agreed upon (Rogan & Grayson, 2003). For the context of Ethiopia availability of resources should be considered in the implementation of change programs as well as in the preparation of primary school teachers. Nevertheless, the importance of non-physical capacity is not to be underestimated. Non-physical capacity factors concern e.g. school ethos, management-, teacher-, and student- factors (Rogan & Grayson, 2003). For the study at hand the framework of Rogan & Grayson is adjusted and relevant elements are attributed to each construct:

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework adapted from Rogan & Grayson (2003)

3.CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

3.1 COUNTRY PROFILE

This section provides background information of the country under study. It serves to better understand the current setting of Ethiopia where enrolment rates increased tremendously while quality still lacks behind.

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in sub-Saharan Africa bordering: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Since the independence of Eritrea in 1993 it is no longer connected to the Red-Sea and became the most densely populated land-locked country of Africa (CIA factbook, 2014). Aside from Liberia, Ethiopia is the only African nation to have maintained freedom from colonial rule. The nation’s sovereignty under the power of Emperor Haile Selassie, from 1930 to 1974, was shortly interrupted by the Italian invasion from 1936 to 1941 (Spencer, 2006). Mostly all Ethiopians are religious, 43.5% is Ethiopian Orthodox, 33.9% Muslim, 18.6% Protestant, Catholic 0.7% (CIA factbook, 2014). Adherence to traditional religions (e.g. the Oromo animist religion Waaqeffattaa) decreased to 2.6% of the population, these religions have been either downplayed by Christian missionaries or banned by central government policy, throughout the 20th

century (IRFR 2012, International Report on Religious Freedom).

Ethiopia is ranked 174 out of 187 countries in the UNDP’s Human Development report of 2011 (UNDP,2011). Nearly one third of all Ethiopian children under 5years old are underweighted (CIA factbook, 2014). Agriculture serves for 80 percent of the total employment in the country and contributes 45% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The country has a population of over 96,6 million people and an annual population growth of over 2.9%. As figure 1 shows, over half of the population is younger than 18 and about one third is of primary school age (CIA factbook, 2014). This puts high demands on the country’s education system. According to the latest Education For All (EFA) report Ethiopia made

great progress in getting children into school on time, by increasing the rate from 23% in 1999 to 94% in 2011 (EFA, 2014, p.3). The Primary school Gross enrolment ratio in 2012 was even 108%, due to the inclusion of

.

Figure 2 Population pyramid Ethiopia (source: CIA Factbook, 2014)

student older or younger than the primary-school-age (early or late school entrance and grade repetition) (Worldbank, 2014). The quality of education did not by far grow along with the enrolment. Parallel to the increased enrolment rate quality of education decreased due to large number of students in classes and employment of teachers which were not adequately trained. Government expenditure per student in primary education has increased from 15.9%* in 2008 up to 17.8%* in 2010 (* % of GDP per capita) (Worldbank, 2014). Concerning education, the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) under the header Social Objectives article 90, states the following:

1. To the extent the country’s resources permit, policies shall aim to provide all Ethiopians access to public health and education, clean water, housing, food and social security.

2. Education shall be provided in a manner that is free from any religious influence, political partisanship or cultural prejudices.

Before Haile Selassie came into power, the Ethiopian education system was highly influenced by Ethiopian Orthodox religion, evoking strict spiritual discipline and little or no interest in the material order (Girma, 2012, pp. 117-118). Emperor Haile Selassie abandoned this legend from the education system, because he believed it was constraining Ethiopia in competing in a global stage. Where the traditional legend, ‘disowning’ the souls from ‘this world’, was encouraging people to beg rather than to work, Selassie started establishing more applied education institutes in the fields of agriculture, laboratory sciences and teacher training. This is how Ethiopia started to join the twentieth century global chorus of modernization Grima, 2012, p.118) Hereafter, the Dergue regime came into power and continued banning the traditional legend of ‘divine wisdom’ to make space for ‘science’ and ‘reason’. With these bans, social skills entangled with the traditional beliefs dissevered from the education. According to Grima (2012), the Dergue did not take into consideration that “science and reason require freedom to think, create and express” (Grima, 2012, p.118). It was only since the Educational Sector Strategy of the Ministry of Education in 1994 that such skills were given attention from the policy level and the shift to diverge from teacher dominated practices started. By then, initiative to restructure the education system were supported and driven by international aid (Casale, 2010, p.6).

The restructuring of the education system, resulting from 1994’s Educational Sector Strategy policy, involved efforts to increase bot the supply and the quality of teachers. This policy, financially and technologically supported by donor governments, aims to increase teacher quality through certification and expansion of teacher education institutes. A main element of upgrading the quality, was to introduce diversifying pedagogical practices (Casale, 2010). This was to initiate a shift in pedagogy, from teacher-dominated to students' active involvement in the learning process (Casale, 2010, p.6). Even though great improvements have been made in teacher education the last two decade, the teaching profession is not valued very high nowadays. Entrance criteria for colleges of teacher education are lower than those for other colleges or tertiary education institutes in Ethiopia. Various students mentioned that they were enrolled in these colleges because they did not score well on their final exam. In the past one could become

a primary school teacher after graduating from a 1 year training in a Teacher Training Centre, whereas currently a three year training in a College of Teachers Education is required. This extension enables the students for more in-depth development of teaching skills, knowledge and attitude. As will be elaborated in the section ‘support for outside agencies’ the government as well as NGOs are targeting CTEs for improvement of educational quality.

The Ministry of Education’s Higher Diploma Program

Apart from the ‘active learning’ program provided by the local NGO, ‘active learning’ is also one of the core-topics in the Higher Diploma Program (HDP). HDP is an initiative of the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia to enhance the professional development of all CTE teachers nationwide. For the research at hand a brief look into that program was inevitable, since HDP kept coming up when CTE teachers were interviewed about active learning.

The Ministry of Education developed HDP in line with the needs identified in a study (Livingstone et al, 2000) into the quality and effectiveness of teacher education in Ethiopia (Ministry of Education Higher Diploma Program team, 2011). Starting from 2003 HDP is a compulsory qualification for all teacher educators in the 21 teacher education institutions of Ethiopia (Ministry of Education Higher Diploma Program team, 2011). The vast majority of CTE teachers in this research did indeed take HDP. It is a yearly program with 30 weeks of 2x 2 hour-sessions. It includes a number of modules, namely Module 1 – Reflective Teacher Educator (30 hours), Module 2 – Managing Learning (60 hours), Module 3 – Action Research (30 hours), and Module 4 – School/Organization placement (12 hours). Active Learning is a core element of module 2.

According to the officers at the ministry of education active learning is already an important topic for over 20 years. Before the current government took the power, an extensive study was conducted by the military government (junta) which concluded the need to adapt the education in such a way that it would involve the learners more actively. Notwithstanding this long period during which the active learning is promoted at the policy-level, it is still not completely embedded in practice.

3.3 THE BASIC EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM/ BEQIP

The Basic education Quality Improvement Program (BEQIP) is initiated by the Dutch NGO Edukans in cooperation with the Ethiopian Development Expertise centre (D.E.C.) and the Graduate School for Teaching and Learning of the University of Amsterdam. Aim of the program is to improve educational quality through training in 'active learning' pedagogy at three colleges of teacher education (CTE's) and thereby contributing to solve the learning crisis in Ethiopia. As defined in the program documents active learning involves three major components: adherence to constructivist ideals, evoking higher order thinking and using various learning styles: auditory, kinesthetic and visual (Maat, 2014). The BEQIP program is described in more detail in Chapter 5 ‘Support from Outside Agency’.

4.METHODOLOGY

Data was gathered in fieldwork between February and April 2014 in Ethiopia. Subject of study is the implementation and understanding of active learning in three Ethiopian CTE's, as resulting –partly- from efforts of BEQIP. The approach of this study is both descriptive and exploratory. The methods used to collect data are: interviews, observations, field-notes, and document analyses.

4.1 SITE DESCRIPTION

The college A, B and C are located in three different regions of Ethiopia. College A is situated in the North-North East region, called Afar. College B is situated in the Mid-North-North of Ethiopia in the Amhara region. College C is in the Mid-Ethiopian Oromiya region, somewhat south of the capital city Addis Ababa.

. The colleges differ not only in geographic position, also in size, language, year of establishment and other context features. College A is the smallest college in numbers of students and teachers. The local language is Afar, but the teaching materials in the college are in English and in class the English language is used. The climate in this region is desert like which has its influence on the livelihood of its population. This area is known for the pastoralists, moving around with their camels passing the places where nature is most hospitable to them. The enrolment rate of their children in formal education is minimal, but they might teach their children what is relevant for making a living in their way.

Figure 3 Map of Ethiopian regions (source: Springtime of Nations Blogspot, 2014)

College B is the newest college of the three visited, established in 2008. Many of the interviewed teachers witnessed the establishment and have been working in this college ever since. The official language in this college is Amharic, which is also the dominant local language in this area. It is surrounded mainly by rural land, but at walking distance from a small city and within three hours drive from a big city and from Lake Tana.

College C is the oldest and most well-known / high-status of the three. The local language of the region, Afaan Oromo is used in the college. According to the Ethiopian ‘Atlas of Welfare Indicators’ this zone has a significantly higher primary school enrolment rate, more than 65%, compared to less than 45% in the zones of the other CTEs in this study (CSA, 2014). This college is in one of the bigger cities of Ethiopia which has a university and a hospital.

4.2 SAMPLE

The colleges of teacher education under study are selected because these three colleges participate in BEQIP. Within these colleges interviews were taken with a diverse range of teachers and students. At every college the dean was interviewed as well.

College A B C Total Teacher interviews 4 4 male, 0 female 7 6 male, 1 female 7 7 male, 0 female 18

Teacher focus group discussion 1 1 focus group

Student interviews 3 3 male, 0 female 4 2male, 2 female 7 3 male, 4 female 14

Student focus group discussion 1 1 focus group

Classroom observations 0 5 10 15

Interviews management 1 1 1 3

Before going to the first college, college B, we discussed at DEC which teachers were to be selected for our interviews and the idea was that they would be informed on this before our arrival. For some -yet unknown- reason, this did not happen. The dean was informed about our visit just one day before we arrived, leave alone that he could inform teachers before. This implied that we had to be more flexible with our selection criteria, since there was just a limited number of teachers present. In selecting interviewees, we managed to apply purposeful sampling, including “information rich” participants (Patton, 1990). Since the results from the BEQIP program are in the scope of this study, teachers who participate in BEQIP, commonly called ‘key-teachers’, are “information rich”. As intended though, half of the interviewees were non-key teachers, they function both as control group and to inform about peer-learning by which key-teachers are supposed to share the BEQIP training outcomes. Since there are so few key-tutors, they will all be included in the sample, for they are expected to be most informed and experienced with 'active learning'. Among the non-key teachers I was aiming for a maximal variation sample(Creswell, 2012). However, especially regarding gender and age this was impossible, for 95% of the CTE teachers are middle aged men. Eventually only 1 of the 18 interviewed teachers was female, which is proportional to the misbalanced gender distribution found among CTE teachers. At the Ministry of Education, two officers were interviewed. Both were senior experts in ‘teacher professional development’ and ‘curriculum development’. They were found simply by entering the building of the Ministry of Education, explaining my research and asking around for knowledgeable interviewees.

4.3 OBSERVATIONS

Conducting observations is a means to collect first hand open-ended information from the research site (Creswell, 2012). In total 15 classroom observations were conducted. The BEQIP observation-matrix was used to observe the activities of the students and teachers (Appendix II).

As planned, half of the classes observed were classes of key-teachers. This was aimed for because the transfer of the active learning pedagogy is assumed to specifically take place in those classes. The observations of other classes served to get an impression of the commonly used didactic approaches in the institutes as well as the involvement of students in these. I took the role of a non-participant observer and tried to stay at peripheral places in the classrooms. I recorded what I observed about the phenomena of study, 'active-learning' pedagogy, by using the observation-matrix as check-list. Teacher activities were reported with regard to e.g. teaching methods, encouragement of learners, planning and classroom management. In observing students activities, factors looked at included: variety of learning activities, use of educational resources and participation in group work. The BEQIP observation package included a time-on-task form. This form was used in observing randomly selected individual students during a lesson, a each student was observed for 2 minutes with time intervals of 20 seconds. Their activities could fall in the following categories: off task activity, passive participation and active learning. Passive participation contained the subcategories: listening/observing teacher, listening/observing students, copying notes, and other passive activities. Active learning contained the subcategories: reading text/workbook, writing,

answering/explaining, discussion and exchange, and other active learning. Any additional remarks were noted down as field-notes.

4.4 INTERVIEWS

Interviews were conducted with 18 teachers at the three Colleges of Teacher Education. The interviews provide insights in the practices, interpretations and challenges of the teachers as it comes to the pedagogies they use. The interviews were semi-structured in order to get comparable data from every participant, while providing space for specific personal remarks as well. See 'Appendix I' for the interview questions. In total 14 students were interviewed. In college A student were on strike which made it hard to reach them since they did not come to the college. Eventually we approached them via the dean who gave us the phone number of one of them and we managed to interview this student and two of his friends. In college B there were only first year students present for revision lessons, so we did not gather data from the second and third year students of this college. The interviews provided insights in the practices, interpretations and challenges of student teachers as it comes to pedagogy. Among the students there are no key- / non-key students. Students were selected using maximum variation sample with regard to gender, roughly half of the interviewed students were male, half of them female. Variation was also met in the stream in which they study, e.g. language, natural sciences, civics and ethical education, mathematics, biology. See 'Appendix I' for the interview questions. Moreover, the deans of all CTEs were interviewed to get insight in how they see the developments at their college, where they see the responsibilities and their role in implementing active-learning strategies.

4.5 FOCUSGROUP DISCUSSION

Discussion with focus groups were organized in college B and in college C. In college B it concerned a focus group of students who gave their opinion on challenges and practices of active learning in their college and on their own plans to apply active learning in their future as primary school teacher. It gave additional insights in the group dynamic among the students. It created space for the students to react on each other’s’ statements. In college C the focus group consisted of teachers and management including the vice dean, Main focus was on the peer-learning in the CTE and the transfer to primary schools. Conducting this discussion created space and inducement to share ideas with each other. Both focus group discussions were not organized beforehand, rather created at the spot, partly due to difficulties in communication and planning. However this made the discussions very lively and informative. The focus group of students involved 7 students. Dozens of interested students gathered around the group to watch. We allowed them all to stay around, but asked them to be quite for the voice-recorder and so they were. Three female students participated, one of them needed to be encouraged to speak for she was quite shy. In contrast, one boy was a bit dominant, he was leader of a 5-1 group and stated that he would never give up this position. The focus group of teachers included 4 teaches and the vice dean. One of the participant was a key-teacher, he made clear comments on the program. A younger non-key teacher, also posed his critical

opinion, mainly regarding the lack of follow-up of several professional development programs. The power in the focus group seemed to be equally distributed.

4.6 DATA ANALYSIS

The texts of the interviews was coded using Atlas.ti, addressing themes including: peer-learning, active learning practices, beliefs about active learning, attitude, commitment, mutual trust, transfer to primary schools. Some very resourceful codes used were: prior experience with AL, understanding of AL, benefits of AL, teachers’ peer learning, progress in implementation, students commenting AL practices of teachers, role of management CTE, challenge to implement AL, transfer to primary schools, group formation, methodology vs. content knowledge in CTE courses. The findings from the interviews are compared to what was observed in the classroom-observations. The program requires peer-learning and social interactions between and among teachers and students. Therefore extra attention was devoted to study opinions, attitudes and trust within and among these groups of stakeholders and towards/from the management. Moreover, data on teaching and learning activities collected during the observations, was schematically organized and correlation was sought between students involvement (as ticket on the time-on-task form) and the activities of students and teachers (as reported in the matrix). However, analysis was not restricted to this, some influential factors were noted down separately in more detail. Finally, main findings were structured into a text with help of the implementation theory proposed by Rogan and Grayson (2003). Their theory entails the constructs 'Profile of implementation', 'Capacity to support innovation', and 'Support from outside agencies'. 'Profile of implementation' encompasses findings from document analysis, practices observed in classroom-observations, and interpretations described in interviews. The 'Capacity to support innovation' is described using the findings of the interviews and classroom-observations. The initiatives of this program originates outside the CTE's. Therefore, analysis of project documents of BEQIP and interactions initiated by BEQIP are placed in the construct 'Support from outside agencies'.

4.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

To collect representative data, distraction of the everyday reality by the researcher should be limited to the minimum. However as a white researcher in Ethiopia, there was no way to enter classrooms unnoticed. Moreover, at the colleges I was accompanied by focal persons most of the time, leading me to classes and asking teachers whether we could enter. For this had turned out to be impossible to arrange beforehand, it had to be arranged at the spot. Communication between him and the teachers was in the local language and teachers would give certain arguments why I should not come to their class, which I could not appease. Many seemed to have the idea that I came to judge them. This might have biased my findings. Fortunately, from a certain point onwards I convinced my focal persons to tell the teachers I did not come to judge, instead to observe without any personal consequences for them.

Another major problem concerned communication and planning. Even the local NGO (DEC) that I was working with had difficulties finding out the schedule of the three CTEs. This resulted in an inadequate

planning of the visits. One of the CTEs, college B, did only have revision lessons in that period of our stay and only for the first year students. Transportation was not always easy either, it was time consuming, so did not leave much space to adjust the planning of our visits or extend them. Classroom observation could only be conducted in two of the three colleges and only in one of them regular classes could be observed, the other college was in the revision period.

One difficulty in analyzing the findings was that the government simultaneously runs a program to enhance active learning in the CTEs, the so called the Higher Diploma Program (HDP). It was difficult to distinguish whether and to what extend practices and improvements can be attributed to BEQIP or to HDP. Furthermore it was inconvenient to compare the implementation at the three CTEs since only in college C we observed regular lessons.

4.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

For the sake of confidentiality the names of the colleges and teachers are changed into codes. Throughout the paper reference will be made to college A, B and C. Codes for teachers will start with a ‘T’ followed by A, B or C, indicating from which college they are, and a number so that they can be traced back in a table which contains more details about them - not their names-. Student codes start with ‘S’ and are composed similarly. Of course, recording of the interviews was done with the consent of the participants and was paused when asked for.

5. FINDINGS

This chapter is ordered according to the conceptual frame for implementation of educational change by Rogan and Grayson (2003). The theory is especially designed to study change in the context of developing countries.

5.1 SUPPORT FROM OUTSIDE AGENCIES

The first of the three constructs of this theory is Support from Outside Agencies. This construct might concern agencies including departments of education, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and foreign aid agencies. In developing countries initiative for educational change often comes not just from outside the schools but even abroad. In such case, alignment with local context requires extra attention.

The BEQIP program under study is developed through the cooperative work of the Ethiopian Development and Expertise Centre (DEC), the Dutch NGO Edukans and the assistance of educational experts from the University of Amsterdam. Their efforts and ability to support the implementation of active learning in Ethiopian Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs). Next to the afore mentioned, an outside agency relevant to this study is the Ethiopian Ministry of Education which initiated the Higher Diploma Program throughout the CTEs.

5.1.1. TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Teachers at the colleges for teacher education are seen as key figures to change pedagogy in primary education. They train the new generation of primary school teachers and meanwhile they are expected to assist current in-service primary school teachers.

The Ethiopian ministry of education as well as foreign development agency and NGO’s in Ethiopia count on CTE teachers to assist in the professional development of in-service primary school teachers. CTE teachers, also called teacher educators, are expected to tutor primary school teachers on content knowledge as well as teaching methodology. The so called cascade-model is supposed to enable large-scale change with limited resources. The local NGO whose project (BEQIP) we investigate in this research, engages CTE teachers in training primary school teachers on teaching methodology, mainly ‘active learning methods’ (ALMs). The subtitle of a BEQIP document on Active Learning: “a shift from the traditional teacher centered teaching towards a learner centered approach” (Maat, 2014) seem to adhere the dichotomy of 'teacher-centered' versus 'students -'teacher-centered', which Hattie (2009) rejects. Whereas if we look at the design of the program, the eventual practices aimed to require both teachers and students in the center of action. Graduates from the colleges of teacher education have the potential to be major actors in spreading active learning methods, since they will become primary school teachers. The required competence of prospective teachers depends on the experience they gain (from their college teachers) in using Active Learning Methods (ALMs), their attitude towards- and knowledge about it.

Design of the program

In the design of this program three core elements can be identified: 1. the Cyclical Steps of: monitoring, sharing, improving; 2. the Bottom-up approach; and 3. the Cascade Model for transfer to primary schools.

The program's training courses for CTE teachers are applied in three steps: monitor – share – improve, and are to be followed in a cyclical way for continuous improvement. Taking monitoring of the daily classroom-practices as the starting point is typical for the bottom-up approach of the program. A unique element of this NGOs’ active learning program is the use of video for monitoring and sharing. In the first phase of each training course, the monitoring phase, lessons are recorded to be used as input for the subsequent phases. As indicated in the program manual, “captured video material is used to analyze the teaching practice, as well as to decide upon the way forward” (BEQIP, 2013). The Sharing phase is meant first of all for the teachers to identify their own strengths and weaknesses based on the recorded lesson. Secondly the colleagues can contribute constructive feedback. From these sharing sessions topics for improvement are identified and dealt with in the trainings which educational experts provide twice a year. BEQIP training sessions usually follow the steps mapped out in the box (Maat, 2014) below:

Throughout the year monitoring and sharing sessions based on recorded lessons should also serve the teachers to continuously support each other. Hereby the course of improvement is twofold, by continuous peer support and twice-a-year trainings from experts. In the previous years (2011-2013) nine topics were dealt with: Teaching -Learning Process, Time on Task, Worksheets, Group Work, Use of Textbooks, Learning Styles, Structure of a Lesson Plan, Concept Building, and Assessment.

1. Introduction:

* Explore what the training participants already know about the new topic

* Explain what this training session wants to reach – what the participants will learn 2. Video analysis

* Show video clips of lessons (filmed at local schools) linked to the selected topic of the training module * Ask questions about the films: what do you see, what do you think about it and what should be improved?

3. Assignment

* Prepare concrete assignments for the participants (learning by doing), using their own curriculum * Reflect on the results with the entire group

4. Planning

* Request participants to make a plan for the future: how to apply the new obtained knowledge and skills into their own teaching practice, and

* how to share their experiences with others

From the trainings onwards the cascade model has to be effectuated. This means that the ‘key-teachers’ from every college have to organize trainings for their own colleagues as well as for the primary schools. The organization of these peer-trainings is to be facilitated by their dean or vice-dean, who also attend the NGO’s trainings. The cascading model for transfer to primary schools is an important, but troublesome element in the BEQIP program. Unlike the first period of the program, training of in-service primary school teacher is no longer the main goal. Since 2011 its focus is on professional development of the CTE teachers themselves as well as peer-learning among colleagues. BEQIP currently works with 3 CTEs in Ethiopia and provides trainings in which 5 key-teachers and 1-2 managerial staff per colleges can participate (and plans to target more CTEs). Implementation of peer-learning as intended to take place among colleagues in the CTEs is confronted with difficulties and unforeseen circumstances. One of the ‘key-teachers’ elaborates on awareness and knowledge among teachers in his CTE as crucial preconditions for successful implementation of the program.

these active learning methods concern each teacher, everywhere, so I advise, maybe I recommend DEC to first inform that it is working on active learning ok, to all teachers, not too few teachers, for example last time we took training but we are very few in number, we were 2 or 3 persons out of all the teachers in this college. So my recommendation is that DEC should better inform about its objective now for all teachers especially concerning active learning [...] at least for half a day, that is possible I think. so each and every teacher must get awareness about that. (TC9)

When asked to a key-teacher whether he faces problems in training his peers he replied:

Yes because they think that as if we have more advantages in terms of per diem (daily payment) or other allowances when we train with you at that time, so that is possible if they consider that each teacher must participate on the training at least half a day or a single full day is enough for our teachers, they can understand very well, but it is better to aware them, make them aware, they have to always remember to use these active learning methods in the classroom because we are training teachers. (TC9)

BEQIP was provided to a limited selection of teachers. Which were assigned the additional task of peer-training to the key-teachers. The process of mobilizing their peers was challenged by the lack of authority of key-teachers and seemingly insufficient support from the management. This will be further described as a constraining capacity factor in the category ‘school ethos and management’. According to Rogan & Grayson (2003) the ability to support is tied up with issues of authority and credibility. One of the reasons for resistance among the CTE teachers is that ‘key-teachers’ receive per-diem for the trainings they attend from the educational experts, while no per-diem is provided to the other teachers. The teachers strongly depend on the management to organize trainings for their colleagues who are not always eager to participate. Teachers do not know why some of them are selected to be key-teachers. Some do not even know who the key-teachers are in their college and other doubt whether key-teachers and one denied the existence of key-teachers in his college. Another teacher was doubting whether key-teacher actually do what they are supposed to do after they come back from a training. When we asked him whether the role of key-teacher is well-known within the college he replied: “In words it is, in words we also believe, I also believe that a teacher who has a training somewhere has to give a training, has to share what he did here in

the college, but in reality ye...” (TA17). Even though he stopped his sentence with “ye”, his expression clearly indicated that teachers do not always share their experiences after trainings.

The issue of per-diem for selected key-teachers results in feelings of injustice among the other teachers. Lack of clarity and reliance on the position of key-teachers hampers the peer-learning process and negatively influences the atmosphere (as will be shortly mentioned under school ethos, chapter 5.3). As explained by Firestone and Rosenblum (1988) a consistent environment is one where order is maintained, roles are clear, and rules are enforced fairly and rigorously, but not harshly (p.21). Lack of such a consistent environment seems to be a bottleneck in the cascade model of this active learning program. There is no shared understanding of the role of key teachers.

5.1.2 PROVISION OF ‘PHYSICAL’ RESOURCES

Unlike several other educational development programs in Ethiopia, BEQIP does not structurally provide physical resources. It rather focusses on skills to use available resources to create teaching aids. Since there is no intention to influence the curriculum, no learning materials are provided by BEQIP, but teachers are taught how to use materials in the most effective way to cover the curriculum content successfully. As it comes to the availability of resources in the CTEs several teachers mentioned that they lack access to materials to enable the use of active learning methods. Even though BEQIP aims to emphasize the possibilities to use local materials, some teachers perceive these to be insufficient. They mention active learning methods require materials like flip-charts and markers. During trainings NGO’s educational experts actually use these materials and supply them to key-teachers. This might be misleading, since these materials are not available in teacher the every-day classrooms reality. Teachers accuse the managerial level to lack awareness on active learning methods and therefore do not properly supply them with resources. Deans also attend the trainings, which might increase their awareness on the usefulness of certain materials.

The provision of resources from BEQIP serves the teachers' professional development. Resources directly related to the teaching and learning, in other words the primary process in the college, are not provided. Computers are provided and used for making worksheets and consulting additional literature (as well as for personal interest, like checking their mailbox and social media). Internet connection varied among the three CTEs from ‘frequently good connected’ to ‘very limited’ or even ‘weeks without connection’. Nevertheless teachers were very grateful for the PCs and use them offline for various purposes related to the teaching learning process. One activity for which the PCs can be used is the training DVD for professional development of teachers, which is also part of the active learning program. (The resource supply from HDP has a similar scope, as far as observed. In the CTE a special room was reserved for HDP, full off colorful self-made posters and teaching aids. Every participant receives an 180page HDP Handbook, the content of which is to be used for professional development purposes and not directly as content knowledge for their own CTE lessons/students.) Several reasons explain the limited provision of physical resources in the category teaching aids. First, the available funds are limited. Secondly, the focus of the

program is on methodologies, not on a change in curriculum which would require new learning materials like books. Thirdly, the outcomes of the program are supposed to be applicable in primary schools throughout the country, where the availability of resources is limited as well.

A vital ‘physical’ resource provided in the BEQIP program is the transport and accommodation that enables key-teachers from the three colleges to gather for work conferences. In the design of the project peer-learning is a key instrument to upscale effects. Being invited to such a conferences might as well be an honor to the teachers and boost their motivation to work on its objectives. Meanwhile this treatments might triggers jealousy among non-key teachers. Furthermore, cameras were made available at every CTE in order to follow the steps of monitoring and sharing, by means of video-observations.

5.1.3 MONITORING

Monitoring is the first step in the bottom-up training cycle BEQIP. The CTE teachers and managers are enabled to perform this step by themselves. They are assisted by guiding materials, the so-called BEQIP observation package, including observation matrixes and time-on-task forms (see Appendix II). Furthermore they are provided with cameras to film the lessons and facilitate peer- and self-evaluation afterwards. In addition to monitoring by those inside the CTE, the program officers also visit at least twice a year to get an impression of the progress of active learning methods in the CTEs.

Officers of the Ministry of Education maintain that implementation of active learning methods is definitely obligatory for all educational institutions and especially at the colleges for teacher education;

At the college level even they have to implement more actively then those of the primary as well as the secondary, because they are the ones, they have to be model for the trainees. (MoE official) The colleges of teacher education are under the direct supervision of the Regional Education Bureaus, at national level there is annual supervision over them also. Annual supervision of these officers focuses not especially on BEQIP, but in general on the quality of education, which Active Learning is supposed to contribute to. If this supervision shows that national solutions are required, they will be looked for by the Ministry of Education after which regions would distribute the materials. As an officer of the Ministry of Education explained: “we have overall control about it, as we control the regions we also control the colleges, not directly, through the regions, not only control, support as well is through the regions to them”. The ministry has an HDP unit to follow the activities related to professional development of teachers at the CTEs as well as at the universities that provide teacher education. This monitoring might be relevant for BEQIP as well, since HDP also targets Active Learning is aim of both HDP and BEQIP. Nevertheless, most teachers do not feel that the application of active learning methods is monitored. Peer-observation seems to be the most occurring way of monitoring. Yet, this is based on voluntary participation and own initiative of the teachers and does not evoke direct pressure. According to Fullan (1992, P.91), this is worrisome because to serve educational change ‘pressure’ is required as well as ‘support’. Some interview findings suggest a certain peer pressure of teachers who gradually try to engage their colleagues