Beginning Teacher Education Students' Attitude towards their Future Profession: The Case of Dilla College of Teacher Education and Health Sciences
Abstract
The present study was conducted on 138 freshman degree students in the Faculty of Teacher Education, Dilla College of Teacher Education and Health Sciences (DCTEHS). The aim was to find out whether or not trainee teachers were initially committed to teaching (or actually preferred teaching to other professions) and their attitudes towards the teaching profession. The data were collected using an attitude scale developed by the investigators and a survey questionnaire. The major statistical techniques employed were the non-parametric analogue of Friedman's 2-way ANOVA by ranks and the logistic regression analysis.
The results revealed that 74.6% of the respondents do not have initial commitment to teaching. The outstanding reasons for these were, perceived low social status accorded to teachers, absence of economic incentives, low chance for career advancement, and low base salary.
Further, high achievers in ESLCE seem to show low inclination to the teaching profession, and the likelihood of initial commitment to teaching was found to be relatively higher among those with comparatively low ESLCE GPA. Implications of the findings to redress the problem of teacher education in Ethiopia were also discussed in this paper.
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References
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Ababa University.
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the Profession, The Ethiopian Journal of Education, Vol. 1, No. 1.
Anberber Mengesha.(1971). A Survey of Social Status of Teachers in Ethiopia.
Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Administration, Addis Ababa
University, Unpublished Manuscript.
Awanbor D. (1996). Self-concept and Nigerian Teacher-Trainees‘ Attitude Toward
Teaching, European Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 7-11
Bagozzi, R.P. (1981). Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior: A Test of Some Key
Hypotheses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 41(4). 607-
627.
Blau, G.J. (1989). Testing the Generalizability of Career Commitment Measure and
its Impact on Employee Turnover. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 35,88-
103.
Cohen, A. (1999). Turnover among Professionals: A Longitudinal Study of American
Lawyers. Human Resource Management, 38(1), 61-75.
Dejene Shewaye (1996). Factors that Discourage Students to Major in Basic Natural
Sciences: The Case of Kotebe College of Teacher Education. The Ethiopian
Journal of Education.,17(2).
Fantu, M. et al. (1996). Some Alternative Predictors of Freshmen GPA in Ethiopian
Institutions of Higher Learning. The Ethiopian Journal of Education, Vol.
XVI, No. 2
Farrugia, C. (1986). Career Commitment and Source of Occupational Satisfaction
and Frustration among Teachers in Malta. Comparative Education, 22(3),
221-231.
Fresko, B., D. Kaffir and F. Nasser (1997). Predicting Teacher Commitment.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(4), 429-438.
Getachew Haile (1999). Stress in School Teachers. The Ethiopian Journal of
Education, Vol. XIX, No.2
Gold, A. (1996). Beginning Teacher Support: Attrition, Mentoring and Induction. In:
Sikula et al. (Eds.). Handbook of Teacher Education. New York, Macmillan
Library Reference, pp. 67-101.
Goodlad, J.I. (1984). A place Called School: Prospects for the Future, New York;
McGraw-Hill.
Kyriacou, C., A. Hultengren, A., and Stephens. (1999). Student Teachers Motivation
to Become a Secondary School Teachers. Teacher Development, 3(3), 373-
385.
Menna Olango and Tesfaye Semela (1998). Does the New Salary Scale Predicts
Teachers' Decision to Stay or Leave Teaching Profession? In the
Proceedings of the National Workshop to Strengthen Primary and Teacher
Education in Ethiopia, KCTE, May 1998.
_____(2000). Determinants of Teacher’s Decision to Leave or Stay in the Teaching
Profession. The Ethiopian Journal of Education, Vol. XX, No.1, pp. 1-23.
Mogessie Ashenafi (1998). A University Perspective on the Quality of Education, in
Amare Asgedom et al.(Eds.) Quality of Education in Ethiopia: Visions for
the 21st Century, Proceedings of National Conference Held in Awassa
College of Teacher Education 12-18 July 1998, Institute of Educational
Research, Addis Ababa University.
Nagay, M.S. (2002). Using a Single-item Approach to Measure Facet Job
Satisfaction. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 75, 77-86.
Norusis, Marija J. (1990). SPSS Advanced Statistics User’s Guide, SPSS Inc.
Schlechty, P.C. and Vance, V.S. (1981). Do Academically Able Teacher’s Leave
Education? The North Carolina Case. Phi Delta Kappan, 62, 106-112.
Seigle S. and N.J Castellan. (1988). Non-Parametric Statistics for Behavioral
Sciences (2ed), McGraw-Hill. Inc, Singapore.
Seyoum Tefera. (1996). Attempts at Educational Reform in Ethiopia: A Top-down or
a Bottom-up Reform. The Ethiopian Journal of Education, 16(1).
Tamere Andualem (1997). Attributions and Academic Achievement of Education,
Medicine and Polytechnic Freshmen Students in Bahirdar. The Ethiopian
Journal of Education, Vol. XVII, No.2
Tekeste Negash (1990). The Crisis of Ethiopian Education: Some implications for
Nation- Building. Department of Education, Uppsala University, Sweden.
_____ (1996). Rethinking Education in Ethiopia. Nardiska - Afrikaine, Uppsala.
Teklehaimanot Hailesellasie (2000). Secondary School Teacher-Education in
Ethiopia: A New Perspective. IER Flambeau: 7(20):1 - 15.
Temesgen Zeweter (1996). A Ccomparative Statistical Study of Major Discipline
Choice of Science Freshmen Students. The Ethiopian Journal of Education,
Vol. XVI,No.1.
Tesfaye Semela (1997).Impact of Maternal Status Attributes on Gender Role
Orientation and Success Striving of Female College Students. The Ethiopian
Journal of Education, Vol. XVI,No.1.
_____. (2003). Effects of Working Conditions on Teachers’ Plan to Stay in their
Career in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Southern Ethiopia. A PhD
dissertation, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of
Tübingen, Germany.
Wanous, J. P., A.E. Reichers, and M.J. Hudy (1997). Overall Job Satisfaction: How
Good are Single-item Measures? Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2),
247-252.
Published
2004-06-01
Section
Articles