Teachers and Principals’ Perceptions of Quality of Education

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore how teachers and principals view quality of education in the Ethiopian context. Ethiopia has expanded access to primary education (grades 1-8) dramatically in the last 15 years, with gross enrolment rates rising from 20 percent to more than 80 percent. There are however public cries that expanding enrolments lead to stagnating or declining quality, especially in the context of limited resources. National student assessments carried out in 2000 and 2004 at the grades, 4 and 8 levels indicated serious problems with quality, although the 2004 assessment identified a positive correlation between teacher attitudes and teacher beliefs and improved student achievement. This study examines important aspects of this relationship, focusing on perceptions and beliefs of teachers and principals regarding active-learning policies. The research took place in four of Ethiopia’s regional states – Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State (SNNPRS), and Tigray. The study is primarily qualitative, exploring in depth the experiences and perceptions of a small group of grade 4 teachers and principals in each of the regional states. It is however complemented by a quantitative survey of over 100 grade 4 teachers in each regional state, which is used to triangulate the qualitative data. The findings of the study are organized as regional state case studies on each of the focal points of the study on teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of quality of education. Each focal point includes an inter-case analysis that compares results across the regional states and explores critical issues that emerge from the data. The results, which are highly consistent across the regional states, suggested that teachers and principals defined and discussed education quality around issues of educational inputs, processes, and outputs. Discussions of inputs largely focused on inadequate resources; process was seen in terms of students’ participation and activities in the classroom; outputs were discussed in terms of learning outcomes, but more prominently in terms of students’ personal and inter-personal characteristics. The study suggests several approaches to improving quality of education.