| Abstract: | As part of the implementation strategies of the Education and
Training Policy (TGE, 1994), in 2003 the Ethiopian Ministry of Education
had introduced a wide-ranging reform that touches every aspect of teacher
education of the country via a program called the Teacher Education System
Overhaul (hereafter TESO). TESO was introduced to bring about a
paradigm shift in the Ethiopian teacher education system. One of the
components of TESO was Higher Diploma Program. This program was
designed mainly to introduce concepts such as being reflective teacher,
active learning, continuous assessment, research methodology, and
school/industry placement to public and private higher learning institutions
engaged in offering higher education. Hence, the core intention of this
research was to investigate the role of Higher Diploma Program in terms of
enhancing teachers’ continuous professional development and success in
Ethiopian private higher education institutions with particular reference to
Adama Campus of Rift Valley University and Unity University. To this end,
123 instructors were taken as the subjects of the study. Furthermore, the
deans and supervisors of the two campuses were used as sources of data.
Questionnaire, interviews, and observations were used as tools for data
collection. The collected data were analyzed using both quantitative and
qualitative approaches. The close-ended items of the questionnaire were
analyzed quantitatively whereas the data gathered via open-ended
questionnaire and interviews were analyzed qualitatively. The study
revealed, except offering short-term trainings, there was no implementation
of Higher Diploma Program across the two universities. Finally,
recommendations were forwarded to the two universities to offer wellorganized
Higher Diploma Program to their respective academic staffs. |
