Teachers’ Concerns and Policy Suggestions for Bridging the Wide Gaps between Policy Ambitions and Classroom Practices in Ethiopian Teacher Education System

Abstract

Abstract

This paper focused on mapping the Policy-practice  gap and its subsequent impacts on teachers’ classroom practices in Ethiopia. A critical social science perspective was adopted with the assumption that teachers work under a socio-educational system in which the relationship involves a two‐way process that imposed constraints and enablements a teacher. Participants were 99 in-service teachers pursuing their postgraduate studies in various school subjects. The teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire that sought both quantitative and qualitative responses. Descriptive statistics backed by qualitative analysis showed, the gap is neither the result of the teachers’ poor theoretical knowledge or skills to transfer the policy into classroom practice nor as such due to the lack of material resources, but is largely generated by the lack of intellectual freedom to construct authentic pedagogic texts which in turn is a reflection of the dictatorial socio-educational system within which the teachers work.