Research - Case Studies
Ethiopia Teacher Professional Development:
Children's Home Society and Family Services
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia • 24-28 August 2009

Ethiopia’s Professional Development Landscape
According to UNESCO reports, Ethiopia historically has felt that work is more important than education, so they start at a very early age with little to no education. Social awareness that education is important is something that Ethiopia lacks but has improved gradually. A recent study in 2006 produced by American Institutes for Research under the EQUIP1 LWA noted ‘Ethiopia has placed education at the center of its strategies for development and democratization, this indicates the need to move forward to strengthen analytical, conceptual, and meaningful learning which requires students to understand, mobilize, and communicate about knowledge in the creative and flexible ways that the 21st century demands.’ Conclusions and implications highlighted in the study included:

  1. It is clear that the foundation has been established for quality through the extremely promising and positive perspectives and attitudes of teachers and principals as expressed in the interviews, observations, and the survey in this study. Teachers’ and principals’ expanded concepts of their roles as educators, their commitment to the whole child, and their recognition of the importance of a positive and supportive learning environment are all characteristics that build the foundation for excellent learning, characteristics without which excellent learning within the active learning paradigm is not possible. It is exactly this conjunction between positive attitudes about student learning and professional development that was identified in the student assessment as supporting better learning.
  2. How cognitive and academic learning, within the active-learning paradigm, are understood and practiced, within pre-service and in-service programs, and throughout the whole system, clearly requires re-examination, clarification, and alignment. Until this is done, great improvements in student achievement are unlikely. 

The goal of the Teacher Learning and Professional Development model is to bring research based 21st Century thinking practices that accelerate the quality of teaching practices to the front lines. Cell phones are an appropriate metaphor, and even a potential part of teacher training. Telephone  communications in developing countries have gone from minimal infrastructure to potentially the latest in mobile communications. In a recent NY Times Magazine Article it cited a growing number of economists who maintain that cellphones can restructure developing countries. In a similar manner, high quality foundational teaching practices instituted now can have a profound affect on how education is approached, how children are taught, and how the children teach the next generation.

The Thinking Schools Professional Development Model must be sustainable. Thinking practices that include high quality teacher training, minimal materials requirements, a trainer of trainer model, and collaborative methods to support greater understanding and success. A goal of the initial professional development training from 24-28 August 2009 was to provide hands-on sessions with visual tools (cognitive visual maps), inquiry, community building, systems thinking with the whole education community, the physical classroom environment, and making decisions with intentionality. To determine if such foundational change was possible, throughout the week training, at the end of the training, and after the training participating educators reflective inputs were monitored. There was a definite ‘belief systems change’ noted from the reflections. There is  a major shift from teachers telling information to students to teachers facilitating learning.

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