Papers by Animaw Tadesse
Bahir Dar Journal of Education, Aug 29, 2023
Valsa Koshy's book "Action research for improving educational practice: A step-by-step guide, 2 n... more Valsa Koshy's book "Action research for improving educational practice: A step-by-step guide, 2 nd edition" is a concise guide for teachers and school leaders (hereafter practitioners) seeking to understand the potential of action research as a research methodology for addressing social problems. It also serves as a guide to conducting action research for those interested in solving various practical problems related to their professional practices. While some of the contents may seem similar to previous works in the field, the clarity with which the author wrote the book and the practical examples included throughout the eight chapters makes it profoundly readable. This review attempts to familiarize readers with the main themes, strengths, some salient features, and contributions of the book.
Bahir Dar journal of education, Mar 19, 2024
Using Organizational Learning (OL) as a theoretical lens, this study examined the perceived level... more Using Organizational Learning (OL) as a theoretical lens, this study examined the perceived level of OL in primary and middle schools in the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. To this end, a descriptive survey design involving 785 teachers selected from 48 primary schools was used. Data was collected using standard questionnaires and analyzed using various statistical tools. The results showed that target schools had a mean that is slightly above average in learning the instructional reforms, but the magnitude varies with school level, and level of implementation of continuous professional development. Regarding, learning agency, team learning and school-level learning were found higher than learning at personal agency. However, most teacher and school-level variables did not result in significant variation in school as LO probably due to the deep-rooted tradition of top-down reforms. From the results, it is understood that OL in primary schools, especially in Level III schools, is taking root through collective agency, but some fundamental constructs and features of LO were overlooked. This calls for the need to align the schools' standardization guidelines to the constructs and features of LO. Moreover, it sounds well to revisit the long-held top-down tradition of introducing reforms.
Bahir Dar Journal of Education, 2024
Using Organizational Learning (OL) as a theoretical lens, this study examined the perceived level... more Using Organizational Learning (OL) as a theoretical lens, this study examined the perceived level of OL in primary and middle schools in the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. To this end, a descriptive survey design involving 785 teachers selected from 48 primary schools was used. Data was collected using standard questionnaires and analyzed using various statistical tools. The results showed that target schools had a mean that is slightly above average in learning the instructional reforms, but the magnitude varies with school level, and level of implementation of continuous professional development. Regarding, learning agency, team learning and school-level learning were found higher than learning at personal agency. However, most teacher and school-level variables did not result in significant variation in school as LO probably due to the deep-rooted tradition of top-down reforms. From the results, it is understood that OL in primary schools, especially in Level III schools, is taking root through collective agency, but some fundamental constructs and features of LO were overlooked. This calls for the need to align the schools' standardization guidelines to the constructs and features of LO. Moreover, it sounds well to revisit the long-held top-down tradition of introducing reforms.
Cogent Education, May 17, 2022
This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens... more This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens of Organizational Learning Theory (OLT) in a sample primary school. Data were collected from three teachers a school principal and the head of the woreda education office (WEO) using interviews. Besides, data were collected from a review of documents. The collected data were analyzed, narrated, and interpreted qualitatively. The results show that (1) the school displays only limited constructs of organizational learning (OL) and characteristics of a learning organization (LO); (2) team learning seemed to be the lively agency of learning followed by school-wide learning while teachers as agency were still indiscernible, (3) It seems that self-initiated instructional reforms have been overlooked both in policy and practice while reforms prescribed by MoE were the most focused contents of learning, (4) the influence of team learning and school-wide learning in reforming instruction seems insignificant as audited from teachers’ plans; instead, it resulted in a heap of reports that would be discarded after periodic performance appraisal, (5) the school’s subtle effort of being a learning school was challenged by an overdose of prescribed reforms, lack of instructional leadership skills and teachers’ resistance resulting from pedagogical deskilling, subject matter incompetency and reluctance to change. On the basis of these findings, conclusions and implications have been made.
Animaw Tadesse, 2022
Reform approach in education plays a decisive role in determining the success or failure of the r... more Reform approach in education plays a decisive role in determining the success or failure of the reforms. The purpose of this Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is, therefore, to examine how education reforms in Ethiopia were initiated in the last eight decades. To this end, 43 research works were screened using google search and,by applying valid exclusion criteria, a thematic synthesis systematic literature review was conducted on 30 research works (26 articles published in peer reviewed journals and monographs and 4 policy researches). The analysis builds on Chin and Bennes's (1994) Strategies for Effecting Change. The findings show political regimes in the history of Ethiopia often employed the power-coercive strategy for reforming education. Moreover, despite their irreconcilable difference in ideology, the constituents of education reforms in the three regimes remained similar in the last eight decades. On the basis of our analysis, conclusions were drawn and implications for future research and reforming education were suggested.
Cogent Education, May 17, 2022
This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens... more This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens of Organizational Learning Theory (OLT) in a sample primary school. Data were collected from three teachers a school principal and the head of the woreda education office (WEO) using interviews. Besides, data were collected from a review of documents. The collected data were analyzed, narrated, and interpreted qualitatively. The results show that (1) the school displays only limited constructs of organizational learning (OL) and characteristics of a learning organization (LO); (2) team learning seemed to be the lively agency of learning followed by school-wide learning while teachers as agency were still indiscernible, (3) It seems that self-initiated instructional reforms have been overlooked both in policy and practice while reforms prescribed by MoE were the most focused contents of learning, (4) the influence of team learning and school-wide learning in reforming instruction seems insignificant as audited from teachers’ plans; instead, it resulted in a heap of reports that would be discarded after periodic performance appraisal, (5) the school’s subtle effort of being a learning school was challenged by an overdose of prescribed reforms, lack of instructional leadership skills and teachers’ resistance resulting from pedagogical deskilling, subject matter incompetency and reluctance to change. On the basis of these findings, conclusions and implications have been made.
Cogent Education, 2022
This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens... more This study aimed to examine school-level learning of post-1994 instructional reforms via the lens of Organizational Learning Theory (OLT) in a sample primary school. Data were collected from three teachers a school principal and the head of the woreda education office (WEO) using interviews. Besides, data were collected from a review of documents. The collected data were analyzed, narrated, and interpreted qualitatively. The results show that (1) the school displays only limited constructs of organizational learning (OL) and characteristics of a learning organization (LO); (2) team learning seemed to be the lively agency of learning followed by school-wide learning while teachers as agency were still indiscernible, (3) It seems that self-initiated instructional reforms have been overlooked both in policy and practice while reforms prescribed by MoE were the most focused contents of learning, (4) the influence of team learning and school-wide learning in reforming instruction seems insignificant as audited from teachers’ plans; instead, it resulted in a heap of reports that would be discarded after periodic performance appraisal, (5) the school’s subtle effort of being a learning school was challenged by an overdose of prescribed reforms, lack of instructional leadership skills and teachers’ resistance resulting from pedagogical deskilling, subject matter incompetency and reluctance to change. On the basis of these findings, conclusions and implications have been made.
Book Reviews by Animaw Tadesse
Bahir Dar Journal of Education, 2023
Valsa Koshy's book “Action research for improving educational practice: A step-by-step guide, 2nd... more Valsa Koshy's book “Action research for improving educational practice: A step-by-step guide, 2nd edition” is a concise guide for teachers and school leaders (hereafter practitioners) seeking to understand the potential of action research as a research methodology for addressing social problems. It also serves as a guide to conducting action research for those interested in solving various practical problems related to their professional practices. While some of the contents may seem similar to previous works in the field, the clarity with which the author wrote the book and the practical examples included throughout the eight chapters makes it profoundly readable. This review attempts to familiarize readers with the main themes, strengths, some salient features, and contributions of the book.
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Papers by Animaw Tadesse
Book Reviews by Animaw Tadesse