The core aim of this PhD dissertation was to examine the extent to which the Ethiopian government’s diversity-oriented policies have been effectively transferred and reflected in the country’s secondary teacher education policies, curricula, and practices. It is an article-based dissertation that applied a multilevel analysis research design in order to produce three distinct but logically connected articles under the overarching concept multicultural teacher education.
The first article analyses Ethiopian secondary teacher education policies in relation to multicultural education with the intention of exploring how issues of diversity are addressed in the policies. The second article investigates how issues of multicultural education are addressed in the Ethiopian national secondary teacher education curricula. Building on this analysis, the third article explores the perceptions and practices of multicultural education among Ethiopian secondary teacher education program officials, teacher educators, and prospective teachers.
In the study multicultural education was used both as a guiding concept and analytical tool. Data were collected from relevant sources such as Ethiopian secondary teacher education policy documents and curricula using document analysis and content analysis respectively. In addition, data were gathered from the Ethiopian teacher education policy experts through interviews. Furthermore, data were secured from Ethiopian secondary teacher education institutions’ officials, teacher educators, and student teachers using questionnaires and interviews. The data were analysed using mixed research methods. The results of the study exhibited a sporadic and fragmentary treatment of issues of diversity in the secondary teacher education policies, curricula and institutional practices. In other words, the expectation that the Ethiopian government’s diversity-oriented policies have been effectively transferred and reflected in the country’s secondary teacher education system is not realized.
On the basis of the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the current Ethiopian secondary teacher education system is not designed in a way which addresses the country’s multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic nature and/or in line with the diversity-driven policies. Recommendations which are assumed to ameliorate these problems are suggested for Ethiopian secondary teacher education policy makers, curriculum designers, as well as for the secondary teacher education institutions’ officials and teacher educators. Moreover, suggestions are made for policy, practice, and research beyond the Ethiopian context.