This qualitative research investigated the implementation problems of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET colleges and enterprises. The research looked into the training program conducted by TVET Colleges and enterprises. Relevant literature on the nature of apprenticeship training and the factors that could affect its implementation were also reviewed. The research applied the theoretical statement of Bandura’s (1977) theory of observation /imitation/, Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD, contextual or the situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991), the constructivist view of learning and career theory as the main theoretical frameworks to describe the apprenticeship training process. The theories, however, do not mention the factors that can hamper the implementation of apprenticeship training in a specific social context. The theory of observation was preferred since it can describe the apprentice’s effort to master the skill of an occupation by observing the craftsman at the enterprises. The situated learning was preferred as it gives value to practice as a condition for the effectiveness of learning. Similarly, the research considered Vygotsky’s theory of the ZPD. The application of ZPD indicates the difference between what the apprentice can accomplish independently and what he/she can do with the close assistance of supervisor on a given task. Holland’s career theory (as cited in De lary, Duncan & Swarth, 2006) is also considered to describe the apprenticeship training in relation with an occupation. The current research has enabled to consider context specific conditions by focusing on the investigation of the causes of the implementation challenges of the apprenticeship training. The researcher collected data from Addis Ababa TVET Agency experts, deans of one private and another public TVET Colleges, college apprenticeship training coordinators, trainers, trainees, supervisors and enterprises by employing unstructured and structured interviews, observation and Focus Group Discussion tools. The analysis was made by making the data pass through three successive steps: data reduction, data display and interpretation, and conclusion. The findings showed that the implementation of the apprenticeship training program had challenges that could be shared among its actors; Trade Unions had no involvement in the implementation of the apprenticeship training program; the selected colleges and enterprises addressed their challenges by using limited strategies and without regular and systematic way; the presence of some less motivating factors for the participation of the apprentices in the apprenticeship training was reported; the presence of conditions that could adversely affect the apprentices’ acquisition of occupational skills was reported; the provision of apprenticeship training at the enterprises lack, either facilities or training services, in order to arrange the apprenticeship training program for TVET college trainees; and there were some indications for the presence of some weak professional qualities of supervisors that have implications for the apprentices’ training. Eventually, it was concluded that the implementation of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET Colleges and enterprises had challenges that require the consideration of both institutional and human conditions. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The purpose of the study is to explore the current policy and practice of the national and institutional QA system in public HEIs in Ethiopia in order to determine how the quality of teaching and learning might have been enhanced through the QA system. Two organisational theories – contingency and neo-institutional theory – provide a theoretical lens to explain how internal and external organisational environments affect the implementation of QA in the HEIs. The mixed-methods research approach was used in the study, including document analysis, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Three public universities were chosen as data source. At macro level, the HERQA was also included to examine the effect of the institutional environments on internal quality assurance practices. The findings revealed that there is little evidence of self-initiated quality enhancement activities in the public HEIs. They do not have adequate structures, systems, and written policies to assure quality. The quality assurance efforts were implemented without a clear sense of direction and purposes and therefore lacked effective coordination. The self-evaluations were symbolically took place at the higher levels of the universities and that the results of the evaluations were rarely used in a structured way in improvement of teaching-learning, faculty decision-making and planning processes. It is far from clear that whether the internal quality assurance contributed to the teaching and learning or transformed the student learning experience. It can be concluded that the HERQA’s quality assurance policy and practices seems to be de-coupled from internal initiatives to improve quality in the higher education institutions. It is recommended that HEIs should develop QA policy, mobilise resources for institutional quality improvement, establish full-fledged QA structures at all levels, and furnish the structures with necessary human resources. The HEIs should initiate and undertake effective self-assessment of their activities, own it and work towards achieving their own stated objectives. It is important that the HERQA should develop accreditation procedures, particularly at programme level, for the public HEIs. The HERQA should consider playing more active roles in communicating with HEIs regularly about QA; pay more attention to a follow-up of the audits, the punctual development and delivery of the SEDs. The HERQA should be more independent, have more autonomy and sufficient resources to become a viable professional agency informing the HE sector on the quality of its performance. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Quality management of higher education is a vital concern today. The purpose of this study was to examine education quality management practices of Ethiopian public universities and to investigate a relationship between three dependent variables (planning for quality education, implementation of plans and performance improvement) and five independent variables (identification of quality education, considering customers’ needs, performance tracking, education quality management strategies and taking actions). Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. Respondents of the questionnaire items were 170 education managers and student union representatives. In addition, ten senior instructors and ten senior students were interviewed. The responses obtained using questionnaires were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means, modes, chi-square tests and Spearman’s correlation. Responses obtained using open ended items on the questionnaires and interview responses were analysed qualitatively using themes of issues most frequently obtained. This study showed that: in most Ethiopian public universities the educational quality planning process is not participatory. There is a gap in using their plans in guiding their day to day activities. Most universities do not regularly collect data on satisfaction levels of their customers. Educational process changes are not tested on small scale before a wide spread application. It also showed that there is a strong positive relationship between performance improvement and the four independent variables namely: considering customers’ needs, performance tracking, teaching methodologies and taking actions in Ethiopian public universities. Consequently, recommendations have been given so as to improve education quality management practices of Ethiopian public universities. This study hopefully contributes a lot for performance improvement of similar higher education system. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The study identifies how different stakeholders perceive service quality improvement initiatives in public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was employed. Furthermore, secondary data were collected from a variety of literature and primary data were collected from academic staff and final year students at public higher education institutions using the SERVQUAL scale and through focus group interviews. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings indicated that all dimensions of the service quality improvement initiatives were perceived by academic staff and studentsto be verypoor. The reasons for these poor or low perceptions were: the high expectationsof the stakeholders, the government’s intention to expand, lack of adequate knowledge regarding the implementation of the BPR process, the lack of motivation by service providers, poor management and the lack of good governance by the universities, inexperienced workers, non-empowered and task specific frontline employees, the low quality of the infrastructure, non-value adding hierarchical structures and approval systems, ethical problems with some service providers, the high staff turnoverand the lack of experienced staff. In addition, at all new universities, construction is underway and as a result,there are problems such as the poor state of the dormitories, classes,bathrooms, recreation areas, lounges, TV rooms, sport fields and internet connectivity, while the libraries are not well stocked with books and periodicals either. This study has recommended that the institutions should have standardised instruments that can be used to measure the status of service quality improvement and deliveryperiodically and to identify the areas that have the highest perceived performance gap scores in order to redeploy some of the resources. It also needs to be pointed out that the service providers lack sufficient knowledge and skillsconcerning the implementation of BPR, thus training is recommended in this regard.It is further recommended that for effective implementation of the BPR process, the importance of the provision of different guiding documents, continuous monitoring of activities and top management support should be kept in mind. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

The study evaluates the perceived effectiveness of the leadership styles of deans in Ethiopian governmental Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The study was contextualised within the domain of relevant leadership theory in chapter 2 (with specific emphasis on the Full Range Leadership model developed by Bass and Avolio), and within the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in chapter 3. A mixed method research methodology was employed in the empirical research. The quantitative part received the most emphasis, while a qualitative part was added to attempt to corroborate findings. Quantitative data were collected from teachers (219), student council members (65) and deans (10) in ten TVET colleges using the MLQ 5x short-form questionnaire, which is a standardised questionnaire of high repute. The quantitatively collected data were analysed and presented using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The qualitative part consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with the ten deans and one TVET Bureau Head. Quantitative findings indicated that the transformational and transactional leadership styles were observed far more frequently than the laissez-faire style. Perceptions regarding the effectiveness of deans, teachers’ job satisfaction and teachers’ willingness to make an extra effort were positively and statistically significantly influenced by the presence of both the transformational and the transactional leadership styles and to a slight extent, influenced negatively by the interaction effect of the two styles. Qualitative findings mostly corroborated the quantitative findings. Recommendations emanating from the research inter alia include: Leadership training opportunities for TVET deans should be scheduled to enhance the appropriate leadership style practice of deans (especially the transformational style); resources (human, financial and materials) should be made available to TVET colleges to develop desired types of leadership in colleges; as part of the selection process when appointing new TVET deans, the leadership style/s that applicants use at that stage should be assessed; a staff-dean-team-approach will be productive if the dean practises a transformational-orientated style of leadership. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

This study set-out to examine how university-industry linkage (UIL) is managed in government universities of Ethiopia to contribute to the economic development of the country. Basic questions related to the level of management of UIL, areas of linkage, benefits obtained so far from this partnership, challenges to the proper management of UIL, and the existing opportunities for promoting UIL were raised. In addition to this, strategies for strengthening UIL were also dealt with. In relation to this, the study was framed with the system theory viewpoints and human capital theory viewing universities as a system linked to its external environment like industries. As a model, interactive/balanced type of Triple Helix model was used as it integrates the activities of the government, universities and the industries. Moreover, this study reviewed global perspectives on UIL and an overview of the study context with greater emphasis on higher education reforms and proclamations. Philosophically, this study followed pragmatism research paradigm using mixed research approach. It also employed concurrent/parallel/convergent design in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously, interpreted separately and combined at the time of discussion for better understanding of the problem. Equal importance for both data sets was given. Data were gathered from 99 college deans and department heads, 200 instructors and 316 prospective graduates. In addition to this, 23 interviewees from UILOs, industries, MoE, and MoST took part in this study. Moreover, two focus group discussions were also conducted with the university alumni and data were gathered through survey questionnaires, semi-structured interview, FGD question guides and document reviews. The study result indicated that both quantitative and qualitative data support one another. It was found out that UIL was at its infant stage of development in government universities of Ethiopia with limited areas, dominated by students’ internship. Ethiopian government universities have a link with the industries in areas of some limited joint research projects, consultancies and capacity building. Consequently, universities benefitted by attaching their students with the industries and students got practical exposure to the real world of work. Industries also benefitted from the training provided to them, consultancies and joint research projects. On the other hand, UIL in government universities of Ethiopia was challenged by institutional bottlenecks, policy-practice gaps, contextual variation and information gaps, finance and awareness related caveats, work overload, and facility related hurdles. Moreover, lack of trust and commitment between U & I, lack of commitment and support from the leadership of both universities and industries, and the reluctance of the local industries to work with the universities remained a big rift to UIL. This study also sheds light on the expansion of universities and industries in different parts of the country as the opportunities to be tapped to promote UIL. Further, the attention of the government by designing different policies, strategies, directives and conferences was taken as the opportunity. As a major contribution, this study came up with the model that was designed to improve the practice of management of UIL in government universities of Ethiopia. To overcome the above challenges and to make use of existing opportunities, it was recommended that improving leadership and management related challenges through joint planning, organising, staffing and decision-making. Moreover, it was highly laudable to make a paradigm shift in the roles of universities from teaching dominated to research and innovation universities. Finally, bridging policy-practice gaps, increase networking, arranging various sensitising and advertising programmes and creating a further avenue for more research were commented. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been adopted in various countries in the world. This is especially true in an EFL context in Ethiopia where it has received considerable attention both at policy and classroom levels. This study aimed to investigate English as Foreign Language (EFL) instructors' conceptions and applications of CLT in teaching grammar lessons in private universities in Ethiopia. Due to the nature of the issues addressed in the study, the mixed-methods approach was employed. The data for the study were collected from 25 EFL instructors teaching in four private universities through semi-structured interviews, quantitative questionnaire, and classroom observation. The qualitative data collected from the semi-structured interviews and classroom observation were analysed thematically, using deductive thematic analysis. The quantitative data garnered through the questionnaire were analysed using the latest version of SPPS (Version 20) available at the time of data analysis. While the study highlighted four major EFL instructors' misconceptions stemming from the discrepancies in understanding the term communicative, it revealed that the majority of the EFL instructors' conceptions of CLT were consistent with the CLT literature. To that effect, the study illuminated the EFL instructors' conceptions of grammar and CLT concerning the teacher’s role, the learners’ role, the types of teaching materials, the place for grammar in CLT as well as the methods of teaching grammar lessons and assessing the learners’ performance in grammar lessons. Nevertheless, the classroom practices of the majority of the EFL instructors were inconsistent with their conceptions of CLT because they predominantly employed the lecture method to teach grammar lessons. The study also found various socio-cultural and economic variables practically affecting the application of CLT in teaching grammar lessons in private universities in Ethiopia. Consequently, the study identified teacher-related factors, student-related factors, institutional factors, curriculum-related factors, and system-related factors as the main difficulties of implementing CLT in teaching grammar lessons. The study recommends that measures that align policy with practice should be taken to ensure that the instructors' conceptions are realised in classroom situations, thereby minimising the discrepancies between their conceptions and their classroom practices. / English Studies / Ph. D. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)

The purpose of this study was to explore the causes of underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions of public universities in south Ethiopia. There were few or no women in senior leadership positions in these public universities. Therefore, these universities could not enjoy the benefits of leadership qualities of women. To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the vice-presidents, deans and/or directors of public universities in south Ethiopia were involved as the target population. Four public universities: Wachamo, Wolaita Sodo, Dilla and Hawassa were involved as research sites. Four vicepresidents (one from each university), twelve deans and academic directors (three from each university) who constituted a focus group of four participants from each of the four universities, participated in the study. An exploratory multiple case study design was used in this qualitative study. The purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the samples. Unstructured interviews were conducted with the vice-presidents of the selected universities and focus group discussions were held with college deans and directors. Participant observation was conducted on issues related to women empowerment at universities under study. The findings showed that women were greatly underrepresented in senior academic leadership positions at all the selected public universities of south Ethiopia because of various institutional, women-related, economic, socio-cultural, and political- legal factors. The study identified some gaps in the government’s oversight role of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of women empowerment policies at universities prescribed by the Federal Government including the higher education legislation. Moreover, higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves have also failed to empower women through different mechanisms. Therefore, it could be concluded that HEIs pay little attention to empowerment of women. Currently, there are some initiatives meant to empower women. However, these, seem to a reaction to pressure by the higher political authorities. It could be concluded that women are still illiterate about their rights and are not keen to be empowered. Negative societal attitudes and lack of attractive incentives for the leadership positions contribute to the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Furthermore, a shortage of teaching staff in academe plays a negative role in this underrepresentation. Finally, it is recommended that the government, society, institutions, and women themselves should step up efforts to empower women, particularly their appointment to senior leadership positions. This is critical as they constitute half of the population of both the institutions and the country. Finally, the study proposes a model that could be adopted by the government, HEIs and different institutions to improve the empowerment of women, especially their appointment to senior leadership positions in HEIs. / Educational Management and Leadership / Ph. D. (Education Management)

Intermediate calculus bridges secondary school and advanced university mathematics courses. Most mathematics education research literatures indicated that the conceptual knowledge in intermediate calculus has challenged first year undergraduate mathematics and science learners to a great extent through the lecture method. The content knowledge attained by them has been tremendously decreasing. Negative attitude exhibited by students toward calculus was highly influenced by the lecture method used. Generally, students have not looked at the learning of all mathematics courses offered in universities as normal as other courses. Due to this lack of background conceptual knowledge in learners, they have been highly frustrated by the learning of advanced mathematics courses. Taking the understanding of teaching and learning challenge of conceptual knowledge of calculus into consideration, Ethiopian public universities have been encouraging instructors to devise and implement active learning methods through any professional development training opportunity. The training was aimed to enhance learners’ content knowledge and attitude towards calculus. This is one of the main reasons for the motivation of this study that experimental group learners were allowed to be nurtured by the lecture method in their mainstream class, and then also the active learning intervention method integrated with GeoGebra in the mathematics laboratory class. Only conventional lecture method was used to teach the comparison group in both the mainstream and mathematics laboratory class. The purpose of the study was to explore the Gambari and Yusuf (2016) stimulus of the jigsaw co-operative learning method combined with GeoGebra (JCLGS) on statistics and chemistry learners’ content knowledge improvement and change of their attitude towards calculus. The post-positivism mixed methods tactic was used in a non-equivalent pre- and post-test comparison group quasi-experimental design. The population of the study was the whole freshman mathematics and science degree program learners of two public universities in Ethiopia in 2017. Samples of the size 150 in both the experimental and comparison groups were drawn utilizing two-stage random sampling technique. A questionnaire using a Likert-scale on attitudes and an achievement test were sources used for data collection. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics conducting an independent samples t-test and a Two Way ANOVA for repeated measures using SPSS23. Each of the findings on content knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and procedural knowledge development produced through the TWO-Way ANOVA, respectively as F(1,148)=80.917; 𝜂2=.353; p<.01, F(1,148)=106.913; 𝜂2=.419; p<.01, and F(1,148)=7.328; 𝜂2=.047; p<.01, revealed a statistically significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups from pre-test to post-test. These findings show that the experimental group participants were highly beneficial in developing their content knowledge and conceptual knowledge through the active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy using Vygotsky’s socio-cultural learning theory. The JCLGS learning environment representing Vygotsky’s socio-cultural learning theory modestly influenced the procedural knowledge learning of the experimental group learners’. Although the lecture method affected the comparison group students’ knowledge development in calculus during the academic semester, the impact was not comparable to that of the active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy. The major reason for this was the attention and care given to the active learning intervention integrated with GeoGebra by the researcher, data collectors, and research participants. Overall findings showed that the active learning intervention allowed the experimental group students to considerably enhance their conceptual knowledge and content knowledge in calculus. Learners also positively changed their opinion towards calculus and GeoGebra. The intervention was a group interactive environment that allowed students’ to be reflective, share prior experience and knowledge, and independent learners. As a matter of fact, educators are advised to model such a combination of active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy in their classroom instructional setting and practices. Consequently, their learners will adequately benefit to understand the subject matter and positively change their opinion towards university mathematics. / Mathematics Education / Ph. D. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)