Project

Towards Competence-based Technical-vocational Education and Training in Ethiopia

Getachew Habtamu Solomon

Introduction

Getachew Habtamu Solomon started his PhD-project ‘Towards Competence-based Technical-vocational Education and Training in Ethiopia at the chair group of Education and Competence Studies at Wageningen University.

Profile

Before coming to Wageningen University, Getachew was teaching at Addis Ababa University, Department of Business Education with the rank of Lecturer. Getachew got his B.Sc. Degree in Business Teacher Education from Addis Ababa University and  his  Master’s Degree in International Business Management from Aligarh Muslim University, India. At the moment, Getachew is in Ethiopia, finalizing his PHD thesis to be defended before the end of 2015.

Research

Competence-based education and training [CBET] has already become a leading paradigm in technical-vocation education in many countries. This emerged from the fact that CBET focusses on developing the capability of people which is a critical component of human capital development without which societal development could not be possible. In this perspective, Ethiopia has been implementing CBET in its TVET programs with the aim of creating competent, flexible, innovative and self-reliant workforce to contribute to the economic and social development of the country since 2008. Although competence-based TVET [CB-TVET] has been operating since 2008, issues such as how it is functioning, to what extent are the TVET programs competence-based, how are TVET teachers trained for CB-TVET, the challenges encountered in practicing CB-TVET are critical in determining the realizations of TVET objectives. Various studies undertaken on the Ethiopian TVET system have largely been focused on the challenges of TVET in general instead of making a comprehensive study that cover critical dimesions of CB-TVET. The present project aims to fill this research gap, examining the TVET programs in light of CBE principles with the main aim of improving the effective implementation CB-TVET in Ethiopia. This project has four dimensions: historical account of TVET development in Ethiopia, Teachers engagement in policy and curriculum discourse, ‘competentiveness’ of the TVET programs, TVET teachers’ training and professional development.

Keywords

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