Browsing by Author "Mekonnen, Dawit"

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    Assessment of Reward System: On the Case of Federal Courts
    (Addis Ababa University, 2015-05) Mekonnen, Dawit; Mekonnen, Worku (PhD)
    The main objective of this study was to assess the reward system of Federal courts; while the specific objectives were: (1) To assess the financial reward system of the organization.(2) To assess non-financial reward system of the organization.(3) To assess the attitude of employees towards the Reward System. The study was based on both primary and secondary data in form of questionnaires and literature respectively. The study was descriptive in nature and it employed quantitative techniques of data collection system. In this study samples were selected based on proportional stratified sampling technique, after selecting the sample for the distribution of the questionnaire random sampling data collection technique were applied. And data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation in the table format. the findings revealed that, majority of the employees were Female, age group of 18 to 29, had a diploma and serve above 10 years in the organization. And both payment and benefit packages of financial reward scored below the minimum satisfactory point. Like the financial reward, the components of non-financial reward promotion, recognition, working condition and work content gained less than the minimum satisfactory point. Based on the findings this study concluded that both financial as well as non financial rewards provided by the organization were unsatisfactory and the employees were working in a state of dissatisfaction. Based on this, the study recommended that the organization should communicate its employees with regard to the current status of reward system provided by the organization also the organization must create an opportunity for its employees in order to participate on the formulation phase of reward system. in order to solve the existing problems with regard to financial rewards Federal Courts either press on Ethiopian Civil Service Agency to improve its current salary scale and benefit packages or federal courts should be an independent organization to formulate their own financial reward scale and package With regard to promotion packages the organization should lay down the foundation of fair, transparent and equitable promotion package. In order to enhance the moral of employees the organization should instigate staff appreciation and recognition ideas like selecting employee of the month, Golden hand shake, post thank you note on an employee’s door and include an employees in a special meeting
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    The Curriculum Development Process of the New Engineering Education Program and Its Practices in Ethiopia: The Case of Three Higher Engineering Education Institutions
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-01) Sileshi, Mesfin; Mekonnen, Dawit
    The overall aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the improvement of the engineering curriculum development and engineering students’ learning in Ethiopia by utilizing both theoretical and empirical enquiry. The study tried to provide insights into the major processes and factors that influence engineering curriculum development and its implementation process in general and investigates the impact of the curriculum development and implementation process on the quality of engineering education and students’ learning, from the perspectives of stake holders. The study is undertaken within three engineering higher education institutions. The research tried to provide answers for the following four research questions. (1) Why was the engineering curriculum change initiated? And how was it developed? (2) How do deans, teachers and students view and describe engineering curriculum and the congruency between engineering curriculum implementation and curriculum expectations? (3) What are the factors that influenced engineering curriculum development? (4) How do stakeholders assess their involvement in engineering curriculum design process and in its relevance? What are their present understanding of the new engineering graduates in terms of their possession of engineering knowledge, skills and competencies? A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed to undertake the study. Primary data were collected from purposely selected engineering teachers, students, industry personnel, and experts from the MoE using in-depth interview and focus group discussion methods. Document analysis was also used as a source for secondary data. The data collected from the different sources were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis method based on inductive category development procedure. The findings of the study revealed that the reform in engineering education and its curriculum development was driven by economic interest, which was expressed in terms of producing skilled human resource that would work in industry and boost its productivity. The idea of the reform and the curriculum development process was a top-down process initiated by the ECBP under the leadership of MoCB. Teachers’ participation in the curriculum development process was initially one of learning from the ECBP and organizing it in the curriculum; not in decision making. Industry’s involvement in engineering curriculum matters was found to be occasional and not in a way it puts significant impact on curricular decisions. Curriculum implementation which involves teaching, learning, and assessment, was knotted with multiple problems of: poor dissemination of the ideas of the reformed curricula, dissatisfied teaching staff and teachers absenteeism, teaching and learning crippled with shortage of resources, shallow students’ learning, and pseudo assessment mechanism. Based on the findings of the study, a number of recommendations are forwarded to improve engineering curriculum development and students’ learning which include the need for more participation of stakeholders in the process of curriculum development, the necessity of creating more awareness and understanding of the changes in curriculum within the engineering teaching staff, the need for more and continuous training of engineering teachers to update and improve their teaching and assessment skills abreast their engineering profession. The need for the development of educational policies that support the alignment of engineering teaching with assessment, and finally areas for further theoretical research and empirical enquiry are also suggested to support the improvement of the engineering teaching and learning development within the engineering and technology institutions in Ethiopia. __________ Key words: Engineering curriculum, curriculum development, engineering teaching, qualitative research.
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    Ethiopian Identity in the Post-1991 New Nation-Building Process: Curriculum Responses and Student Perspectives
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-02) Demas, Siraw; Mekonnen, Dawit
    The new nation-building thesis – ‗unity in diversity‘ – instituted since 1991 by the EPRDF marks a historical departure from its predecessors. As such, probably no topic creates a big gulf among Ethiopian and international scholarship on whether this new nation-building approach could lead to national unity with the apparent diversity. Therefore, this study was intended to understand the ongoing new-nation-building process through the lenses of the national and regional education system curriculum and students‘ attachment to the values, symbols and traditions represented in the curricula. For this purpose, exploratory sequential design was chosen as an appropriate strategy of inquiry to examine how Ethiopian identity is presented in the formal education curriculum and students‘ reactions and attachments to these representations. The study was conducted in two phases where the findings of the initial qualitative study served as a basis for the latter quantitative study. In order to understand curriculum responses to Ethiopian identity, qualitative content analysis – thematic and relational – was done on upper primary and secondary education level Social Studies, CEE and History textbooks. The major identity attributes presented in these textbooks were analyzed for the meaning they carried and for the way they were related to the multination state of Ethiopia. This study also attempted to understand how students – both individually and in groups – construct their being an Ethiopian through their prior exposure to different courses at school and to the social environment by using interviews and FGDs. Thus, the major values, symbols and traditions which represent Ethiopian identity were explored from the first phase qualitative study through content analysis of Social Studies, CEE and History textbooks and in-depth interviews and FGDs with students. In the subsequent quantitative design, 400 first year university students representing the various ethnic groups in Ethiopia were surveyed to understand their level of attachment to Ethiopian identity attributes presented in the curricula. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean and standard deviation. In the national and regional education system curriculum, Ethiopian identity was presented in the form of major political symbols (such as national flag, national anthem, national holidays and heroes/heroines) and historico-cultural symbols (like obelisks, palaces, churches, mosques, etc), citizenship identity (basic laws and institutions as well as citizenship rights and duties), and socio-cultural values (such as heroism, religious tolerance and hospitability). However, the quantitative results revealed that although students were exposed to similar curriculum, their identification with and attachment to those symbols, values and traditions presented in the curricula considerably differ. Moreover, students reported that compared to other factors, formal education has contributed marginally in their group identity development. Some of the challenges of the Ethiopian formal education in nation-building include: emphasis for diversity/differences rather than ‗unity in diversity‘, exclusion of some groups in textbooks narratives, ideological orientation of textbooks, obsessions with historical narratives on oppressions and dominations of groups, contradictions between school experiences and out of school experiences and between the planned curriculum and the experiential curriculum. It seems due to these challenges that, rather than formal education, religion and family play a key role in the students‘ ethnic identity and Ethiopian identity development. A major finding of this study is that although the national and regional education system curriculum has been contributing to the ongoing new nation-building process by portraying and communicating the above stated values, symbols and traditions, it also plays a parallel nation-destroying role through developing feelings of exclusion and ethnocentric attitudes, which could be detrimental to the vision of creating a sustainable multination state Ethiopia. Keywords: Curriculum, Ethiopian identity, ethnic identity, unity in diversity, education and nation-building, attachment to multination state, citizenship identity, political and historico-cultural symbols, socio-cultural values e
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    An Evaluation of the Implementation of Seventh Grade English Syllabus in Eastern Gojjam
    (Addis Ababa University, 1999-05) Mekonnen, Dawit; Zewdie, Marew
    This study was mainly aimed to investigate the extent of implementation of grade 7 English syllabus. The subjects of the study included 20 teachers, 100 students and 8 directors from eight schools in Eastern Gojjam, selected using multi-stage cluster, available, purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Six 1999 first semester examination papers were a lso collected from 6 schools. Observation, questionnaire, interview and document analysis were used to gather data. Percentages, mean values, correlation, t-test and regression were used to analyze the collected data. Results show that 65% of the teachers and above that in certain roles saw themselves as not competent, with their existing knowledge and skill, to use roles suggested in the syllabus and declared that they need inservice training and help from colleagues. Teachers over all mean value in perceived competence also found to be 2.6, in between category 2 (inservice training and help form colleagues) and category 3 (lillIe help from colleagues). Teachers extent of implementation of the syllabus found to be 38.75% and the quality of implementation was also close to attempted (1.02), from a four point rating scale. At least 80% of the teachers were at or below 'mechanical use' in all categories except acquiring information, entailing disjointed and superficial implementation. Teachers also failed to measure proportionally various objectives of the syllabus as most of the exam items (73%) were related to language rules. Teachers, however, reported relatively higher degree of implementation (59%) while students report tend to be similar to what is observed. Inservice training, perceived competence and participation found to have a significant positive relationship with actual classroom practice of teachers and along with experience accounted for 49% of the variation in actual classroom practice. Teachers perceived competence tend to be the only independent significant predictor of teachers actual classroom practice accounting for 35% of the variation. Lack or inadequacy of inservice training, students poor background knowledge, teachers lack of competence to use syllabus roles, difficulty of roles and poor supply of materials such as textbook and teacher's guide appeared to be the major hindering factors in the implementation of the syllabus. The conclusion to be drawn from the study is that aspects of the new English grade seven syllabus are being implemented minimally and poorly due to teachers lack of competence and other factors mentioned earlier. The implementation process in the past two years failed to maintain some fet1ile grounds like training teachers with new skills and knowledge and supplying necessary materials sufficiently. Hence it appears to be wise and timely to take appropriate measures to change the much unchanged operational syllabus.
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    Students’ Level of Social and Emotional Skills: The Case of Grade 7 and 8 Government Schools in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
    (Addis Ababa University, 2018-09) Tadesse, Genet; Mekonnen, Dawit
    This study examined students’ social and emotional skills in elementary school students found in Bole sub city Addis Ababa. Measures taken by teachers in order to build their students social and emotional development level were also assessed. A sample of 95 elementary students and 10 teachers were used for the study. In the process of answering the basic questions, questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions were applied to generate sufficient data. The data were analyzed using SPSS and summarized using frequency distribution tables and measures of central statistics. The study obtained answers to the research questions by using qualitative exploratory research method. As a result, the Social and emotional skills of elementary students was seen to be poor. Teachers were found to believe in the importance of teaching students regarding Social Emotional skills. But, practical measures being taken with the aim to build students’ social and emotional skills were seen to be minimal. Furthermore, it is concluded that despite the efforts of their teachers, the majority of the students have poor awareness level regarding their social and emotional skills. Based on the major findings, recommendations were forwarded to improve the Social Emotional skills of students.