The Effect of Pedagogical Centers on First Cycle Primary Schools in Implementing the New Curriculum: The Case of Amhara Region
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Date
2000-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
As a nucleus for improvisation and innovation Pedagogical Centers create the preconditions
fo r the effective implementation of the curriculum and the continuos improvement of the
teaching - learning process. The study was, therefore, designed to assess the effect of
Pedagogical Centers on the First Cycle Primary Schools in implementing the new curriculum.
The study was conducted in 24 schools as sources of information from the four Zones of the
Amhara Region. Within these schools, all teachers of the self -contained class whi ch were J 54
in number , 24 school principals,24 School Pedagogical Centers' coordinators and 32 Woreda
education experts were taken as actual sources of information. The information were
collected through questionnaire, interview, observation and document analysis. The data
obtained were analyzed mainly using percentage and in some parts, especially for intelview
resu lts, a purely qu alitative discussion was employed.
The result s of the study indicate that the School Pedagogical Centers have inadequate
instructional materials relevant to the new curriculum. Teachers, coordinators of the School
Pedagogical Centers seem to have no adequate orientation or training regarding preparation
and utilization of instructional material s. In this connection, low participation of teachers in
regarding and utilizing instructional materials in their teaching activity has been found. It was
also revealed that the support provided to the Pedagogical Centers from the school and higher
management was low. No support was provided to the Centers from the community. The
interview results had ind icated that there was no technica l, materiaV fin ancial assistance given
to the Pedagogical Centers from the Central level in the system. What is important to mentionis that lack of trained manpower, lack of adequate resources, lack of in-service training of
teachers and Pedagogical Centers' coordinators and absence of support and clear guidelines
from the top management were the major serious problems affecting the function of
Pedagogical Centers.
In light of these findings, it is necessary to gIve due attention and make great effort to
strengthen the School Pedagogical Centers with financia l, materials and trained manpower
In addition, there seems to be a need for providing training to teachers and coordinators of
pedagogical Centers on preparing and utilizing of instructional materials as well as on the
other functions of the Pedagogical Centers. That is, continuous and periodical school- based
tral1l1ng is necessary. Besides, higher educational institutions need to be encouraged to
arrange training programs in order to train specialists who could have expertise 11l
coordinating the activities of Pedagogical Centers.
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Keywords
Effect of Pedagogical Centers on First Cycle