Examining Practices of Active Learning Approach in Gedeo Zone and Halaba Special Woreda, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Abstract

Southern Nations, Nationalities and People Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia is one of the regions where the education system is influenced by traditional system where the teachers has a central position while students is passive and do not have chance to express their opinions. However, active learning is essential need for educational context of the country. So, the aim of the study is to explore students and teachers’ perspectives and practices in relation to active learning and identify some of the main challenges of this approach in selected schools of the region. The study has been based on quantitative approaches with 100 male and female teachers in four schools of Gedeo Zone and Halaba special Woreda which included the questionnaires from 100 teachers and semi-structured observation of 10 different subject teachers. The findings show that considerable numbers of teachers use some traditional lecture methods even if MoE and NGOs like People In Need Ethiopia have been implementing projects focus on Modern Teaching Methods (MTM) in primary schools. It means that the implementation of active learning in various stages of teaching process at primary schools is not yet being fully practiced, but likely promising. As well as, the use of active learning such as group work, pair work and open questions are not mostly considered during teaching processes. Because of some main obstacles such as: lack of classroom space, large number of students in classrooms, shortage of time, the amount of content that needs to be covered, and lack of materials. At all, the viewpoints of teachers were in support of using active learning approach in the teaching-learning process that developed through MTM training that was organized by PIN but observation shows that average number of teachers still focus on traditional methods because of some main obstacles which are mentioned before.

Keywords: Quality Education, Modern Teaching Methods, Active learning, Instruction, Teacher Training