Examining the instructional process of citizenship education in Ethiopia: The case of secondary schools in the Amhara state

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the instructional process of citizenship education in secondary schools in the Amhara state of Ethiopia. To that end, a mixed-method research approach with a concurrent triangulation design was employed. A total of 107 citizenship education teachers and 480 students were selected from 24 secondary schools. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations were used as data gathering methods. The results of the study revealed that the status of classroom instructional methods in citizenship education was low. Instead of using a variety of specific instructional methods advocated by prominent scholars of the field, teachers were using traditional teacher-centered methods that were less appropriate to engage students in the teaching-learning process. Whole-school events were also found at their lowest stage. Many of the school-wide opportunities were not widely practiced in relation to citizenship education. The same was true for service-learning. The status of this instructional approach was not only extremely low, but its pedagogical significance was also not well understood by citizenship education teachers. Hence, areas of intervention that could improve the instructional process of secondary school citizenship education are indicated.