Indigenous knowledge and early childhood care and education in Ethiopia

Sign In

  1. Home
  2. Publications
  3. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice
  4. Publication Articles
  5. Article

Publications

Share / Export Citation / Email / Print / Text size:

Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice

New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society

Subject: Education

GET ALERTS

ISSN: 1178-8690

DESCRIPTION

Article Metrics
165
Reader(s)
408
Visit(s)
0
Comment(s)
0
Share(s)

SEARCH WITHIN CONTENT

FIND ARTICLE

Volume / Issue / page

Archive
Volume 36 (2021)
Volume 35 (2020)
Volume 34 (2019)
Volume 33 (2018)
Volume 32 (2017)
Volume 30 (2015)
Related articles

VOLUME 33 , ISSUE 2 (December 2018) > List of articles

Indigenous knowledge and early childhood care and education in Ethiopia

Hawani Negussie / Charles Slater

Keywords : Early Childhood Care and Education; indigenous education; multilingual education; Ethiopia; community cultural wealth

Citation Information : Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice. Volume 33, Issue 2, Pages 4-16, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jelpp-2018-009

License : (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published Online: 02-April-2019

  • ARTICLE
  • FIGURES & TABLES
  • REFERENCES
  • EXTRA FILES
  • COMMENTS

ARTICLE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research study was to explore the integration of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Vygotsky's (1986) sociocultural theory in combination with Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth theory served as the conceptual as well as the methodological framework advising the components of this research. This qualitative case study invited perspectives from local parents, teachers, directors, a university faculty member, and administrative personnel from the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia. Major findings uncovered that language, the Ethiopian alphabet (fidel), traditions and cultural practices passed down from generation to generation, were seen as part of Ethiopia’s larger indigenous knowledge system. The value of using indigenous knowledge, including the extent of integration of cultural practices as measured through use of native language, curriculum and educational philosophy, revealed distinct language preferences (Amharic or English) based on school, personal wants and population demographics.

PDF Share

Content not available PDF Share

FIGURES & TABLES

REFERENCES

  1. Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture (Vol. 4). London: Sage.
  2. Buxton, D. R. (1970). The Abyssinians. New York, NY: Praeger.
  3. Cole, M., Cole, S. R., & Lightfoot, C. (2005). The development of children. Macmillan.
  4. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V.L. (2010). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  5. EFA Global Monitoring Report Team (2007). Education for all by 2015: Will we make it? (EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2008). Retrieved from UNESCO website: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0015/001548/154820e.pdf
  6. Enslin, P., Tjiattas, M., & Todd, S. (2009). Philosophy of education and the gigantic affront of universalism. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 43(1), 1–2.
  7. Gebre-Mariam, N. (2002). Education and education policy in Ethiopia. Kassel: German Ethiopian Association.
  8. Gestwicki, C. (2013). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early education.
  9. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
  10. Grenier, L. (1998) Working with indigenous knowledge: A guide for researchers. Canada: IDRC.
  11. Hertzman, C., & Boyce, T. (2010). How experience gets under the skin to create gradients in developmental health. Annual Review of Public Health, 31(1), 329–347. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.012809.103538
  12. Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Leavy, P. L. (Eds.). (2011). The practice of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  13. Heugh, K., Benson, C., Bogale, B., & Yohannes, M. A. G. (2007). Final report: Study on medium of instruction in primary schools in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Ministry of Education.
  14. Hewitt, V. (2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 95–100. doi:10.1023/A:1012520828095.
  15. Kiros, F. R. (1990). Implementing educational policies in Ethiopia (Report No. 84). Washington, DC: World Bank.
  16. Kuhl, P. K. (2010). Brain mechanisms in early language acquisition. Neuron. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.038
  17. Levine, D. N. (1965). Wax & gold: Tradition and innovation in Ethiopian culture (Vol. 11). Chicago, IL:
  18. University of Chicago.
  19. Lipsky, G. A., & Blanchard, W. (1962). Ethiopia: Its people, its society, its culture. New Haven, CT: Hraf Press.
  20. Marcus, H. G. (1994). A history of Ethiopia. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
  21. Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. (1973). Report on the organization of education in Ethiopia 1971–1972 and 1972–1973. Addis Ababa: Ministry of Education and Fine Arts.
  22. Ministry of Education (2011). Education statistics annual abstract. Addis Ababa: Education Management Information System, Ministry of Education. retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.et/directorate-19
  23. Murphy, A. (2012). Other tongues: Rethinking the language debates in India. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 33(2), 215–217. doi:10.1080/01434632.2011.614076
  24. Neuman, M. J., & Hatipoglu, K. (2015). Global gains and growing pains: Pre-primary education around the world. Early Childhood Matters, 43–50.
  25. Pankhurst, E. S. (1955). Ethiopia: A cultural history. Essex: Lalibela House.
  26. Sjöström, M., & Sjöström, R. (1983). How do you spell development? A study of a literacy campaign in Ethiopia.
  27. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (The Nordic Africa Institute).
  28. UNESCO. (2007). Education for all by 2015: Will we make it? Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 52. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
  29. UNESCO. (2015). Education for all. 2015: National review. UNESCO, 1-67.
  30. Valencia, R. R. (1997). Conceptualizing the notion of deficit thinking. In R.R. Valencia (Ed.) The evolution of deficit thinking. (pp. 1–12). Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer.
  31. Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S. Mexican youth and the politics of caring, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
  32. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge: MA, MIT Press.
  33. Vygotsky, L., Gauvain, M., & Cole, M. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the development of children, (pp. 34–41).
  34. Wagaw, T. G. (1979). Education in Ethiopia: Prospect and retrospect. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
  35. Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth.
  36. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.

EXTRA FILES

COMMENTS