Exploring the status of curriculum development and execution processes in the Ethiopian education system against Schwab’s signs of crisis in the field of curriculum

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the status of curriculum development and implementation practices in the Ethiopian education system through the lens of Schwab’s Signs of Crisis in the Curriculum Field. In 1969, Schwab identified three important ideas about the curriculum field in the American education system. First, he notified that the curriculum is moribund; second, the curriculum reached unexamined and mistaken reliance on theory, and third, the field needs a renaissance to contribute to the quality of education. The case-study method was used in this article. The case study aims to bring out unique characteristics and differences in the situation. It also involves a comprehensive analysis of a situation concerning subjects in organizations. This study was analyzed qualitatively through narration/description based on data-driven themes. The data were collected from primary sources. Primary sources included education policy documents of Ethiopia like ESDPs, curriculum framework, and ETP. In addition, educational articles, research reports, and ENLA examination result analysis were the major data sources in this study. The analysis confirmed that Schwab’s signs of crises in the curriculum field were prevalent and the resolutions made by the predominant view followers as a response to Schwab’s signs of crisis in the curriculum field were not in place in the curriculum development and implementation practices of the Ethiopian education system. It can be concluded that in the Ethiopian modern education system the past and the current systems remain unproductive in cultivating good citizenship and in revealing the societal and cultural values for the socioeconomic development of the country. Finally, the researchers recommended that curriculum specialists should exert unreserved effort to save the curriculum field from its gloomy occasion in the Ethiopian education system and thereby assure a renaissance for the quality of education.