A critical inquiry‐oriented pedagogy: an insider’s reflections on an in‐service teacher education project in Ethiopia

Abstract

This article presents an insider’s reflection on an innovative on‐the‐job teacher education course offered from 2003 to 2005 in Ethiopia combining distance and face‐to‐face modes. The text adopts a descriptive‐analytic approach in reporting the insider’s reflections. To analyze the course, the author used his colleagues’ and his own documentations of the course activities as a major source of data. Moreover, documents such as syllabus, schedules, task sheets and study materials were analyzed to shed light on the author’s understandings of the situation. The author argues that the course’s epistemological and ideological foundations were geared towards the socio‐historical circumstances surrounding Ethiopia’s education. The author identified constraining problems and challenges that have both micro and macro dimensions. The author also reflected that, withstanding such challenges, the course was somewhat able to involve participants in the process of conscientization and create a community of educators who share common pedagogical and ideological discourses and convictions.