1. Chapter One

1.1. Background

To fulfill human needs, it is true that an individual has to select a career that he aspires to engage in, seeking satisfaction from what he/she has selected will be the next step. Because satisfaction is an attainment by a person as a results of actual involvement in the particular profession. Herzberg etal. In the synopsis of D.Gallowayetal. (1985) argue that “satisfaction at work arises from aspect of the job which meets the individuals need for psychological growth.” Even though satisfaction is derived from the womb of hard work, it doesn’t mean that all people involved in any profession will enjoy the job they are assigned to do as, unfavorable working condition, lack of opportunity for promotion, status, influence from school, family, community and the like might have been influencing them.

The choice of profession is very vital to parents as well as to their children. Every normal child thinks of what to do for survival and how to make a meaningful contribution to the society, without proper choice of profession a child may become a burden, instead of asset to the society. What children will be when they grow up has often been a matter of intense interest to parents and manpower planners (Ipaye, 1986).

Akomolafe (2003) pointed out that the individual's vocation or career is one of the most important aspects of human endeavor because it determines a lot of things in human existence. It could either make or mar one's joy and happiness. Akomolafe further contended that true joy happiness and satisfaction are linked to proper choice of profession. He also posited that emotional and marital stability could be enhanced by the type of occupation one engages in. In the same vein, Ikeotuonye et al (1990) stated that choice of profession has been known to determine ends success or failure on a job.

In any society, now days, one of the popular and wide spread profession in which men and women are engaging in is teaching. Teaching as a profession has its own code of ethics and needs commitment. Commitment in teaching is nothing more than trust to safeguard teaching it self. The trust to safeguard teaching could not be something which is to be developed by imposition upon somebody by external pressure rather it needs to emanate form one’s own belief. This is to mean that having firm belief in something comes from being interested in it. In relation to this idea scholars noted that the following The teacher that we need in school must be prepared to move around in the teaching words.

As to J.F. Soltis, (1985), the ultimate purpose of being professional in education is to promote learning.³ hence, the person joining such a profession is expected to be interested in teaching . Interest in this context refers to have positive attitude towards teaching.

Therefore, it is safe to say that some one has positive attitude towards teaching if he/she will be in position to accomplish his/her commitment with all sacrifices it demands. Otherwise, the task will not be accomplished. Unless the task of teaching is fulfilled successfully, it seems to worthless to talk about good teaching learning process. With regard to strengthening the profession, Metens and Yargan, (1988) has to say the following. “The current interest in strengthening the teaching profession is being propelled by a desire to recruit high caliber people to teach and to retain the good teacher we already have.”[4]

Accordingly, this study will attempt to assess the attitude of the would be teachers in College Teacher Education of Oromia towards teaching profession, in respect of factors underlying their attitude such as ascribed status, salary, public attitude towards teaching profession and teachers, lack of incentive, lack of good promotion prospect and conducive working conditions etc

Hence, the investigators will made some sort of pilot survey interview to the would be teachers in College of Teacher Education of Oromia with regard to weather the above mentioned aspects have positive implication on their attitude towards teaching profession as their career.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

As College Teacher Education in Oromia are among the institutions offering training to perspective teachers, it is understood that the colleges have their own lioness share in providing qualified teachers for the country’s second cycle primary schools system. Underlying that this study will attempt to assess the attitude of the would be teachers in College of Teacher Education of Oromia towards teaching profession, in respect of factors underlying their attitude such as ascribed status, salary, public attitude towards teaching profession and teachers, lack of incentive, lack of good promotion prospect and conducive working conditions etc. In fact, these factors are said to influence the attitude of the trainees.

By and large, the study tried to answer the following basic questions.

Do factors such as,

- Ascribed status

- Salary

- Joining the profession without interest

- Public attitude towards teaching profession ,and

- Teachers Promotion prospect,

influence the attitude of the trainees towards teaching as profession?

1.3. General Objective of the Study

The objective of this study was to examine some of the important factors that can influence the attitude of trainee teachers towards the teaching profession.

1.4. Specific Objectives of the Study

Ø To examine the teacher trainees attitude towards teaching profession in some of Oromia Colleges of Teacher Education.

To investigate the extent of influences of the aforementioned factors such as,

- Ascribed status

- Salary

- Joining the profession without interest

- Public attitude towards teaching profession ,and

- Teachers Promotion prospect,

1.5. Significance of the Study

Showing enthusiasm and dedication for teaching is one of the main characteristics of a good teacher. Due consideration should be given to institutions like colleges of teacher education which are endowed to train such zealous and devoted teachers who are responsible to convey education which is the process of socialization of the learner, transformation of society, transmission of cultural heritage and enculturation.

Even though the process of education is the outcome of a team effort, teachers are the primary agents within the society through whom the younger generation gains knowledge, skills, values and attitude. Therefore, it is of great importance to survey the attitude of the prospective teachers towards teaching profession.

Therefore, this study was expected to be of great significance to educational authorities and other concerned bodies to improve the process of recruiting and training the teachers of tomorrow for the betterment of the country. Besides this it may serve as a point of initial references for other researchers who interested to conduct study in the area.

1.6. Delimitation of the Study

In order to reach at generalization it is necessary to conduct a wide range of investigation using large number of subjects from different campuses serving the same purpose together with the graduates at work. However, as it can be inferred from the title this study was bound to assess the attitude of teacher trainees’ in the College of Teacher Education of Oromia towards teaching profession. Moreover, even though there are various factors which influence the attitude of the trainees, this study was delimited to explore factors related to the hypothesis.

2. Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature

Man, being an agent and subject of change, he/she has to cope up with the demand of the changing world. As their is no society which could get its supremacy with out the virtue of an intense concentration, every generation is striving to achieve success through hard work hand-in hand with scientific and technological advancement.

The key instrument to this success and advancement is education through which one can get better understanding, appreciation and wise use of natural environment and its resources. That is why, this day the field of education attract attention of considerable number of scholars through out the world.

In support of this idea J.Worell and E. Stilwell (1981) wrote, that the main goal of all educational system is to effect some behavioral change over time through teaching- learning process.[5] That is, the basic aim of teaching- learning process is to facilitate individual growth and development and to prepare the student to function effectively and independently within the rapidly changing world. Within this framework, the teacher has much choice to under take. Concerning the role of teacher D.Gallowayetal (1985) wroth the following.

The prominent role a teacher can play is of paramount importance for the development of any society. This is because it is through effective teaching learning process that development in every aspect of change, attitude and skill can be attained. These changes are the basis for socio-economic and political system.

To this point a teacher has a great deal of influence on what kind of person that the future workers, scientists, will be, how he will work , what attitude he will have towards his activity in society, what his/her world out look and moral conviction and his/her behavior look a like. Hence every perspective and distinguished individuals in their respected field are all formed by the teachers.

A man's profession moulds his life. It determines his social class, his place of living, his dress, his hours of work at home. Indirectly, it affects his attitudes and opinion, his goals and values including the way he feels about education, his outlook on life and politics. Again longevity is related to one's profession. Some professions are associated with long life spans while others are associated with short one.

From this opinion, one can rightly say that one's profession affects so much of one's personality and life expectancy. There is no doubt that people's professions identify who they are and even determine how other people relate to them. Often times the respect people get from others depends on the type of profession they are into. Buttressing this position, Maisamari (1990) pointed out that dignity, honour, praise and privilege an individual enjoys in the society even within the immediate environment could depend on the type of job such individual does. It is no gainsaying that everything in life has a bearing with profession.

On a more general note, profession falls on a continuum. At one end of the continuum are high status profession privileges that are accorded to such vocations in the society. Professions in this group include law, medicine, architecture and engineering. At the other end of the continuum are low rated professions such as teaching. Though lowly-rated, teaching remains a unique and dynamic profession because education is a veritable tool for the building and sustenance of any nation.

Indeed, Musgrave (1982) stated that in many African nations it is assumed that many persons enter teaching because teaching is viewed only as a ladder through which they can climb onto other professions.

It is on this premise that the present study was conceived given the current attitude of the society towards teaching as a profession. Generally with regard to education, specially with regard to teaching so much effort has been done for its improvement. By conducting an intensive operational research and wide ranging investigation is expected in the future to build the process of teaching-learning on a strong basis. In such way, attempts have been made to reach the demand of the contemporary society with the practice of education that is exhibited. However, to bring about any qualitative change is not as simple as straight way travel or one way trip. Because each and every step forwarded in need of gain has its own pain. That is why still problems are there in teacher training school facilitation, improving classroom and so on.

Cognizant of the above problems noted that some teaches choose teaching profession without their intrinsic interest which can lead to withdrawal from their occupation and join another that is, better rewarding.

3. Chapter Three: Methods of the Study

The target populations in this study were the 2003E.C. prospective graduate teacher trainees’ in the three sample college of teacher education in Oromia. These included, Metu, Nekemte & Jimma Colleges of Teacher Education. That is the sample teacher trainees’ from the colleges were the source of information for this survey. To conduct this suvey study the researcher has employed descriptive survey type of study. The number of target population from the three sample colleges are about 3000’s. Among these target population 525 of them were considered or taken as a sample. On the other hand, there are about 180 teachers teaching in the three sample colleges. Still 92 teachers were considered in the study. In order to reach the required representative sample, the researchers employed systematic simple random sampling technique. In addition to this, the data gathering procedure was considered the higher official of the college and the heads of different units.

3.1. Instruments and Data Collection Procedure

The main data collection instruments in this study were questionnaire and interview. These instruments preferred since they are appropriate to seek the necessary information, opinion, and attitude in structured framework from the respondents. Questionnaire and interview were helpful in getting the necessary information from the trainees, student council, teachers and the college deans. The questionnaire involved structured multiple choice as well as open ended and items that were to be answered in five point-scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree or from very high to very low (Lickert scale method). The interview was designed to elicit information from the student council, teachers and deans of the college. The validity and reliability of the instruments was approved by experts in the area. Pilot survey was taken place one department of Jimma CTE and necessary amendment was made to the instruments before getting into the main research task.

3.2. Administration of the Instruments

After identifying the number of study population, questionnaire was distributed to 525of the study target population (Teacher Trainees of the three colleges). In the meantime the necessary clarification was made by the researcher and assistant data collector incase needs come from the respondents. The completed questionnaire was collected in duration of a more than a month as it was not possible to get back as has been planned in a duration of a week of the attendance of each college. The interview was made by the principal researcher for sample college instructors and principal of each college.

3.3. Method of Data Analysis

Depending on the number of groups involved and the type of measurement to be used to measure the dependent variable (Nachmios, 1987) the following statistical techniques was used in this study. Percentage was be used to explain the personality characteristics of the respondents and the see the degree of both the teacher trainees and the teacher trainer responses and to show the disparity in responses among different groups of respondents. For the attainment of the study validity other statistical such as ANOVA for multiple comparison was employed.

4. Chapter Four: Major Findings

4.1. Respondents’ Socio-demographic Characteristics

4.1.1. Female Students Socio-demographic Characteristics

As can be seen from Table 1, majority of the teacher trainees are in between the age of 20-30. These are accounted for 420(82.5%). 87 (17.1%) of the trainee teachers are at the age of less than 20. Only few of the trainees were seen at the age of 31-40 and above 40.

Table 1. Student Age

Table 2. Marriage Status of Student Teachers

As one can see from Table 2, majority /492(95.6%) of the teacher trainees are seen unmarried. However few of them who are accounted to 23(4.5%) are reported that they have married.

4.2. Instructors’ Socio-demographic Characteristics

Table 3 also showed that few teacher trainer’s less than 20 age. Majority of the teacher trainers that accounted to 37(41.2%) are between the age of 20-30. 27(30.6%) of them are in the age of 31-40, 16(18.1%) of the teacher trainers are between the age of 41-50 and few of them seen above the age of 50 (see Table 2).

As noted in Table 4, among the teacher trainers that are included in the study, 54(62.8) of them reported that they have married. On the other hand 32(37.2%) of the noted that never married.

Table 3. Teachers Age

Table 4. Teacher Trainers marriage status

As can be seen from Table 5, majority of the teacher trainee students, that are 278(53.7%) have noted that teacher accorded low social status, on the other hand there are 213 trainee teachers who disagree with the idea that teachers accorded law social status. 26 (5%) of the teacher trainees seen neutral in their response to the social status of teachers. As far as the self- satisfaction of teacher in teaching, majority of the teacher trainee respondents, 436(84.6%) agreed that there is no self-satisfaction in teaching, 59(11.4%) of them disagree with the idea, and 20(3.9%) which are few couldn’t identify their position. In line with the statement of teachers are well recognized, majority of the teacher trainee 366(70.1%) of them confirmed that teachers are well recognized, 105(20.4%) of them disagree with the idea of teachers are well recognized. Whereas, 44(8.5%) of them fail to specify their position. Regarding the idea of teaching in Oromia involves working in a depressive environment, 277(52.8%) of the respondents noted they agree with the statement, 192(36.6%) of the teacher trainees disagree with the idea/the statement, whereas 127(24.2%) of the respondents remained neutral in their responses to such a statement. Regarding the statement of teachers are poorly paid, majority of the teacher trainees which are about 459(88.1%) responses addressed that they disagree with the idea, 53(10.2%) of the teacher trainees noted they agree with the idea, and whereas only 9(1.7%) of the respondents remained neutral. As far as the statements of teachers are not regularly promoted is concerned, majority of the respondents, 293(56.3%) of them seen disagree with the idea, 193(37.1%) agreed with it and 34(6.3%) remained neutral in this respect. In line with the response of the teacher trainees to the statement teachers in Oromia are not timely paid their salaries, 234(45.7%) seen agree with the idea, 214(41.5%) of them disagree with the idea and 73(13.8%) of the teacher trainees seen unspecified their position. Regarding item 8, which is stated as teaching is interesting job, majority of the teacher trainees assured that it is interesting. That is confirmed by 472(91.6%) or the teacher trainee responses and few of the trainee respondents disagree with the idea and remained neutral. As far as how of joining the teaching profession, still majority of the respondents, 451(87.2%) noted that the joined the profession with their interest. However, 51(11.9%) respondents disagree and 15(2.9%) and remained neutral. Regarding the statement of there is no opportunity for continuous career development in teaching in Oromia, 380(72.8%) of the trainee teachers agreed with it, 118(22.6%) of them disagree and 24(4.6%) of the trainees remained neutral. As far as the statement of every one in teacher education, looks forward to leaving it for more rewarding careers is concerned, 188(36.2%) of the trainee respondents noted they agree, whereas, majority of the trainee respondents have noted that they disagree with the idea and 45(8.7%) of them remained unclear with their responses. Regarding item 12, which is stated as I like teaching profession, majority of the teacher trainees, 345(86.2%) of them clearly addressed they like it. 32(12%) found disagree with the idea and only 9(1, 7%) are un clear with their position. As far as the statement of teachers lack self confidence concerned, 408(79.5%) of the teacher trainees agreed with it, though the reason behind is not as such clear. On the other hand, 83(18.1%) and 22(4.3%) noted they disagree and unclear with their response respectively. Concerning the Public attitude towards teaching profession, 241(46.8%) teacher trainee respondents confirmed that, Public attitude towards teaching profession and teachers is not good, 230(44.6%) respondents disagree with the idea and 44(8.5%), which are few, failed to specify their position. As far as the answer to the statement of there is no opportunity for a teacher’s continuous professional development, 208(40%) of the teacher trainees agreed with such idea, 272(52.3%)of the teacher trainee respondents disagree with it and 40(7.7%) of them haven’t specify their position.

As one can see from the above table 6, 70(74.4%) teacher respondents disagree with the idea that states teachers accorded law social status. 20(21,3%) of them agreed with the idea of teachers accorded law social status and 4(4.3%) failed to specify their position. Concerning the statement of there is no satisfaction in teaching, 18(19.1%) of the teacher respondents disagree with it, majority of the instructors who are accounted for 74(80.1%) agreed with the statement of there is no satisfaction in teaching and only 2(2.2%) of the teacher respondents couldn’t specify their position. As far as the statement of teachers are well recognized, 47(49.5%) the respondents disagree with it. 37(39%) of the respondents agreed with the idea and 11(16.6%) them haven’t identified their position. Regarding the statement of teaching in Oromia involves working in a depressing environment, 60(65.2%) of the teacher respondents noted that they disagree with such idea, 20(21.7%) of the teacher respondents agreed with the idea and 12(13%) of them haven’t specify their position. As far as the statement of teachers are poorly paid is concerned, majority of the teacher respondents who are accounted to 80(83.1%) noted that they disagree with it. The other teacher respondents, who are about 10(10.6%) noted that they agree with the idea and 4(4.3%) of the teacher respondents failed to specify their position. Regarding the statement of teachers are not regularly promoted, 52(55.3%) of the teacher respondents disagree with it. On the other hand, 32(34%) of them agree with the statement of teachers are not regularly promoted and only 10(10.6%) of the teacher respondents failed to specify their position. As far as the statement of teachers in a Ethiopia are not timely paid their salary, 19(20.6%) of the teacher respondents disagree with such idea. However, majority of teacher respondents that accounted for 68(73.1%) have noted that they agreed with the idea and 6(6.5%) found unclear with their position to such a statement. Regarding the statement of teaching interesting job, 8(8.7%) only few teacher who are about 8(8.7%) seen disagree with such idea and still few teacher that are accounted to 5(6.5%) of the teacher respondents found unclear with their position. In line with the statement of teaching is interesting job, majority of the teacher respondents who are about 80(86%) have seen angered with it. Concerning the statement of joined the teaching profession with interest, 23(24.4%) of the teacher respondents response noted that they disagree with it. Which means, they joined the profession without interest, may be simply for making their temporal livelihood. On the other hand the response of the majority teachers that accounted to 67(71.3%) clearly addressed that they joined the profession with interest and only few or 4(4.3%) of the teacher respondents that unclear with their position. As far as the statement of there is no opportunity for continuous career-long self-improvement in teaching in Oromia, 24(25.6%) of the teacher respondents response noted that they disagree with such idea. Few of the teacherswhowere accounted to 4(4.3%) were found unclear with their position to such a statement. On the other hand majority of the teacher respondents who are accounted for 65(69.4%) seen agreed with there is no opportunity for continuous career-long self-improvement in teaching in Oromia.

Regarding the statement of everybody in teacher education looks forward to leaving it for more rewarding professional career, 74(78.7%) of the teacher respondents noted that they disagree with such an idea. 14(14.9%) seen agreed with the statement and 6(6.4%) of the teacher respondents seen unclear with their response to such a statement. Concerning the statement of I like of teaching job, 10(10.8%) of the respondents noted they don’t like it. Majority of the respondents who are amounted to 81(87.1%) have noted that they like teaching job. As far as the statement of teachers lack self-confidence, 9(9.8%) of the teacher respondents noted that they disagree with It. 15(16.3%) of the teacher respondents seen unclear with terrier position. However, the response of the majority teachers who are accounts for 68(73.9% have) clearly addressed that teachers lack self-confidence. In line with the statement of public attitude towards teaching profession and teacher is not good, 55(60.5%) of the teacher respondents found to disagree with it. 10(11%) of the teachers seen unclear with their position and 26(28.6%) of the teachers seen agreed with it. Regarding the statement of there is no opportunity for a teacher professional development/continuous professional development, about 47(50.1%) of the teacher respondents seen disagree with it. On the other hand, 39(42.4%) of the teacher seen agreed with the idea and few of the teacher who accounted to 6(6.5%) seen unclear with their position of the given statement.

As indicated in table 7, the result of multiple comparisons teacher trainees’ response from the three colleges has shown that teacher trainees in the college of teacher education do have positive attitude towards teaching profession.

Table 5. Teacher trainees Response

Table 6. Teachers response

Table 7. Multiple Comparisons teacher trainees response from the three colleges

Table 8. Multiple Comparisons teachers response from the three colleges

As can be seen in table 8, the result of multiple Comparisons teachers’ response from the three colleges noted that instructors in the college of teacher education do have positive attitude towards teaching profession.

5. Chapter five: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1. Summary

As has been seen in the finding part

● Teachers’ trainers disagree with the idea of teachers accorded law social status.

● The response of trainee teachers noted that teachers accorded law social status.

● Both teachers’ trainers and trainee teachers addressed that there is no satisfaction in teaching.

● They also noted that teachers are poorly paid.

● Still both groups have confirmed that there is no opportunity for continuous career-long self-improvement in teaching in Oromia.

● They also agreed that there is lack of self-confidence by teachers.

● Teacher trainees response noted that public attitude towards teaching is not good.

● They also noted that teachers are not regularly paid their salary.

● On the other, hand both groups seen disagree with the idea of teachers are not regularly promoted.

● Both groups have witnessed the joined the profession with interest

● They like teaching profession and

● They are proud of being a teacher.

5.2. Conclusions

The study result in general has noted that the trainee teacher attitude towards teaching profession is positive. This has been confirmed by the multiple comparison result of the one way ANOVA. However, there are some instances on which both teachers’ trainers and of trainee teachers noted that teachers accorded law social status, there is no satisfaction in teaching, teacher are poorly paid, there is no opportunity for continuous career-long self-improvement in teaching in Oromia, teachers lack of self-confidence, teachers are not regularly paid their salary and the trainee teachers addressed that public attitude towards teaching is not good.

5.3. Recommendations

According to the study result noted in the International Journal of Business and Social Science, by Alam, (2011) the importance of motivation in imparting education has raise many questions as, what is the actual motivation? What are the actual factors that promote students motivation towards teaching? Why teachers’ motivation is important? This so far teachers motivation can be affected by a number of factors such as, personal/social factors, classroom environment, socio-economic status, student behavior, examination stress, rewards/incentives, self-confidence/personality of the teacher etc.

Hence, based on the result of the study the researcher has tried to suggest some of the possible recommendation

Ø The responsible bodies specially the stake holders in the area (such as ministry of education and Regional education officials) need to give due attention to such aspect and try to boom the moral of the teacher so as to attract potential people to the teaching profession

Ø Teacher, should not calculate everything in terms of money as to earn much money not necessarily boom teachers moral as teaching profession to be guided by its own ethics since teachers are dealing with human resources

Ø There has to be deal with the existing teacher so that they could be good role model to attract other to the profession

Ø The responsible bodies should try to create ways of booming teachers moral through giving the opportunity of taking part in educational symposium, workshops and professional development trainings.

Questionnaire for Teacher Trainees

Background This study is to assess Teacher Trainees Attitude towards Teaching Profession Dear respondents, this questionnaire is intended to investigate some of the factors influencing teacher trainees towards teaching profession.

Hence, this study is to be useful and accurate, you need to be genuine. Therefore, it is important that you need to answer each questions thoroughly and frankly as possible. All information you give will be confidential and employed for the purpose of this study. For more confidentiality not write your name on the question paper.

General Instruction

You need to respond all questions. Please read each part following the given instruction at that beginning of each part.

General Information

1. Name of your College ___________________

2. Your Department ______________________

3. Age. _____________

4. Marital Status

a) Married b). Unmarried

5. Field of study a). Major______________ b). Minor______________

1) Your general comments for improving teachers’ attitude towards teaching profession

Questionnaire for Teachers

Background

This study is to assess Teacher Trainees Attitude towards Teaching Profession

Dear respondents, this questionnaire is intended to investigate some of the factors influencing teacher trainees towards teaching profession.

Hence, this study is to be useful and accurate, you need to be genuine. Therefore, it is important that you need to answer each questions thoroughly and frankly as possible. All information you give will be confidential and employed for the purpose of this study. For more confidentiality not write your name on the question paper.

General Instruction

You need to respond all questions. Please read each part following the given instruction at that beginning of each part.

General Information

1. Name of your Collegr ___________________

2. Your Department ______________________

3. Age. _____________

4. Marital Status

a) Married b). Unmarried

5. Field of study a). Major______________ b). Minor______________

2) Your general comments for improving teachers’ attitude towards teaching profession