An assessment of primary school instructional processes in promoting peace, harmony, and conflict management in government primary schools of the Addis Ababa City Government, Ethiopia: implications for teacher education

Abstract

Ethiopia has been suffering from absence of peace and recurrent conflicts emanating mainly from lack of tolerance of ethnic and religious differences. The purpose of the current study, therefore, is examining the contribution of primary school instructional processes to the prevalence of peace and harmony and reduction of conflicts and the implication it has for teacher education. A descriptive study design using quantitative method was used to study the current situation in schools. The instrument used for the study was questionnaire. Fifty per cent of teachers undergoing in-service education in the Addis Ababa University in the 2017-18 Academic Year were selected as sample using stratified simple random sampling technique. The validity of the instrument was determined using expert opinions and reliability was established by administering the questionnaire to 10 non-participating teachers. Data were collected by the researcher and an assistant and analyzed using mean, percentage and one way ANOVA. Outcomes suggested that the contents of harmony and conflict were not adequately taught and, consequently, lacked sufficient internalization by students Based on the outcomes, it was concluded that the contribution of instructional processes to the prevalence of peace and mitigation of conflicts was not sufficient. It was, thus, recommended that teachers should more extensively teach about the contents of peace and harmony. Moreover, the teacher education curriculum should include these same contents, and teachers need to be trained in the ways they could better teach the concepts and promote cooperation and collaboration among students.

Keywords: Peace, harmony, conflict, education, curriculum