Peace Education: A Missing Link in the Adult Education Sub-sector of Ethiopia?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore whether peace education has been incorporated into the integrated functional adult education program of Ethiopia. To this end, qualitative research design was employed. Phenomenological approach and qualitative content analysis were used. The required data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. A total of 53 respondents were selected by using purposive, availability and snow-ball sampling techniques in this qualitative study. Instruments of data collection were semi-structured interview guide, focus group discussion and open-ended questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed, triangulated, and interpreted qualitatively. Bias was overcome by using triangulation, member-checking, and tick description. The findings indicated that peace education as a theme was not integrated into the functional adult education program of Ethiopia even though there are peace education related concepts. It had also identified opportunities to integrate peace education into the educational program and also indicated the challenges like the lack of peace education in academic programs could lead to shortage of qualified professional peace education teachers; and integrating peace education into functional adult education program of the nation might incur huge financial costs. Based on the major findings, it was safely concluded that even though there are some peace education-related contents in the IFAE program, the lack of peace education as an independent theme in the adult education subsector of the country could hamper the development of the required modern conflict resolution techniques among adult learners.

Keywords: peace education, integrated functional adult education, stakeholder participation