Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks

There is broad consensus that citizenship or civic education plays an important role in preparing democratic, tolerant and socially active citizens, although the role of civic education in achieving this goal in divided societies is far from straightforward. There is also the interdependent goal of...

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Main Authors: Zerihun Takele Ayane, Dawit Mekonnen Mihiretie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-01-01
Series:Social Sciences and Humanities Open
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124001104
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author Zerihun Takele Ayane
Dawit Mekonnen Mihiretie
author_facet Zerihun Takele Ayane
Dawit Mekonnen Mihiretie
author_sort Zerihun Takele Ayane
collection DOAJ
description There is broad consensus that citizenship or civic education plays an important role in preparing democratic, tolerant and socially active citizens, although the role of civic education in achieving this goal in divided societies is far from straightforward. There is also the interdependent goal of developing a good person and a good citizen. In order for this to be successful, the content and pedagogy integrated into the formal curriculum (core curriculum framework and textbooks) play an indispensable role. This article examines how the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen are presented as learners' distinctive personal development in the Ethiopian civics textbooks (grades 9 to 12) and to what extent the learning activities in textbooks enable learners to explore alternative qualities of a good person and good citizens. The study mainly used quantitative content analysis method. All pages of the textbooks were used as units of analysis. The results show that the textbooks presented the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen as distinct dimensions of students' personal development. However, almost two third of the contents emphasize social self-identity (good citizens), while a fifth of the contents deal with autonomous self-identity (good person). The results also reveal that there are open-ended and future-oriented learning activities that can help students discover alternative characteristics of a good person and a good citizen. Most studies on Ethiopian secondary school and university students question the extent to which students develop and demonstrate desired goals of civic and ethnical education. The effectiveness of civic and ethical education in divided countries where the goals of the formal curriculum are not reinforced by macro-social political conditions and other factors of socialization are discussed.
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spelling doaj-art-f67a5566b5a6466786f3c49a525d0eb72024-11-21T06:05:22ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112024-01-0110100913Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooksZerihun Takele Ayane0Dawit Mekonnen Mihiretie1Chiro College of Teacher Education, West Hararghe, Ethiopia; Corresponding author.Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Addis Ababa University, EthiopiaThere is broad consensus that citizenship or civic education plays an important role in preparing democratic, tolerant and socially active citizens, although the role of civic education in achieving this goal in divided societies is far from straightforward. There is also the interdependent goal of developing a good person and a good citizen. In order for this to be successful, the content and pedagogy integrated into the formal curriculum (core curriculum framework and textbooks) play an indispensable role. This article examines how the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen are presented as learners' distinctive personal development in the Ethiopian civics textbooks (grades 9 to 12) and to what extent the learning activities in textbooks enable learners to explore alternative qualities of a good person and good citizens. The study mainly used quantitative content analysis method. All pages of the textbooks were used as units of analysis. The results show that the textbooks presented the characteristics of a good person and a good citizen as distinct dimensions of students' personal development. However, almost two third of the contents emphasize social self-identity (good citizens), while a fifth of the contents deal with autonomous self-identity (good person). The results also reveal that there are open-ended and future-oriented learning activities that can help students discover alternative characteristics of a good person and a good citizen. Most studies on Ethiopian secondary school and university students question the extent to which students develop and demonstrate desired goals of civic and ethnical education. The effectiveness of civic and ethical education in divided countries where the goals of the formal curriculum are not reinforced by macro-social political conditions and other factors of socialization are discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124001104Civic educationGood personGood citizensAutonomous selfSocial selfIdentity
spellingShingle Zerihun Takele Ayane
Dawit Mekonnen Mihiretie
Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Civic education
Good person
Good citizens
Autonomous self
Social self
Identity
title Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
title_full Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
title_fullStr Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
title_full_unstemmed Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
title_short Developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in Ethiopia: A content analysis of secondary school textbooks
title_sort developing good person and citizen through civic and ethical education in ethiopia a content analysis of secondary school textbooks
topic Civic education
Good person
Good citizens
Autonomous self
Social self
Identity
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124001104
work_keys_str_mv AT zerihuntakeleayane developinggoodpersonandcitizenthroughcivicandethicaleducationinethiopiaacontentanalysisofsecondaryschooltextbooks
AT dawitmekonnenmihiretie developinggoodpersonandcitizenthroughcivicandethicaleducationinethiopiaacontentanalysisofsecondaryschooltextbooks