Beginning Teacher Education Students' Attitude towards their Future Profession: The Case of Dilla College of Teacher Education and Health Sciences

Abstract

The present study was conducted on 138 freshman degree students in the Faculty of Teacher Education, Dilla College of Teacher Education and Health Sciences (DCTEHS). The aim was to find out whether or not trainee teachers were initially committed to teaching (or actually preferred teaching to other professions) and their attitudes towards the teaching profession. The data were collected using an attitude scale developed by the investigators and a survey questionnaire. The major statistical techniques employed were the non-parametric analogue of Friedman's 2-way ANOVA by ranks and the logistic regression analysis.

The results revealed that 74.6% of the respondents do not have initial commitment to teaching. The outstanding reasons for these were, perceived low social status accorded to teachers, absence of economic incentives, low chance for career advancement, and low base salary.

Further, high achievers in ESLCE seem to show low inclination to the teaching profession, and the likelihood of initial commitment to teaching was found to be relatively higher among those with comparatively low ESLCE GPA. Implications of the findings to redress the problem of teacher education in Ethiopia were also discussed in this paper.