A Phenomenological Study: On the Lived-experiences of Instructors' in the Higher Diploma Training Program

Abstract

Ethiopian Public universities require their staff to go through a higher diploma training that is thought to enhance their teaching capacity at higher education level to enhance student learning. A vigorous policy of staff development is an essential element for higher education institutions. Clear policies should be established concerning higher education teachers, who nowadays need to focus on teaching students how to learn and how to take initiatives rather than being exclusively founts of knowledge. In consideration of such policy Dire Dawa University, as in all other public Universities in Ethiopia, has instituted a higher education teacher development program usually referred to as Higher Diploma Program. Therefore, this study aimed to undertake a phenomenological research inquiry into the lived experiences of higher diploma trainees at Dire Dawa University which enabled me to explore relevant themes, process and patterns that have characterized the higher diploma training programs at Dire Dawa University, especially the reasons that lead to trainee dissatisfaction and dropout. The lived experiences of instructors who have gone through the training program was analyzed from four perspectives i.e. addressing trainees needs & interests, motivation for joining the training, educative capacity of the training and improving ones professional practice. Previous research concerning the importance of pedagogical training for higher education instructors has mainly utilized quantitative methodology. However, this study adopted a qualitative approach to provide unique insight into higher diploma training experiences of university instructors. The participants of the study were selected using snowball sampling method from the first, the second and third batch of trainees of the program. Data were collected from 8 instructors who have gone through the training program using unstructured interview. The collected data was analyzed using narrative qualitative analysis method. The findings of the study revealed that University instructors who joined the training didn't understand the objectives of the program, therefore participate in the training program for purposes other than what it was designed for and to guard their job against any threat of job insecurity they felt. Therefore, it was recommended that before instructors are coerced to join HDP training programs conducting need assessment and organizing & conducting orientation programs to identify gaps and raise interest and designing  training programs depending on the gaps identified would help to alleviate most of the problems instructors and the program encountered while conducting the training.