Ethiopian Stakeholders’ Ethnotheories regarding Quality Education: An exploratory qualitative research on Ethiopian stakeholders’ ethnotheories regarding quality education and the match with the EDU Q-card

Abstract

Edukans, an international N.G.O., developed the EDU Q-card, a tool that assesses the quality of education in developing countries. The general aim of this study was to address the construct validity of the EDU Q-card by examining Ethiopian stakeholders’ ethnotheories regarding quality education and analyzing to what extent these ethnotheories match the main pillars of the EDU Q-card. Based on these findings, indications of the cultural sensitivity of the EDU Q-card could be given. Sixteen semi-structured interviews with Ethiopian stakeholders of quality education were conducted in Addis Ababa and Jima (Ethiopia). The data was analyzed using a qualitative data analysis method. Together, the findings suggested that the five pillars of the EDU Q-card matched the ethnotheories regarding quality education of the Ethiopian stakeholders. This implies that the construct validity of the EDU Q-card could be strong. Therefore, it can also be assumed that the cultural sensitivity of the EDU Q-card could be indicated as strong. However, the Ethiopian stakeholders would prefer the EDU Q-card to be adjusted to their government’s education policies. Therefore, it is recommended for Edukans, in order to improve the cultural sensitivity of the EDU Q-card, to combine the five pillars with an emic approach by taking the government policies of a country into account.