Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness through Professional Training:

Evidence from the Higher Diploma Program in Eastern Ethiopian Universities

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of the Higher Diploma Program (HDP) for teacher professional training to instructors’ teaching effectiveness in three selected public universities in Ethiopia. An equal-subject causal-comparative research design was employed. Instructors and their respective students were selected through a simple random sampling technique, yielding 150 instructors (75 trained and 75 untrained; 50 from each university) and 600 students as participants. Of these, 123 instructors (82%) and 571 students (95.2%) successfully completed and returned the questionnaires. Participants included instructors who had completed the HDP training but had no other exposure to education courses, and a comparable group without HDP training. Data were collected using the Teacher Effectiveness Scale for Higher Education and a self-developed questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and One-Way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The results indicated that instructors who had undergone HDP training were perceived by their students as more effective across all four dimensions of teacher effectiveness. The One- Way ANOVA further revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups in teaching-related competence (F(1,569) = 265.702, p < .001) and relational competence (F(1,569) = 364.025, p < .001). However, no significant differences were found in subject-matter competence (F(1,569) = 258.016, p = .086) and personality (F(1,569) = 183.697, p = .096). It is therefore recommended that HDP training be sustained and extended to all instructors, accompanied by regular follow-up programs to ensure continuous application and reinforcement of acquired pedagogical skills.