Conceptions and Traditions of Adult Literacy Curriculum in Ethiopia

How we conceive of curriculum and curriculum traditions is important because our conceptions and ways of reasoning about curriculum reflect and shape how we see, think and talk about, study and act on the education made available to adult learners. This study was carried out in order to understand and explicate the conceptions adult education practitioners hold and the dominant traditions observable in the development of adult literacy curriculum in Ethiopia. Accordingly, it was found that adult education practitioners are theoretically well informed on the meaning and purpose of adult literacy. On the other hand, though the system/objective and progressive traditions to ALC seem to dominate ALC work in Ethiopia, the curriculum can be said holistic and it is rooted in the notions,assumptions and ideologies of various traditions of adult education. Therefore, it has been implied that because there is no as such significant conceptual/ theoretical or design problem in developing and adapting ALC, the problem of weak adult literacy program in Ethiopia may be attributed to lack of commitment to its effective implementation at various levels.