Attitude of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) Student Teachers towards Teaching Profession in Ethiopian University College of Teacher Education

This paper is a survey conducted to explore the attitude of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) students towards their profession in the College of Education and Behavioral sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia. The study was conducted on a sample of 305 PGDT student teachers studying in the college. Among them 246 were males and 59 were females and methodology wise 15 were Amharic, 38 Biology, 58 Chemistry, 37 Civics, 26 English, 12 Geography, 14 History, 43 Mathematics, 46 Physics, and 16 were sport Sciences student teachers. They were administered for questionnaire developed by the investigator. The questionnaire consisted of 24 attitude items with 5 point Likert scale and multiple choice items as well as rank order items. The collected data were analyzed with frequency, percent, weighted mean, standard deviation and t-test to see differences across sex and work place. Except Geography and Sport sciences, no statistically significant difference in attitude is observed across specialization of student teachers. The first major reason of PGDT student teachers for joining the teaching profession was lack of other options and the first major factor that motivated student teachers to stay in the teaching profession was working environment. Finally the Ministry of Education, the Regional Education Bureaus, teacher Education Institution and teacher educators should promote about the relevance of the profession and being a teacher is recommended as a means to improve attitude towards teaching professionals