Exploring the status of curriculum development and execution processes in the Ethiopian education system against Schwab’s signs of crisis in the field of curriculum

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyze the status of curriculum development and implementation practices in the Ethiopian education system through the lens of Schwab’s Signs of Crisis in the Curriculum Field. In 1969, Schwab identified three important ideas about the curriculum field in the American education system. First, he notified that the curriculum is moribund; second, the curriculum reached unexamined and mistaken reliance on theory, and third, the field needs a renaissance to contribute to the quality of education. The case-study method was used in this article. The case study aims to bring out unique characteristics and differences in the situation. It also involves a comprehensive analysis of a situation concerning subjects in organizations. This study was analyzed qualitatively through narration/description based on data-driven themes. The data were collected from primary sources. Primary sources included education policy documents of Ethiopia like ESDPs, curriculum framework, and ETP. In addition, educational articles, research reports, and ENLA examination result analysis were the major data sources in this study. The analysis confirmed that Schwab’s signs of crises in the curriculum field were prevalent and the resolutions made by the predominant view followers as a response to Schwab’s signs of crisis in the curriculum field were not in place in the curriculum development and implementation practices of the Ethiopian education system. It can be concluded that in the Ethiopian modern education system the past and the current systems remain unproductive in cultivating good citizenship and in revealing the societal and cultural values for the socioeconomic development of the country. Finally, the researchers recommended that curriculum specialists should exert unreserved effort to save the curriculum field from its gloomy occasion in the Ethiopian education system and thereby assure a renaissance for the quality of education.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
TThis study focused to analyze the status of curriculum development and implementation practices in the Ethiopian education system through the lens of Schwab's Signs of Crisis in the Curriculum Field. Data were collected from education policy documents of Ethiopia such as education-sector development programs (ESDPs), the curriculum framework, education training policy (ETP), Ethiopian national learning assessment (ENLA) analysis and educational articles and research reports. This study was analyzed through narration/description based on data-driven themes. The paper confirmed that Schwab's signs of crises in the curriculum field were prevalent. And, the resolutions made by the predominant view followers as a response to Schwab's signs of crisis in the curriculum field were not in place in the curriculum development and implementation practices in Ethiopia. Finally, the researchers recommended that curriculum specialists should exert unreserved effort to put away the curriculum field from its gloomy occasion in the Ethiopian education system and thereby assure a renaissance for the quality of education.
confirmed that Schwab's signs of crises in the curriculum field were prevalent and the resolutions made by the predominant view followers as a response to Schwab's signs of crisis in the curriculum field were not in place in the curriculum development and implementation practices of the Ethiopian education system. It can be concluded that in the Ethiopian modern education system the past and the current systems remain unproductive in cultivating good citizenship and in revealing the societal and cultural values for the socioeconomic development of the country. Finally, the researchers recommended that curriculum specialists should exert unreserved effort to save the curriculum field from its gloomy occasion in the Ethiopian education system and thereby assure a renaissance for the quality of education.

Introduction
Ethiopia is on a journey to its renaissance targeting achieving peace, diversity-within-unity, broad and rapid socio-economic growth, and the establishment of democratic systems. The government has been engaged in a major effort to transform Ethiopian society and place the country on a trajectory to become a middle-income economy by the year, 2030. Over the last several years, the economy grew by nearly 10% per annum in Ethiopia, one of the fastest growth rates registered in the world. During this time, significant attention has been given to upgrading the economic and social infrastructure and promoting pro-poor spending on education, health, and other services to benefit the poor and the marginalized (MoE, 2018;MoE, 2005MoE, , 2015MoE, , 2018.
Within the framework of the 1994 Education and Training Policy (hereafter ETP), the Government launched the first 5-year Education Sector Development Program (ESDP-I) in 1997 as part of a twenty-year education sector indicative plans, which has been translated into a series of national ESDPs (ESDP I-V) pointing out the problems of the Ethiopian education systems associated with educational quality, relevance, access, equity and efficiency in the past regimes of Ethiopia MoE, 1994;MoE, 2005, 2015, MoE, 2018. Since the formulation of the 1 st Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP I), education was given special attention to the transformation of the economy from agriculture-led to industry-led activity and thereby supporting the manufacturing sector by supplying the required professionals and problem-solving technological innovations (MoE, , 2015(MoE, , 2018(MoE, , 2021. It is obvious that the education system of any country is based on certain philosophical, psychological, and historical assumptions (McKernan, 2008;Ornstein & Hunkins, 2018) as well as theories and models within the respective nation's political thought (Ornstein & Levine, 2018). Different scholars are dealing with education and curriculum matters who influenced the direction of education in the world and Africa at large and Ethiopia in particular. The view of education and curriculum development efforts in the case of Ethiopia, therefore, can be analyzed from the perspectives of different educational theories and of the respective scholars.
Ethiopia with its diversified cultural group has its calendar, numeration system, writing, art, poetic forms, and cultural values with the cultural heritage of the society. The introduction of the Orthodox church education in the 4 th century BC and Quranic education in the 7 th century BC, with the purpose of training qualified priests and sheks" to serve the religious institutions, respectively, led to the introduction and expansion of religious education in the country. Modern education was initiated in 1908 with the opening of Menelik II primary school. However, since its inception, Ethiopian modern education was influenced by the French , the Italian (1936)(1937)(1938)(1939)(1940)(1941), the British (1941)(1942)(1943)(1944)(1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952), the American , the Socialist countries (1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991) and from 1994 to-date by the Western countries. As a result, various curriculum reforms, educational structure, and language changes as a medium of instruction were made by the perspective of the political ideology of the respective countries mentioned before without realizing the context of Ethiopia.
For instance, during the period of emperor Minilik ІІ, the curriculum mainly contained teaching foreign languages such as French, English, Italian, Arabic, and the native language Amharic. Due to this fact, Menelik ІІ School resembled a language institution rather than a proper school (Negash, 1990). Like its predecessor, during the period of Emperor Haile Selassie, many schools were opened and the curriculum operation was fetched from western countries such as France, Italy, Britain, and the United States. On the other hand, during the "Derg regime" (the Military government of Ethiopia), the curriculum perspective had been changed to socialist ideology, which was influenced by the socialist camp of East European countries by criticizing the Imperial period. Hence, the objectives of the then curriculum were geared towards the principle of "Education for production, for scientific research, and political consciousness." (Adane, 1993). After the collapse of the "Derg regime," the 1994 Education and Training Policy also emerged in the Ethiopian education system with a new organizational structure, curriculum development and implementation, medium of instruction, assessment issues, educational financing, and leadership (MoE, 1994). This paper, therefore, aimed at exploring Ethiopian practical experiences of the modern education system with emphasis on curriculum development and implementation practices in various regimes concerning Schwab's (who was known for his deliberative curriculum theorizing and was also considered a pioneer of notion curriculum as practice) curriculum theory, with a focus on the crisis and renaissance of the curriculum.

Method
The primary goal of this study was to explore the status of curriculum development and implementation practices in the Ethiopian education system against Schwab's Signs of Crisis in the Curriculum Field. For this research purpose, qualitative method and case study design were employed. The qualitative research method is used since the data were analyzed and discussed qualitatively through narration/description base. The case study design is appropriate for this research article since it provides a deep exploration of the case. The case study approach is an inquiry that allows for a deep exploration of one or more cases in the context and it is particularly suitable for answering "how" and "why" questions (Creswell, 2007).
Documents were used as primary data sources. These include education policy documents of Ethiopia like ESDPs, curriculum framework, ETP, and ENLA examination results analysis. In addition, relevant educational research articles and reports were used. The primary sources were carefully reviewed and analyzed to draw conclusions and recommendations.

Modern education and curriculum in Ethiopia
Until the early 1900s, the modern education system had been confined to a system of religious instruction organized and presented under the aegis of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Church schools prepared individuals for the clergy and other religious duties and positions. In the process, these church schools provided religious education to the children of the nobility and the sons of limited numbers of tenant farmers and servants associated with elite families. In the early 1900s, religious schools were mainly serving the Amhara and Tigray inhabitants of the Ethiopian highlands. The then misguided educational policies caused very few children to receive an education. As a result, Ethiopia did not meet the educational standards of other African countries in the early 1900s.
The Ethiopian church stood against the introduction of modern education because it feared the conversation of the people to Catholicism. The resistance to modern education was also supported by the clergy who were religious and conservative. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, withstanding this great resistance from clergies, Menelik II also permitted the establishment of European missionary schools. At the same time, Islamic schools provided some education for a small part of Muslim society. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the education system's failure to meet the needs of people involved in statecraft, diplomacy, commerce, and industry was strongly felt and led to the introduction of government-sponsored secular education.
Emperor Menelik II School, the first public school, was opened in October 1908. The school aimed to produce interpreters and clerks in line with the perspectives of the western education system. Following the opening of Menelik II School in Addis Ababa, other schools were opened at Ankober, Dessie, and Harar the different places in Ethiopia). Menelik School was staffed by Egyptian teachers who employed French as a medium of instruction. In addition, the curriculum in operation was not indigenous. The Ethiopians were alien to the French experience and the education was characterized by assimilation. Between 1908 and 1935, education was aimed to master different languages. As a result, the curriculum was mostly composed of such language courses as French, Italian, Geez, Arabic, and Amharic (Alemayehu & Melesse, 2017;Alemayehu & Lasser, 2012). Furthermore, some courses in religion, mathematics, law, and calligraphy were offered (Adane, 1993).
Despite the Emperor's (Menelik ІІ) interest and arrangements made with the church regarding the selection of teachers and the content of the curriculum and arrangement of education, schools could not attract the young people. It can be said that the Ethiopian education system had been characterized by its irrelevant objectives and inappropriate curriculum to the socio-economic development of the country and slow growth, whiwas totally blocked by the Italian Fascist occupation of Ethiopia, which lasted for 5 years. The main objectives of the curriculum were to teach the rudiments of the 3Rs (Reading, writing, & Arithmetic), to give some training in semivocational skills, to instill acceptance of the fascist value and a sense of loyalty to the fascist regime (Adane, 1993). As a result, there was no uniform and standardized curriculum and standardized assessment methods in schools in Ethiopia.
In 1942 as Ethiopia restored its freedom, the immediate need for the country was to rebuild the education system to generate a supply of Ethiopian personnel. However, this idea was challenged by the problem of staffing the schools. This pushed the then government to advance education in the country. As a result, the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts was established in 1942, and the effort to modernize education started all over the country again. Consequently, schools started blossoming in some urban centers of the country (Tefera, 1996). During this time, the British offered aid to run modern education, which brought about an elimination of French influence and the introduction of British influence.
From 1942 to 1954, the Ethiopian education system was highly influenced by British advisors. These advisors greatly influenced the structure of Ethiopian education, the medium of instruction, and the evaluation system (Zewdie, 2000). Ethiopia had imported western Education by side living (zero beginning) its system; therefore, the country failed to create a uniquely Ethiopian system of education. The education system did not reflect the cultural, social, and, economic situation of the country as it was dominated by the British education system and the period was known as the British domination period. During this period, schools started functioning with teachers from British or British colonies and protectorates, and materials were imported from the same country. The fundamental principle that directed the development and implementation of school curricula until 1952 was the political agenda of the aristocracy and their foreign advisors (Zewdie, 2000), as cited in Ayemayehu and Lasser (2012).
After 1953, reforms regarding the involvement and participation of educated Ethiopians were put in place. Human resource development was given due attention in this period, which led to the involvement of Ethiopians in areas ranginng from policy-making to classroom practice (Ayemayehu & Lasser, 2012). The original tendency of the educational system was designed to develop the humanities emphasizing technical and vocational education to provide plumbers, mechanics of various kinds, electricians, agriculturalists as well as experts. The curriculum was not based on the economic, social, and cultural realities of Ethiopia; rather, its components were copied from other countries. Textbooks for primary education were translated from other languages without reflecting the Ethiopian situation. The secondary school syllabus was based on the London School Leaving Certificate Examination.
Starting from the 1950s onwards, there was a gradual reduction of British influence as Americans began working in the Ministry of Education and experimental curriculum became operational up to the end of the imperial period. From 1952 to 1974, it was essentially instigated by a Long Term Planning Committee under the chairmanship of the Vice Minister of Education and Fine Arts. American Advisors were also members of this committee. This committee recommended that the fundamental principles for developing and implementing a national school curriculum must be based on a careful assessment of the needs of the people concerning cultural, social, and environmental characteristics. Amharic was chosen to serve as the medium of instruction inschools in 1957.
In 1955, the Long Term Planning Committee focused on the speedy promotion of universal fundamental education, as well as the relevance of the curriculum to the needs of society. The American influence on Ethiopian education was reflected in the new grade structure (i.e., 6-2-4) that was introduced by the Americans, who participated in the Long Term Planning committee. This combination meant that a student had to go through 6 years of primary, 2 years of junior secondary and 4 years of senior high-school education. Another significant change made during the time of American influence was the promotion of Amharic as the medium of instruction at the primary school level. As Americans began to increase their influence on the Ethiopian educational system, they began to assume headmasterships and teaching positions in schools and started to participate in the process of the policy-making through the Education Advisory Group (Zewdie, 2000) as cited in Ayemayehu and Lasser (2012). This group was involved in the operations of the Long Term Planning Committee and in the 1971 Education Sector Review (ESR). Because many had perceived that foreign involvement in Ethiopia's educational system was excessive, the government of the country gradually began to contextualize the education system. The government also improved and expanded the education and training system to achieve aims relevant both to the society and the overall development of the country, utilized education to promote national integration and identified priority studies and investments in education and training (Tekeste, 1990). Accordingly, ESR was exercised an innovative approach to make education more relevant to the actual Ethiopian culture and needs. It was also a program designed primarily to integrate education with vocational and environmental education. As a result, the ESR proposed three alternative strategies for future educational development (Adane, 1993).
Alternative one was the continuation of the existing system (6-2-4), with significant modifications to speed the attainment of mass education at primary level and revision in curriculum to make both primary and secondary education more practical and meaningful to a great majority of the students who do not go to a higher level. Alternative two was a 4-4-4 system with the curriculum in grades 1-4 changed very sustainably to provide a minimum formation education, which would emphasize environmental and work-oriented programs as well as the development of basic literacy, nume,racy and reasoning skills. But, alternative three provided two parallel education channels (4-2-2) system (1) with a minimum formation program, which accepted students of 9 years of age and older, and 4 years prepare for useful employment, for subsequent non-formal education or for entry to junior secondary school and (2) a basic formation program, which could enroll students of age 12 and older who had not attended school previously, and after 2 years would enter a 3-year secondary formation program to join the workforce or transfer to junior secondary schools.
But, ultimately, ESR adopted alternative two-a 4-4-4 education structure-in connection with the proposal for basic and secondary education formation in alternative three (Adane, 1993). However, before the execution of the recommended proposal teacher generated resistance nationwide controversies continued. Due to the lack of publicity about the study and lack of the participation of parents, teachers, and students, a negative public attitude was developed towards the whole project of ESR (Adane, 1993). The crises in education and the recommendation of the ESR mobilized students and teachers to strike and led to a successive wave of local and national strikes that began early in 1974 and continued until the overthrow of the imperial system in September 1974.
The "Derg Regime" came to power in 1974 with socialism as the fundamental political philosophy of the government. At the onset of the revolution, the imperial regime was criticized for giving more emphasis to intellectual education that c produce white-collar professionals, disregarding technical education, being less labor-oriented and less democratic, and less equity and quality in both levels that relied on foreign curriculum. In an attempt to the educational system, a new educational policy was sought that emphasized socialist ideology with the broad objectives of "education for production, education for scientific research and education for political consciousness" which is adapted from socialist countries. Thus, the Marxist-Leninist philosophy was the central theme that guided the political, economic, and social life of the country. Eastern European governments or 'the socialist camps" provided policy advisors to develop a curriculum based on their central theme, "serving better the interests of the masses and enhance its contribution towards the establishment of a socialist society" (Zewdie, 2000), as cited in Ayemayehu and Lasser (2012, p. 11). As a result, the aims, content, and materials of education were designed in alignment with socialist principles for its fundamental intention of cultivating Marxist-Leninist ideology in the young generation, to develop knowledge in science and technology, in the new culture and the arts and integrate and coordinate research to enable the revolution to move forward and secure productive citizens.
To accomplish this educational reform, the Ministry of Education designed a new curriculum, and developed new textbooks, teachers' guides, and other materials for nearly all subjects and grades of the regular schools. The instructional materials were produced in consonance with government guidelines, the National Democratic Revolution Program, and later on the Workers Party of Ethiopia's Program, the 10-years Economic and Social Development Perspective Plan, and other economic, political, social, and cultural proclamations (Tekeste, 1990).
Though a quantifiable expansion of the educational system at face value appeared to be quite impressive and its launching of a vigorous national campaign against illiteracy significant problems lay behind the figures, it was not possible to make education equitably accessible to all regions. Educational quality was decreasing as compared with the previous periods. To the effect of the identifying problems, the government passed a resolution in 1983 calling for a review of the education sector, and the Ministry of Education initiated a project "Evaluative Research on General Education system of Ethiopia" (hereafter ERGESE).
The major findings of ERGESE targeted were as follows: the poor quality of textbooks that did not reflect national educational objectives and focused on the instruction itself than learning dimensions; the secondary school subjects suffered either from lack of clarity, coherence, and consistency of conent, or from the poor style of presentation; Amharic as a medium of instruction in the primary school (grade 1-6) has created difficulties for students whose mother tongue is not Amharic; using English as a medium of instruction from grades 7-12 created difficulties for both teachers and students; the educational structures, namely primary (grade 1-6), junior secondary (7-8) and senior secondary (9-12) were not satisfactorily integrated and coordinated and the expansion of the education system was with the economic resources and capability of the state (Adane, 1993;Tekeste, 1990).
The above findings of ERGESE indicated that the Ethiopian Education system became worse due to a shortage of textbooks, language problems, poorly integrated structure of the education system, and a lack of adequate resources. Ultimately, the "Derg regime" was overthrown and the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front hereafter EPRDF) came to power. During the Imperial, and "Derg" regimes, the Ethiopian education system had long-standing problems associated with limited access, lack of equity and relevance, and continuous decline in quality and standard (Negash, 1996). When "Derg" came to power, it destroyed the whole education system of the Imperial period and in turn, when "Derg" was overthrown by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), all school infrastructures and organizational structures had been destroyed and there was little access to education and extreme poverty was widespread.
When EPRDF came to power, it came up with another new education and training policy, which was launched in 1994 (MOE, 1994). This education and training policy had five general and 15 specific objectives with its major feature of reorganization of the curriculum and introduction of ethnic languages as medium of instruction, emphasis on active learning methods, continuous assessment, special needs education, school organization, and leadership and school financing (MoE, 1994). During this period, though there were many strides in terms of access, equity, relevance, and quality, still there were many gaps in equity, efficiency, quality, and fulfilling standard curriculum (MoE, 1994(MoE, , 2018. During EPRDF, primary education (grades 1-8) and secondary education (grades 9-12) were introduced by dividing into two cycles as a 4-4-2-2 education structure. However, still, the curricula in the levels were highly theory-oriented, or as Schwab stated "not practice centered," not context-based, and heavily foreign dependent. To understand the problems, the government of Ethiopia tried to reform the existing education system and its curriculum development and implementation practices developed a new draft of education policy in 2020 (MoE, 2020(MoE, , 2018. This was done based on the education road map study findings in 2018.

The current curriculum framework of the Ethiopian Education System
The curriculum framework for Ethiopian education stated that the purpose of primary education was to provide basic education, which is appropriate to the physical and cognitive developments of the learners (MoE, 2010). Within the framework of the Education and Training Policy (hereafter ETP), Ethiopia has launched a series of 5-year Education Sector Development Programs (ESDPs I-V) where each of them at different times focused on major policy problems such as access, equity, quality, and relevance for both educational levels (, MoE, 2010).
Based on the country's concrete conditions, changes have been made concerning the organizational structure of the education systems MoE, 1994MoE, , 2005MoE, , 2015. It has thus been found appropriate to extend the duration of elementary school from 6 to 8 years. The system also divides the years of secondary school into two levels, in which grades 9 and 10 focus on general education, where students will acquire academic knowledge that will prepare them to enroll either in vocational training programs in differefields or in preparatory grades of 11 and 12 (MoE, 1994). Grades 11 and 12 are considered as preparation for higher or tertiary education.
The pre-primary education curriculum with its two stages (nursery and Kindergarten) is also given due attention. Pre-primary education has its goal of children developing their emotional, cognitive, physical, and social domains, thus encouraging their ability and enthusiasm to continue to learn in both informal and formal environments and develop their social and educational skills (MoE, 2018;, 2015. Because of the policy and the strategy, Ethiopia achieved great enrolment in primary and secondary schools in both urban and rural areas. For example, the secondary education gross enrollment rate has been greatly improved (MoE, 2016) and the gap between boys and girls, rural and urban disparities are getting narrowed and enrollment of students with special educational needs also showed some degree of improvement.
The organization of the designing of the curriculum has been divided into two branches: General and Specialized or Vocational Education. General education fulfills the basic educational needs and includes ideas of learning and prepares the student for pursuing subsequent specialized education. Special or vocational education prepares the student to engage in junior, medium, vocational, and higher-level education and vocational skills (MoE, 1994(MoE, , 2015. The process of curriculum design involves the determination of the characteristics of the learner, what the learner is expected to learn or able to do, the subject content to be learned, and how to measure what has been achieved. The process started with the preparation of a flow chart for each subject at each grade level that contains the contents to be covered along with the objectives to be achieved. The syllabus was prepared based on the contents and objectives listed in the flow chart. Teachers, professionals from major organizations of development, and beneficiaries participate in the designing, implementation, and evaluation of the curriculum (MoE, 2002, 2018).
However, achievements in access have not been accompanied by adequate improvement in curriculum implementation to improve education quality. Low student achievement in national exams, learning assessment scores, efficiency, and input indicators (MoE, 2016) continued to be a source of concern for stakeholders even under the ESDP V, which sought to achieve education quality through effective implementation of the general education quality improvement package . Studies indicate that teachers are entangled with critical gaps in competencies, teaching skills, and professional attributes. The MoE (2013) indicated that the report in Mathematics and science teachers lacked the necessary facilitation skills to lead a group discussion, demonstration skills, planning effective lesson plans, and content mastery. As far as the researchers' experience is concerned, the personal interest of the chronicles of their power or ruling government party influence in academic freedom, ignorance of intellectuals in critics and managing the critics in the education system of Ethiopia, lack of professionals knowledge, skill, attitude and interest of official (office workers) indicate that there are symptoms of crises in Ethiopian Education system in associated with what Joseph Schwab raised regarding the field of curriculum. Accordingly, this term paper here is to explore the crisis of Ethiopian education against Schwab's thoughts and signs of crisis in the field of curriculum.

Schwab's thoughts about the field of curriculum
Schwab was born in Columbus, Mississippi, where he attended a private elementary school. After the sixth grade, Schwab entered the public schools, where he discovered science. As Schwab was virtually alone among his classmates in this interest, the principal of the high school, a former science teacher, encouraged his creative license by giving him free reign in the school laboratory. Schwab became fascinated with the poisonous snakes and other animals kept there and delighted in setting off homemade gunpowder by pounding it with an ax. He finished high school in 3 years, and in 1924, at the age of 15, he set off for the University of Chicago, where he was to remain for almost 50 years, receiving degrees in English literature (Ph.B), zoology (S.M.), and genetics (Ph.D.). Schwab was not only a scientist but also a humanist who integrated all forms of knowledge toward the goal of shaping students morally (Schwab, 1969).
In 1969, Schwab identified three important ideas about the curriculum in American education. The first point was that the field of the curriculum is moribund or in decline, the second point was that the curriculum has reached in unexamined and mistaken reliance on theory, it should focus on more practical than theoretical to avoid entanglement of ad-hominem debate, the third point ithat there should be a renaissance of the field of curriculum and thereby contribute the quality of education (Schwab, 1969).
Schwab used on Bobbitt's and Tyler's ideas as an igredient. He focused on curriculum issues that rparticipation, curriculum processes, and practical facts. He pronounced that curriculum scholars a free curriculum as a historical creature, burdened by ideas and principles/procedures. For example, Pinar and others (1995) saw the field continue with only procedural and prescriptive matters in the school experiences failure to generate a new theoretical line of understanding. Scholars believed that the curriculum field's main problem is the historical door of the field, simply its stuck to the poor/simplistic management style interplay between forming curriculum objectives and telling them how to carry out the objectives.
Observing the practical fact of the curriculum field, Schwab claimed that the field was moribund and needed to re-conceptualize itself, aligning with his belief that curriculum theory had to be diverted from the kind of pursuits that led to the formulation of universal rules and other invariant or the same instructional elements such as fixed taxonomies and attached to teaching models. He notified that the field of curriculum is not in a position to stand its present methods and principles for the advancement of education, so the field requires new principles that will generate a new view of character and variety of its problem. And then, Schwab believed that since the field is moribund and cannot meet the existing demands of the society and understood that there should be a renaissance in the field of curriculum to contribute to quality education. Taking this into consideration, he identified six signs of crises in the field of curriculum.

Signs of crisis and resolutions in the field of curriculum
In describing the moribund state of curriculum inquiry, Schwab (1969) identified the symptoms of crisis in terms of six flights or directions, Flight of the field, Flight upward, Flight downward, Flight to the sideline, Flight to perseveration, Flight to hot and caustic debates (Deng, 2014).

The first sign of crises
(Flight of the field): translocation of curriculum problems and solutions of curriculum speciainsts to experts of other fields. A translocation of curriculum problems and solutions from the curriculum specialist to non-curriculum experts was a problem in the US curriculum field. Here, people other than curriculum experts bear primary responsibility for solving curriculum problems (fields or disciplines) such as economics and politics. (Flight upward): flight from the use of principles and methods to talk about them/discourses. In Schwab's observation, the curriculum field is characterized by meaningless, impractical, and no value added for the barrier of curriculum practice, no continued productivity for practical curriculum deliberating rather than for designed forms of models. This implies that the practical context, principles, and methods do not have any value added for productivity in the current societal context (not leading to definite decisions or results). In other words, re-conceptualists, with different names such as (structuralism, post-structuralism, deconstructionism, and postmodernism) have been making inconclusive debates on diverse issues of the curriculum field.

The third sign of crises
(Flight downward): involved an attempt by practitioners to return the subject matter to a state of innocence shorn of only the current principles but all of the principles. In his observation, Schwab noted that this missing symptom will occur when there is repudiation and displacement of historic or past principles by new theories without the acknowledgment of preceding contributions

The fourth sign of crises
(Flight to the sideline): It is related to the retreat of curriculum professors/specialists to the role of observer, commentator, historian, and critic of the contribution of others to the field. Here, curriculum professors/specialists or experts should take responsibility as an observer, historian, develop a comprehensive critique, theorizing in the field of curriculum rather than intellectual and cultural, experience distancing themselves from curriculum practitioners of the field. According to Schwab's fear, professors are ignored in their actual work. So, curriculum practitioners werein order to develop meaningful and comprehensive critics as well as theoretical programs in the present and future.

Schwab's fifth sign of crises in the curriculum field
(Flight to perseveration): a repetition of old familiar knowledge in a new language, which adds little/nothing to the old meaning as embodied in the older and/or familiar languages. Accordinhwab, new meanings and new insights have to come. He suggested that Tyler brought nothing different from what was propagated by Bobbitt, which was disclosed by the following motto "New woyn in the old Bottle". As for Schwab, the bottle should also be changed.

The six Signs of crises
(Flight to hot, caustic debates): the curriculum field has been involved in eristic, continuous, and ad-hominem debate. This sign of crisis indicates that the debate about the curriculum field focuses on personal views rather than mutual opinion-based arguments. Here, according to Schwab, the argument about the curriculum was aimed at winning rather than reaching a consensus regarding the truth.

Resolutions for the crisis (the act of solving or setting a problem)
In order to avoid the crisis in the field of curriculum, Joseph Schwab suggested the method of uniting thought and action, which mainly focus on problem-solving. His adoption of a problematic mode for connecting theory and practice represents a moral and intellectual choice (Solomon & Aschale, 2019). Schwab claimed that deliberation is the central method curricular experts should use when they make their curriculum decisions. For Schwab, being a scholar in the curriculum field meant working on the grounds of local practice. He summarized that curriculum inquiry is a practical undertaking concerned with working within the societal, institutional, and instructional contexts.
According to Schwab, curriculum makers should consider four elements identified; who teaches (teacher), who gets taught (learner), what gets taught (subject matter), and the cultural climate it is taught (milieu). Those elements have been serving as the main sources of curriculum development. Schwab proclaimed that we as curriculum scholars avoid entanglement/relationships, we should work in schools rather than talk about them, we should take the change in schools rather than allow them to do, we should build on the past knowledge, we should focus more on practical rather than theoretical knowledge. For Schwab, the main instrument for the solution of curriculum problems must be deliberation or practical reasoning that considers individual and group interests. The curriculum design based on practical (Schwab's idea) should address the commonalities of society's cultural elements, values, and norms. Moreover, according to him, the curriculum should address the vision of a particular world that knowledge is from the practical situation, rules or guides and knowledge has to base on the deliberation attempt at the practical end.

The Status of Curriculum Development and Implementation in the Ethiopian Education System against Schwab's Signs of Crisis in the Field of Curriculum
To understand modern Ethiopia and the context of educational reform, one must understand the history of education in the country. At the beginning of Ethiopian modern education, the Ethiopian school system has been criticized for its irrelevance of objectives and inappropriateness of curriculum to the socio-economic development of the country the education system had passed slow growth, and it was totally blocked by the Italian fascist occupation though it was for a short period. But, the re-establishing of the education system related to manpower shortage and financial constraints resolved with the assistance of the British government. At the time of Emperor Haile Selassie and "Derg regimes", educational reforms had been attempted but remained abortive.
In the current education system, regardless of the efforts made, increased participation in education was not accompanied by quality learning outcomes (ENLA, 2016). And the curriculum contributed little to the socialization of students' behavior and do not strongly advocate diversity within unity. In addition, problem-solving skills that promote critically and livelihood skills were not given due attention in the country (MoE, 2018). Therefore, in the next section, the practices of curriculum development and implementation in the Ethiopian Education system are analyzed from the perspectives of Schwab's symptoms of crisis in the field of curriculum.

Flight of the field
This crisis isobviously seen in the Ethiopian education system. Throughout the history of the modern education system in Ethiopia, individuals who were simply politically assigned were observed to take primary responsibility for solving curriculum problems. For example, during imperial periods, chronicles or kings were responsible for the education system. The education system and curriculum field were colonized by politicians and political philosophers in the history of modern education in Ethiopia to secure their political power. The structure of the education system was also based on the interests of the ruling class. During the "Derg regime", Marxist-Leninist philosophy was the central theme that guided the political, economic, and social life of the country. Eastern European governments 'socialist camps" provided policy advisors to Ethiopia to develop a curriculum based on their systems.
Similarly, in the present Ethiopian education system, the involvement of curriculum professors was little or ignored. The curriculum problems and solutions were handled by politicians and noncurricular individuals assigned by higher politicians. In Ethiopia, education documents and policies including MoE (1994) noted that the ruling party politicians were the main actors. For example, ETP (1994, p. 8) indicated that during the policy formulation, the task force was formed under the prime minister to coordinate and oversee the study. This indicates the fact that the responsible education sector was forgotten and/or deliberately excluded from its prime objective. Curriculum specialists were not given responsibility for the preparation of textbooks and guidelines. During the EPRDF period, it is possible to say that "the ruling party" drives the whole Ethiopian education system to secure the minority groups who were in political power.
The above point indicated that the curriculum professors/educational experts were ignored to consult the curricula issues at regional, national and institutional levels. Strengthening this idea, Schwab (1969) noticed in American education that the contribution of educators was small and that of curriculum specialists nearly vanished. Consistent with this, at all levels of the education sectors (Ministry to woreda levels) of Ethiopia, the placement of vacant position requirements is open for every graduate rather than placing specific curriculum experts. Not only this but also any graduate (e.g., in Economics, sociology, etc.) who resigns from the political system to be assigned to the educational curriculum vacant positions. Moreover, subject teachers are always asked to evaluate the designed subject matter curriculum at the regional and ministerial levels. This is done without any concept of how the curriculum is designed. Subject teachers in the Ethiopian educational context are trained to teach their subject matter. In addition, in the education-sector experts were discouraged because of poor salaries and lack of academic freedom. Based on the above justifications, Schwab's first sign of crises remains true in the Ethiopian education system in the curriculum field. It is a fact that neglecting curricular specialists (educational experts) or neglecting educational theories or philosophies results in the exclusion of curriculum practices. Schwab (1969) expressed that the flight of the field itself is one of the more fruitful ways by which analogical principles are disclosed, modified, and adapted to the field in crisis.

Flight upward
Many of the curriculum principles and methods are irresponsibly concerned and less productive (Schwab, 1969). This symptom of curriculum crisis is observed in the past and current education systems of the country. During the emperor period, Ethiopia had imported western Education by side with living (zero beginning) its own system and the country failed to create a uniquely Ethiopian system of education with its own cultural, social, and economic situation of the country (Adane, 1993). The curriculum was not based on the economic, social, and cultural realities of Ethiopia; rather, its components were copied from other countries. Textbooks for primary education were translated from other languages without reflecting the Ethiopian situation. The fundamental principle that directed the development and implementation of school curricula was the political agenda of their foreign advisors (Zewdie, 2000), as cited in Ayemayehu and Lasser (2012).
During the "Derg regime", the education system of the country also strongly followed the Eastern European educational system, and the aims, content, and materials of education were designed in alignment with socialist principles for its fundamental aim of cultivating Marxist-Leninist ideology. These implied that there was a curriculum attempt characterized by a clear flight from the practical contexts to the unexamined theoretical directions. For instance, it could be America, England, East Germany . . . etc. Therefore, the curriculum was not structured to address the pressing needs and problems of Ethiopia MoE, 1994).
In most cases, scholars criticized consecutive Ethiopian governments for failing to incorporate the Ethiopian local and traditional values in the education system (Girma, 2012) as cited in Solomon and Aschale (2019). It is also pronounced that the Ethiopian Training policy needs to be revised to make sure that it is clearly articulated the balance between diversity and national unity vis-a-vis the new conception, to be patriotic and nationalist at the same time (MoE, 2018). Notably, the present curriculum lacks relevance for content, fully overloaded textbooks, and lacks the need to promote an active learning approach (MoE, 2010).
Various forms of innovations in education such as student-centered teaching methods, continuous assessment, multiculturalism, action research, special needs education, and gender-responsive pedagogy remained abortive in their implementation various research findings indicate that an insignificant number of teachers had been engaged in educational action research in primary and secondary schools of Ethiopia (AED/MOE, 2006). This indicated that the upward flight of curriculum is manifested in various ways in the present education system of Ethiopia.

Flight downward
This crisis occurs when there is frequent repudiation and displacement of historic principles by new theories without acknowledgment of proceeding work (Wraga & Hlebowitsh, 2003). In the history of modern education in Ethiopia, politicians, policymakers, and advisors are frequently observed to multiply earlier works by zero. For example, the socialist regime had been criticizing the poor performance of its precedence, the Imperial system, in the field of education (Negash, 2006). However, there was a dramatic increase in enrollment at primary and secondary schools during Emperor Haile Selassie. Similarly, the education and training policy (MoE, 1994) criticized the past educational achievements of the Emperor and "Derg regimes". In the introductory part, it was noted that modern education was introduced to Ethiopia nearly a century ago. But, the education and training offered during these long years had limited positive impact on the lives of the people and national development. It did not enable to solve the problems of farmers, and pastoralists or change the lives of the overwhelming majority of the people (MoE, 1994). Moreover, FDRE (1994) assumed that there was never such a clear policy by which to evaluate and accordingly shape the direction of education and training in Ethiopia. But, there were at least two remarkable reforms with their responsibilities and recommendations for education and curriculum in the preceding regimes. The Education Sector Review (ESR) of the Emperor Period and the Evaluative Research on the General Education System of Ethiopia (ERGESE) of the socialist government. The reforms were conducted with the awareness of the problems of the education system. When we analyzed the recommendations forwarded by these reforms, it was about restructuring the educational hierarchies, national learning assessment strategies, organization of curriculum components, and teacher training modalities according to the regime's political ideology. The reform documents have similarities with the current education and training policy. Exclusion of these remarkable reform initiatives in the preceding regimes, the current education and training policy document has never reflected any sort of acknowledgment. Here, the present government seems to deny these reform initiatives and promote itself as the designer of many educational ideas.
When we look at the roots of the Ethiopian education system, ridiculing the past and appreciating the present was the regime's experience. This experience was highly characterized by EPRDF regime; ridiculing the past as if it has done nothing, and appreciating the present without even adding anything different from the previous regimes. This can be an indicator of the crises in our education system. For this, Schwab (1969) noticed that the flight backward, to a state of innocence, and re-invention of ideas and practices should not be without acknowledgment of the preceding work. Mostly in our cases, primary and secondary teachers as well as educational experts including officials are more successful in talking about diverse educational issues than talking properly about how to implement them in the classroom. Now, it is a new and appreciated idea that past regimes' experiences have got renewed attention in the current educational road map; educational structure, organization of curriculum, vocational subjects, national assessment systems, and teacher education, which would be launched after it is finalized by the government.

Flight to the sideline
In all regimes, including the present education system in the Ethiopian context, curricular experts have not engaged in real curriculum design, but rather simply observers and commentators. This idea was strengthened by Solomon and Aschale (2019), and curriculum specialists have not been given a significant place to contribute their expertise to the discourse as well as to the implementation of the curriculum. Subject specialists in different fields are considered curriculum experts, and it is a real experience that they are assigned to curriculum work. Even though curricular scholars and historians criticized and wrote their comments on the Ethiopian education crises and indicated future perspectives (e.g., Negash, 1996), their suggestions were ignored and shelved due to political intervention. This is an indication of intellectual, cultural, and experience distancing from curriculum practitioners of the field. To this end, Schwab (1969) claimed that professors are ignored in their actual work, so curriculum practitioners were necessary in order to develop meaningful and comprehensive critics as well as theoretical programs in the present and future.

Flight to perseveration
Perseveration is evident in the different education systems of Ethiopia. It is possible to argue that there are notable books and persons whose works are continuing restatements of the past. The amendment of educational principles and strategies, and the adoption of foreign cultures that are odd to Ethiopian culture and society in making curriculum revision is common during the period of Emperors and "Derg" régimes including the current government. This showed that the country still failed to create a uniquely own system of education. The reforms made in the past and present education systems are apart from the practical experiences, cultural values, and societal needs of the country (MoE, 2018).
Currently, the actual implementation of active learning strategies and methods, continuous assessment, special needs education, school organization and leadership, school financing, and school environment in the curriculum did not bring the quality of educational outcomes. Not a few but many teachers, once they prepare the annual and daily lesson plan, they use it every year for their classroom teaching-learning practices by photocopy without even changing the academic calendar year. These result in poor classroom implementation. It is puzzling, however, why little change is observed in terms of learning outcomes in Ethiopia in spite of the fact that many new initiatives such as book supply, teacher qualification, plasma education, new curriculum, school improvement packages, and so on are introduced (MoE, 2018).
The problem is also strengthened as it is said by curriculum experts at ICDR. The experts noted that in any syllabus there is a problem with formulating the objectives either general or specific in the selection of contents, teaching methods, and teaching materials (ICDR, 2005). In Ethiopia, the curriculum development process follows a technical procedure model that is usually based on principles and major stages of curriculum as planned experiences composed of objectives, contents, learning experience, and evaluation in the form of the traditional subject discipline. This indicated that the Ethiopian education system is totally stuck to the dominant model, which emphasizes cognitive knowledge.

Flight to hot, caustic debates
In the Ethiopian education context, it is partly impossible to find such ad-hominem debate about curricular issues. When there are rare debates, these debates focus on the educational components and curriculum issues crafted by the government and NGOs in the present education system. But, it is impossible to find debate on philosophical and psychological theories, and practical and indigenous issues in the country. This is still an indication that there is no demonstration of the availability of the know-how and competence of curricular issues versed with the current context of the country.
During the Emperor, "Derg" and EPRDF regimes, the required reforms and debates made by different groups had major characteristics tagging the past education systems as theyhad poor quality, inequitable, poor access, irrelevant curriculum and implementation, inefficient school leadership and organization, poor financing to schools, inappropriate assessment strategies and so on. Political elites especially during EPRDF are usually characterized by criticizing the past and magnifying their own as the best achievement. To manifest this, ETP (1994) states that ". . . beyond having no policy direction, the previous educational system had acute and severe problems of both access and quality" (p. 7). The long-standing problems associated with the Ethiopian education system were essentially limited and inequitable access, lack of quality and relevance, and continuous decline in quality and standard (FDRE, 1994). The education policy also stated that, . . . the old educational system mostly focused on academic subjects and paid only lip service to vocational subjects. As such, education did not help students to develop or cultivate practical and vocational skills. As the system was divorced from the practical material or cultural needs of the country, it did not instill in the student an appreciation or eagerness for knowledge. As the curriculum lacked a clear objective, and appears to have been randomly designed with no specified target in mind, the profile and behavior of the students at the various levels were not definable. (p. 28) From the above paragraphs, it is possible to conclude that advisors, officials, and politicians, criticized the past education system even they totally forgot past educational innovation (literacy campaign during "Derg regime.") that brought significant changes regarding how people see the values of modern education in Ethiopia. Some researchers are the by-products of the mentioned educational innovation in Ethiopia. It is, therefore, the current education policy that ignored the societal values and cultures, indigenous knowledge, and unclear philosophical and theoretical as well as psychological assumptions that are important in curriculum making. Having felt these problems, the newly drafted education policy (MoE, 2018) investigated the drawbacks and achievements of the past education system and brought these issues of debate for open discussion by different groups for the final documentation, which can be considered as a landmark in the history of the Ethiopian education system. The above discussion retorted that debates by curricular professionals (intellectuals) are important to accelerate and bring experience sharing among scholars and stakeholders. This context may imply that hot and caustic debate is partially manifested in the Ethiopian education system and in the curriculum designing attempts too.

Conclusions
Specialized and systematic studies of the curriculum field and the curriculum specialists were not found until the 20 th century. This was also a case in point in Ethiopia. As a result, the curriculum field was at an infant stage and not well articulated in Ethiopia. The above discussions were evident that the Ethiopian education system, in general, and the curriculum designing and implementation attempts were in crisis. That is, the existence of Schwab's six signs of crises was proved in the Ethiopian curriculum development and implementation. The resolutions forwarded by scholars in the area were apart from the curriculum development trends in Ethiopia. The Ministry and regional educational bureau's minutes' reports indicated that continuous assessment and student-centered learning methods are not in place. Action research is not part of the research culture to solve immediate school problems at educational levels. Schools do not have a conducive environment to practice effective teaching-learning.
In the history of Ethiopia, both the past and the current education systems remain unproductive in cultivating good citizenship, inculcating societal and cultural values, and in bringing socioeconomic development to the country (MoE, 2018). As the Ministry of Education (2018) supplemented, Ethiopia's current curricula under use are "highly theory-oriented, content focused, lacks practice, not including indigenous knowledge, not responding to the contextual needs of the country, not including the 21 st century skills, not cultivating students with the necessary ethics and values, and not preparing them for international competitiveness"(p. 3). Moreover, more than 90 percent of the schools are below the standard. Many schools did not have favorable learning environments and were suffering from undemocratic and awful school leadership. Education experts, especially in Zonal and woreda levels, have low knowledge, and poor experience and are demotivated to overtake the challenge in the education system. The involvement of curriculum professors from universities in designing and developing the curricula was also meager due partly to the lack of full autonomy in designing the curriculum and the unnecessary political interventions. These all revealed that Ethiopian education system remained abortive. It can be seen from the discussed evidence that the Ethiopian education system in different regimes was entangled with unrealistic ideas rather than on dealing with the practical realities of the country.

Implications
Schwab's the practical language for curriculum gave an important framework in the curriculum field and serves as a lens to look at the curriculum development and implementation in the Ethiopian education system. Unlike Schwab's deliberative curriculum theory, the curriculum field and its development and implementation were surrounded by different confusions in different regimes of Ethiopia. Curriculum specialists who are in colleges and universities are not committed to the contribution of curriculum morbidity in the country. This was due to internal and external pressures. Now it is time to consider the principles of Schwab's deliberative curriculum theory in order to minimize the rhetorical reality and educational quality gaps in the coming educational road map final deliberation.
To culminate these challenges, curriculum specialists need to exert unreserved effort in the curriculum design, development, and implementation processes that could save the field in its gloomy occasion. Hot debate is important to create a conducive environment for the progress of the curriculum field in line with investigating the status of curriculum development and execution processes in Ethiopia. The curriculum professionals should face a neck-to-neck debate with politicians to rescue the curriculum field, in general, and its development and practice, in particular, in the Ethiopian education system.

Funding
The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Citation information
Cite this article as: Exploring the status of curriculum development and execution processes in the Ethiopian education system against Schwab's signs of crisis in the field of curriculum, Mulualem Abie, Solomon Melesse & Tadesse Melesse, Cogent Education (2023), 10: 2163125.