Promoting facilitators’ career development and workplace engagement: a missing link from the provision of adult education programs in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The quality of adult learning depends on the professionalisation of individuals who are involved in the adult education programs provision. The delivery of adult education programs is mainly supported by facilitators. Increasing the amount of time and effort put into developing and acknowledging their contributions can aid in motivating and extending the duration of their work as program facilitators. Hence, promoting the professional profile of facilitators in the workplace is crucial to ensure the effective provision of adult education. Considering this premise, the current study was conducted to scrutinise how adult education facilitators’ training, career development, and workplace engagement have been incorporated into adult education provision. In doing so, a cross-sectional study design was employed. A simple random technique was used to select 200 participants. Data was collected through a questionnaire and analysed using a one-sample t-test, correlation, and chi-square. The study found despite increasing emphasis being placed on facilitators’ professional development, the practice and effort made to train, promote, and encourage them were found to be deficient in certain regards. This may account for a high turnover rate of facilitators which in turn, creates risks for the provision and management of adult education programs.