The present reconfiguration of education by neo-liberal forces worldwide is taken as a basis for this essay. Drawing on examples of how this reconfiguration operates on national arenas through decisive and dishonest discourses of commoditisation and privatisation, management and efficiency, education for all and student-centred education, the essay looks at the Ethiopian case and  how neo-liberalism operates on  that arena and how a counter-hegemonic agenda was implanted through  a  master course for teacher educators following a different and critical practitioner inquiry approach modelling emancipation and social justice within teacher education and  society at large.

In this paper, the author argues that the pre-service secondary teacher education ‘paradigm shift’ or ‘system overhaul’ that has been implemented during the  2003-  2005 time period in Ethiopia reflects the  pursuit of  pathways which  the author refers  to as a managerial approach. Grounded mainly on personal narratives of a key self- narrator and views of other faculty reform performers, the author brings to surface the ideology upheld by central reform planners and administrators. The author identifies four reform tasks to demonstrate the consistency in the  paths  pursued  to  effect  policies of central priorities. These reform tasks which mainly concern changes in curriculum and instruction were planned and have been effected in managerial spaces and tools. The author further argues that, in effect, if not in intent, the managerial approach has had a sidelining effect because the larger practitioners, professional associations, communities, student teachers, and private popular media have  been  given little or no opportunities for participation. According to the author, the approach has also reduced pedagogical concerns and values to an adjunct or secondary   position.

The paper emerged out of my own and my colleagues’ growing discontent with the traditional, ill-organized and unproductive way of evaluating the one-month-teaching practice of student teachers of English Language Teaching (ELT) at Haramaya University. It advances the  argument  that  student teacher evaluation  systems should  be restructured to represent the voices and experiences of the student  teachers.  Towards this end, I proposed a mentoring framework that potentially encourages  student teachers to become critical practitioners. The model I propose emphasizes the professional agency of the student teacher. The paper holds the position that to  transform their views of teaching and learning, student teachers as well  as  their  trainers should be empowered to seek justice and emancipation from the traditional model of evaluation. Finally, it attempts to leave  readers  with the  impression that if  we prefer our zone of comfort at the expense of our student teachers’ growth, we must know that we are jeopardizing the fate of teacher  education.