While the struggle for independence in African nations has been complicated by interracial rivalry and tribal wars, Tanzania, with its predominantly African population and substantial minorities of Asians and Europeans, has provided an example of what is possible. Though Tanzania is not a rich country it shows considerable potential for development. The Tanzanians have been receptive to innovations in education, agriculture, and commerce, which have helped improve their standard of living as a nation. Within the primary education curricula attention has been focused on specific changes in teaching methods and techniques, teacher ratings, and curriculum planning. A great deal of research and experimentation has been done in this field, but primarily on the level of higher education which contrasts sharply with the emphasis given to this problem in primary school education. The purpose of this study was to 1) discover and analyze some of the curriculum problems facing primary education in Tanzania, 2) investigate the evolving elements in primary school curricula, K-VII, by comparing the pre-independence educational programs with the present ones, and 3) suggest possible solutions to these problems as derived from current studies and practices in Tanzania. In addition to examining the present evolving curriculum offerings in meeting the needs of today's students, the study also examines administrative and environmental practices related to keeping pace with societal demands.Related literature from 1961 was reviewed to ascertain the basic objectives relative to primary school curricula and Tanzania and to assist the researcher in refining and updating the study. The data were classified in relation to current attitudes toward curriculum offerings and curriculum changes in Tanzanian primary education. Finally, a letter was sent to the Ministry of Education in Tanzania asking for current information on primary education since 1961. The first chapter includes historical background of education, government, people, and economy. Chapter two discusses organization and planning with emphasis on curriculum making and instruction. An evaluation of the trends and problems with emphasis upon the causes of the problems and limitations of the existing primary curricula comprises chapter three. Innovations in the primary school organization are discussed in detail emphasizing ways of bettering primary education. A summary of emerging programs pertinent to Tanzania's educational objectives, significant conclusions, and recommendations for further study are presented in the final chapter. The people of Tanzania have patterned their educational system in a flexible manner after the English system with the objective of developing programs and curricula which will meet the needs of the Tanzanians.Tanzania's educational needs include: 1) technical schools which will provide students with the necessary skills in metalwork, technical drawing, woodworking, and craftsmanship; 2) instruction in typewriting, shorthand, bookkeeping, and other business skills; 3) improved methods in agriculture. The major tasks of education in Tanzania are: to prepare the individual with basic skills which will equip him for special needs in life; to help the citizens realize that it is up to them to remedy the shortcomings of education in Tanzania. Since the most pressing need is to improve methods in agriculture, some crafts, and practical arts, especially among secondary school need. Practical training in agriculture, veterinary science, forestry, and business, and first-hand activities in industrial technology such as pluming, engineering, and teaching would be of great benefit to students in grades four through seven enabling them to more successfully handle life situations. It is hoped that through education of this type the people of Tanzania can relate classroom learning to social and economic problems outside the classroom, thereby improving not only the educational system but also alleviating some of the problems facing Tanzania as a young, developing nation.

Female participation in all spheres of society is crucial in the development of a nation. One way of increasing this participation is through education in the formal system because it provides more opportunities in a modernizing society. This study presents the situation of women in education in the context of Tanzania, which has developed policies geared towards equality at all levels of society. Tanzanian educational policies have attempted to equalize opportunities for everyone regardless of race, gender and social class. A few of those policies have succeeded in reducing gender imbalances without however changing attitudes towards women's potential in the development of the nation. This study attempts to demonstrate that educational policies affect female participation in a positive manner but essentially in quantity. In the context of Tanzania, quality in education had not been a priority as much as the commitment to mass education. Therefore, female education has evolved at a lower quality than male education, thus affecting outcome in terms of opportunity. Quality education and opportunity for women will only be possible if the school, family, community and all societal institutions join in a comprehensive effort to break barriers which now prevent their full participation.

No description available.

In Zanzibar, in 1995, opportunities for professional development in environmental education were minimal. Yet the demand for professional development was high, especially because of an emphasis on formal qualifications in the country. Credibility was afforded to forms of professional development, aimed at creating more ‘experts’. Ongoing environmental education practice was not achieving its objectives. Into this setting, which was culturally and socio-politically different from the South African context where it was developed, I introduced the Rhodes University Certificate and Gold Fields Participatory Course in Environmental Education (RU/GF); a non-formal, counter-hegemonic course which encouraged critical reflection on the dominant orientations to environmental education practice – including professional development. I used critical ethnographic and action research methods to explore my praxiological interest, the adaptation of the RU/GF curriculum to the Zanzibar context. During the research process, a decision was made to formally accredit the RU/GF course. This decision did not alter the course orientation or the learning process but opened up possibilities for future curriculum development processes. It allowed the students both a formal qualification necessary for status and promotion, and participation in a learning process that challenged the dominant paradigm on professional development and status from within the socio-political context. The research took on a reflexive orientation to research and environmental education. Through a dialectical development of theory, method and results, several important issues emerged. These deal with the ‘distances’ encountered in attempting to address some of the perceived dichotomies in professional development in environmental education through semi-distance learning: the distances between status and learning; the need for career upgrading and the type of learning considered appropriate for professional development in environmental education; the non-quantifiable aims associated with a reflexive orientation to professional development and formal assessment demands for measurable criteria; the democratisation of open-entry courses and the elitism of restricted access; the focus on individual growth and the attainment of a normative grade; theory and practice; and finally distances between learner, text and language. The research supports similar findings emerging from evaluation of the RU/GF course in South Africa and resonates with, and contributes to, issues concerning professional development in environmental education being considered internationally.

This dissertation describes an action research case study carried out at a sub-village school at Nyamakurukuru, Utete, Rufiji District, Tanzania. The study was a fully independent research activity funded and led by a female Irish environmental and community specialist who has fifteen years experience of working in rural Tanzania, five of which were in Rufiji District. The aim of the action research was to engage a community of villagers, teachers, students and district officers in a participatory process to adapt a module of a school curriculum to the local context, and teach it in order to describe one way in which contextualization, using local and indigenous knowledge and active discovery teaching-learning processes, can be done. The major research question, which I wished to answer for one specific case, was: Does integrating local environmental cultural knowledge into formal schooling contribute to curriculum relevance? If so, in what way? This document describes the background and context of the research, the motivation and the theoretical basis for the work, the methodology and methods, and the action research process itself. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of current theoretical perspectives on education and environmental education. The main findings within the case are that: Contextualization improved relevance of education and thus its quality by: • breaking through traditional frames/barriers between teachers and students, students and elders and community and teachers, • allowing formal education to take place outside of the school, • necessitating a change in pedagogy1 to more learner-centered, discovery methods, • allowing indigenous knowledge to come into the classroom, • stimulating creativity and increased confidence, and • bringing local socio-political environmental issues into the classroom. This study provides a case example of how education processes, when engaging local cultural knowledge, can improve the relevance, and thus an aspect of the quality of teaching and learning in school-community contexts, while providing a conduit for integrating environmental education into the formal school curriculum. It provides insights into the key issue of relevance which currently faces educators of children in wetlands in Tanzania. Recommendations were made for the case studied and may be useful beyond the boundaries of the case: • Give more explicit government policy and strategic support for community involvement in educational content–epistemologies and pedagogies. • Weaken framing (hierarchical power positions) to encourage greater partnership between school, home and community to improve relevance. • Investigate the provision of education beyond schools. • Provide practical teacher and community training on use of learner-centered, discovery and active pedagogies. • Provide teacher and community education on biodiversity and the environment. • Provide relevant reference texts and research data on the ecology, biodiversity, vegetation, hydrology, agriculture, sociology, history and other relevant subjects. • Officially nurture a culture that learning should be enjoyable. • Allow the curriculum freedom, in these times of increasing risk for rural tropical wetland communities, to make the curriculum fit the local issues rather than vice versa. • Nurture critical analysis of the curriculum in local pedagogic discourse i.e., at the local contextualization level of the home, community and school.

No description available.

This study which focusses on a coastal Swahili society, examines the economic, political and social evolution of the Tangan Muslim community through the various phases of its history. The study pays specific attention to the role played by religious leaders, whether as competitors, or simply as madrasa teachers in a community with a tradition of Islamic scholarship. At the macro-level, the relationship between various Muslim organizations and the state also receives our scrutiny. This is done through analysis of the educational system and its structuring of the social order. Finally, we assess the views of the Tangan religious leadership regarding religion and society against a general discussion of intra-religious issues and political developments in the country, thereby achieving a better understanding of Islam in contemporary Tanzania.

Thesis (Ed.D)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1990. / Includes appendices. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: William C. Sayres. Dissertation Committee: Paul Byers. Bibliography: leaves 208-222.

The aim of this research is of limited scope; it intended to examine how secondary school teachers experience the implementation of the competency-based curriculum in Tanzania. The study employed a descriptive case study design where eight participants provided in-depth data through face-to-face interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis. The in-depth data was gathered in natural school settings, an aspect which enhanced the study’s validity. After transcribing the interviews, an open coding process was undertaken and a theme comparison approach applied. The findings indicated that the participants had a limited understanding of the curriculum: they were happy in their teaching profession regardless of competence-based curriculum challenges; they were experiencing multiple challenges, the key ones being lack of participation in curriculum design and implementation; lack of quality text books and lastly, they were not motivated to implement the competency- based curriculum. The study concludes by providing relevant recommendations to various stakeholders including the teachers themselves, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government (MORALG). / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The aim of this research is of limited scope; it intended to examine how secondary school teachers experience the implementation of the competency-based curriculum in Tanzania. The study employed a descriptive case study design where eight participants provided in-depth data through face-to-face interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis. The in-depth data was gathered in natural school settings, an aspect which enhanced the study’s validity. After transcribing the interviews, an open coding process was undertaken and a theme comparison approach applied. The findings indicated that the participants had a limited understanding of the curriculum: they were happy in their teaching profession regardless of competence-based curriculum challenges; they were experiencing multiple challenges, the key ones being lack of participation in curriculum design and implementation; lack of quality text books and lastly, they were not motivated to implement the competency- based curriculum. The study concludes by providing relevant recommendations to various stakeholders including the teachers themselves, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government (MORALG). / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)