Challenges are the situation of being
faced with something that need great mental or physical effort in order to be
done successfully and therefore test a person’s ability. (According Cambridge
English Dictionary)
Carrier is the job or series of job
that you do during your working life, especially if you continue to get better
job and earn more money. (According to Cambridge Dictionary)
So for me the
new carrier which I have is Teaching.
Teaching is a job or profession of
teacher, something that is taught, the idea and beliefs that are taught by a
person, religion and so on.( According to Marrian Webster)
Challenges facing teaching profession
are those obstacles that teachers meet during teaching process (According to
me).
Overcrowded classrooms
Abolishing
schools fees in primary schools has increased enrolment in standard 1 leading
to overcrowding especially in urban areas so this situation of overcrowded
cause difficultness to teachers on class management and on assessment process,
the solution the government must increase investment in education by increasing
number of government schools especially in town.
Low transition rates
The transition rate
from primary to secondary education at 20% is very low. This issue will be
adequately addressed in the secondary education development plan (SEDP 2004-
9). The situation may be is caused by many causes among of them is overcrowded
class that cause difficult to teachers on assessment and improper class
management thus why primary school performance is low so government required to
increase number of schools and introducing proper ways of teachers preparation and assessment of
teachers.
Teaching and learning materials across
the secondary sector, teaching materials are insufficient in most school but
efforts are being made to rectify the situation through the secondary education
development plan (SEDP)
Curriculum The core curriculum for
secondary education contains twelve compulsory subjects resulting in very heavy
work load for students. However this issue will be addressed in the secondary
education development plan so that students study 8 core subject the rest will
be option.
Insufficient resources.
The expansion of
secondary education requires large amount of funds which the government does
not have. However with determination and political will the government target
is to provide secondary education to at least 50 percent of the primary school
graduates. Although girls at primary school level are most in equal proportions
to boys they become fewer at higher level of education ladder due to poor
performance in examinations. Effort made include provision hostel facilitates
in day schools. Retentions of girls in system and improving their achievement
rates is an important issue in poverty eradication. To achieve this a study to
determine the causes of flow female achievements
Teaching Method
Next the
researcher sought to know whether teachers experienced any challenges when
using different methods of teaching, and their responses were as follows.
i. Lecture method. 11 (100%) teachers were comfortable with this method.
ii. Group discussion. 60% said they had a challenge of poor participation
by the students.
iii. Question and answer methods. All the teachers said they had no
challenges.
iv. Field work.
100% of the teacher said this method of teaching was expensive, time consuming
and involving both to the students and to the teachers.
From the above
responses it is evident that lecture method was one of the most preferred
methods by teachers. This concurs with Onyango (2000) says “that lecture method
is the most preferred method by secondary school teachers”. The reason being,
it is less demanding in terms of time and materials however this method has
some challenges. Brown (1994) argues that “teachers are not able to match their
presentation to the understanding of their student and also some concept
related to psychomotor skills and attitude are difficult to teach using lecture
method”.
The discussion
below focuses on some of the key issues affecting quality education in Tanzania
and is drawn from various data sets.
Parent involvement
Often,
it feels like there are just two kinds of parents: The ones hunkering in a cave
somewhere and the ones camping in your pocket. Unreachable? OrS unavoidable.
Either way, teachers wish for the kind of parent involvement that supports
learning. Elusive parents usually have a reason for their mysterious ways, like
language fluency. In New Mexico, teacher Ricardo Rincon asks students to host
parent conferences. He also crafts homework assignments that don’t assume
parents have advanced skills. For example, instead of asking them to supervise
the addition of fractions, they might be asked to ensure their kids read for 30
minutes at home.
6.Teacher’s salary
What salary, educators ask. After paying the mortgage, student loan debts, medical bills, utilities, car and food, what’s left? “With pay cuts, furlough days, increased taxes and other bills, for the first time I am falling behind in my financial obligation, ruining a 30-year record of perfect credit,” writes one fed-up California teacher. “I feel my only route is retirement and possibly filing for bankruptcy.” NEA’s campaign for professional pay for teachers and support professionals is trying to change that.
Preliminary
Findings Perception on Quality
Of the 200
hundred respondents 80% felt that levels of quality in their schools was
average to low quality. 3% felt it was very low. Only 13% felt their schools
offered high quality education and 3% very high quality. It was noted that
those few schools who recorded high to very high quality were International
schools or a few established private schools. In year 2000, the Tanzanian
government introduced the primary education development plan (PEDP) and after
2004, the secondary education development plan (SEDP), where communities and
individuals participated in building more schools in their local areas. Even
though such a policy attended to the quantity provision ofeducation, the large
number of mushrooming schools continued to lack in quality provision. Most of
these schools continue to experience low levels of quality due to poor
infrastructure and unskilled manpower. The majority of students and teachers in
the studied schools, almost 75% expressed the need to transfer from their
school to a better one. This suggested that most teachers and students had very
low levels of satisfaction within their schools and possibly felt „imprisoned„
within those institutions as most may not be able to transfer thus impacting on
staff and students„ motivational levels as well. This could be an indictment on
public education hence the need by communities and government to invest more so
as to raise levels of quality in most schools.
Further
Findings Funding
Despite Tanzania‟s
commendable efforts in increased funding for education in recent years, and at
7.1% of GNP in 2008 ahead of its regional neighbours (UNESCO, 2011), this
investment has not gone far enough to meet citizens expectations and
satisfaction on quality education as noted above. Most of educational funding
comes from the government especially in public schools. However, parents are
also involved in the development of schools through payment of various fees and
levies. Some of these fees include tuition, examination, caution, watchman,
academic, furniture, identity and fees for lunches. The major issues impacted
by inadequate funding especially in rural areas were noted as low teacher
salaries, lack of sufficient facilities, educational equipment, electricity, clean
water and qualified staff. The poor economic status of most parents especially
in rural communities further compounds the problem of funding, rendering them
unable to support most educational programmes in schools. It is not uncommon to
find students crammed in dilapidated classrooms sitting on the floor and over
50 of them sharing a textbook. The same also obtains in some impoverished urban
communities. Schools that are located in towns often get some government
attention, partly due to local political pressure on governing authorities to
meet minimum standards and the ability by most gainfully employed parents to
pay fees to fund various educational programmes. The funding of schools by
parents has often created quite a burden on many families‟ especially large
families, single parent families and to orphaned learners. In families where
parents do not yet appreciate the value of education, such as girls‟ education,
these financial demands weigh heavy enough to discourage them from educating
their children or paying their fees timely. Lack of adequate funding in
education has led to lack of access to quality education thus preventing many
Tanzanians from escaping the cycle of poverty. The state of Tanzania‟s economy
which is ranked as among the poorest in the world (UNDP., 2010), continues to
impede quality education efforts as most educational programmes cannot be
introduced or sustained efficiently.
On the one hand,
there are public schools that can’t afford to pay their educators, fix their
leaky roofs, or replace their moldy textbooks. On the other, there are hostile
legislators who would love to divert the ever-dwindling funds for public
education to private schools and companies and a federal government that
believes the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion reward for states that
promise to tie teacher pay to test scores, is the answer. (Clue: It isn’t!)
Activism is critical this year. NEA activists will help elect pro-public
education candidates—through donations to the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education and
participation in local phone banks and door-to-door walks. And they’ll be
holding those politicians accountable. “Sometimes I hear people say, ‘Oh, but
I’m not political. I’m an educator!’” says Lee Schreiner, an active Ohio
teacher. “And I say, ‘Bull! Name one thing in your job that isn’t political.’”
To learn more about NEA’s work for pro-public education candidates and issues,
visit Education Votes
(retrieved on http.neatoday.org/.../top-eight-challenges-teachers-face-this-school-year-2
on Feb. 2016)
Classroom
Size
Many areas
of the country are facing classrooms that are literally busting out at the
seams. A report at NEA Today two years ago discussed how schools
in Georgia, in the midst of major funding cuts for schools, had no choice but
to lift all class size limits to accommodate students with the faculty the
school system could still afford to keep. More recently, Fairfax County in Virginia
has been looking into a
proposal to increase classroom sizes in the face of significant budget cuts.
The Board of Education in South Carolina is also weighing their options in
this area.
When money
gets tight, classroom numbers are often impacted. Yet, most teachers agree that
they cannot effectively teach every student in a classroom, if the class size
exceeds about 30. Their statements are backed up by research. Class Size Matters cites a study performed by the
Tennessee Star that found classes of 15-17 students in grades K-3 provided both
long and short-term benefits to both the students and the teachers in those
classrooms. Minority students, those living in poverty and male students
appeared to benefit from smaller classroom sizes the most.
Poverty
Technorati reported last fall that 22 percent
of the children in the U.S. live at or below poverty level. American Graduate defines poverty as a family of four
with an annual income level of $23,050 or lower. American Graduate also cites a
report from the Southern Education Foundation, which shows in 17 states across
the U.S., low-income students now comprise the majority of public school
students in those states. Some estimates put poverty levels for public school
students at 25% in the not-so-distant future.
Students living at or below poverty
level tend to have
the highest dropout rates. Studies show that students who do not get enough
food or sleep are less likely to perform at their full academic potential.
Schools know these truths first-hand, and despite efforts to provide students
with basic essentials, teachers, administrators and lawmakers know there is
simply not enough to go around.
Family
Factors
Family
factors also play a role in a teacher’s ability to teach students. Principals
and teachers agree that what is going on at home will impact a student’s
propensity to learn. Divorce, single parents, poverty, violence and many
other issues are all challenges a student brings to school every day. While
some teachers and administrators try to work with children in less than ideal
family environments, they can only do so much – especially when parents are often
not willing to partner with the schools to provide for the children.
Technology
Kids Health Guide reports that ‘‘ students are more technologically advanced
than any teachers today, putting instructors at a decided disadvantage in the
classroom’’. NEA to day argued that ‘‘However,
a student’s love of technology also tends to distract him from his schoolwork’’.
When teachers don’t have the techno-savvy to compete with those devices, by bringing education and technology
together, it can be
difficult to keep students’ interest and attention to properly teach new
concepts.
Technology
needs to come into the classroom to keep up with the learning demands of the 21st
century. Schools that are already cash-strapped may find an unsurmountable
challenge in coming up with the funding to bring computers and other forms of
technology into their classes. Scholastic offers some tips for school
districts that want to fit the bill for technology, including everything from
asking individuals in the district for “big gifts” to going to Uncle Sam for
the funding. The website also suggests negotiating prices on technology when
possible and allowing student to bring their own from home.
Bullying
Bullying is not a new problem, but it is one
that has a profound impact on the learning aptitude of many students today.
Technology has given bullies even more avenues to torment their victims –
through social networking, texting and other virtual interactions. Cyberbullying has become a major issue for
schools, as evidenced by the number of suicides that can be directly traced
to bullying events.
The fact that laws are still fuzzy regarding cyberbullying adds to the
challenge – since parents, teachers and administrators are unsure of how to
legally handle such issues.
Student
Attitudes and Behaviors
Many public school teachers also
cite student attitudes, such as apathy and disrespect for teachers, as a major
problem facing schools today. A poll from the National Center for Education Statistics
cited that problems like
apathy, tardiness, disrespect and absenteeism posed significant challenges for
teachers. These issues were seen more frequently at the secondary school level,
rather than the primary grades.
The following
are common challenges facing educators at schools beginning and tools to
address them( According to Lauraiancu).An urban myth goes around saying
that in the first couple of weeks of
school you cannot control the chaos. Anxious students out of focus, paperwork,
planning and trying to find your normal rhythm, all fall under teachers
attributions and have to be managed at once. From time management, to finding
educational resources and enabling functional communication channels, all those
problems seem to affect educators at this time.
Time management issues if you ever felt the need to literally beat the clock,
you have to seriously consider to clear your schedule and put all your tasks in
order.making lesson plan in advance, thinking through projects and owning a
personal calendar can help in this kind of situations. One of the most basic
tools that each educator should use is google calendar. It is free and can help
you to always be in time for meeting and know your schedule at any given time.
It sends friendly reminders on both email and phone. Add regular meetings, classes
and always know your spare time. Moreover, organizing all your data can also
can also save some time. You can use Dropbox or Evernote in this way. Learning
to keep your data organized in the cloud is easy and convenient.
Finding proper resources when resources
come up, it is only natural to think about budgt. Through at the commencement
of the year educators already have a plan in mind it is always stratifying to
find new resources, especially if they are free. In this matter, platforms like
teacher pay teachers are more than welcomed. Structured as an open market of
resources, you can find many things there, from lesson plans to printable or
all kind of fun stuff for your class .Another way to catch some good offers are
flash deal websites such as Educents. Here you can find various educational
resources at discounted price or even for free.
Getting to know your students
Regardless if your students change from year to year, they all develop new
skills, new habits and grow new perceptions year after year. That’s why it is
always important to know the children whom you are going to work with. You can
use a survey to make icebreakers and all kind of activities. teachers vision
for inspiration or use a free online survey tool to create online.
Adapting class
activities, Children have become accustomed to new technologies and are always
eager to learn new skills and discover fun activities,
Challenges
according to Asian 2013
- Time Management issuesIf you ever felt the need to literally beat the clock, you have to seriously consider to clear your schedule and put all your tasks in order. Making lesson plans in advance, thinking through projects and owning a personal calendar can help in this kind of situations. One of the most basic tools that each educator should use is Google Calendar. It is free and can help you to always be in time for meetings and know your schedule at any given time. It sends friendly reminders on both email and phone. Add regular meetings, classes and always know your spare time. Moreover, organizing all your data can also save some time. You can use Dropbox or Evernote in this way. Learning to keep your data organized in the cloud is easy and convenient.
- Finding proper resourcesWhen resources come up, it is only natural to think about budget. Although at the commencement of the school year educators already have a plan in mind, it is always gratifying to find new resources, especially if they are free. In this matter, platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers are more than welcomed. Structured as an open market of resources, you can find many things there, from lesson plans to printables or all kind of fun stuff for your class. Another way to catch some good offers are flash deal websites such as Educents. Here you can find various educational resources at a discounted price or even for free.
- Getting to know your studentsRegardless if your students change from year to year, they all develop new skills, new habits and grow new perceptions year after year. That’s why it is always important to know the children whom you are going to work with. You can use a survey to make icebreakers and all kind of activities. You can use TeacherVision for inspiration or use a free online survey tool to create online questionnaires and have student complete them on computer or other gadgets. It can be great for a course beginning as you can customize it to fit your needs and use it to find out important facts about your new students.
- Adapting class activitiesChildren have become accustomed to new technologies and are always eager to learn new skills and discover fun activities. Thus, educators have the task to always come with new educational apps, new ideas for projects and ways to keep them interested while learning. More and more educators are accepting gamification as part of their teaching routine. To get some inspiration and maybe to see how other benefit from such apps, you can see Fun Brain, Math Chimp or Smart Kit. In addition you can use online quizzes, iPad educational apps or find new group activities form the class. You can always check websites such as Scholastic which have great resources and online activities.
- Ease communication with parentsWith a simple form builder you can get closer than ever to parents. For example, with 123ContactForm you can create forms to request feedback, to gather information and have everything centralized in a solid database. Web forms have so many possible uses: from teacher appraisal to field trip approval or even school fundraising. Forms are easy to create, do not require any special skills and are effective to use. In addition, you can also use a tool like WDWDT, a custom messaging system that enables information about students’ whereabouts and eases communication with parents. You have to always give parents access to the school status of their children, let them contribute to school activities if they wish and make them feel involved in the educational process.
Parent
Involvement
Often
teachers find there is no happy medium when it comes to
parental involvement, according to the Kids Health
Guide. Some parents won’t be seen for the entire school year, no matter what
sort of issues might arise. Others never seem to go away, hovering over the
child and teacher and interfering with the education process. There are ways
parents can become involved and support their child’s education at the same
time, but teachers don’t always get that level from parents.
Student
Health
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.,
and the same poor eating habits that led to the obesity problem may also be
contributing to lower student achievement. Obesity also increases a student’s
risk for other conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, which could
result in higher absenteeism and more academic issues.
The
national school lunch movement Let’s Move! has been working to bring healthier
options into school lunchrooms across the country. According to the website, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released
new guidelines in 2012 to boost the nutritional quality of the meals students
get at school. Exercise programs are also coming to schools across the country
to promote more physical activity among students of all ages. However, it seems
the country as a whole still has a long way to go to get on the road to better
health on a large scale.
Funding
Budget cuts have created huge problems for most
public schools in recent years. Less funding means smaller staffs, fewer
resources and a lower number of services for students. While some argue that
throwing more money at the education problems won’t make them go away, others
assert that lack of funding caused many of the problems in the first place.
There are
many problems in public schools today, but identifying those issues is half the
battle. With a laundry list of challenges to face, now is the time for
educators, parents and lawmakers to come together and begin to find solutions –
for the benefit of all students in public schools today.
Classroom Challenges
Classroom Challenges Overview
Sometimes, particular students may cause you problems in
class, without warranting major negotiation or intervention. A few common
situations, and ways to work them out, are discussed below.
Preventing Conflict
A sensitive approach to your work with students can save you from many problems.- By phrasing questions and criticism carefully, you can generally avoid defensive or hostile responses.
- If you are supportive, encouraging, and respectful of student ideas in class, you can correct wrong answers or point out weaknesses without discouraging your students.
- Always show students the courtesy of listening to and responding to their answers when they offer an idea.
- Rather than dismissing a weak or inaccurate idea immediately, ask the student to clarify it using class material. Often, students can talk their way into a more thoughtful response.
- You will also want to be careful about teasing or sarcastic humor, since these are all too often easily misinterpreted.
Strategies for Managing Challenges
Arguments in Class
When arguments erupt in class, or when a student makes an inflammatory comment, your role as the instructor is to preserve the learning environment. This task is two-fold:- First, maintain a safe environment for your students, which means preventing the debate from turning into a prolonged attack on either individual students or groups with whom students may identify. It also means keeping your cool and staying respectful if a student challenges you; this preserves students’ trust in you.
- Second, look for the learning opportunity in the experience. What is the value for students in hearing opposing viewpoints or challenging commonly held stereotypes? Is there a way to use the content of the argument to serve your teaching goals? Or, is student learning best served by defusing the tension and swiftly refocusing students?
- Take a deep breath and assess what is happening. Is a student voicing frustration? Is a student expressing a heartfelt opinion? Are two students misunderstanding each other?
- Whenever possible, encourage students to discuss ideas, not individuals, in the classroom.
- If a student attacks another student’s idea, ask that student to restate what he or she thinks the other student meant. Make sure that the interpretation is accurate and allow both students to clarify their statements.
- Ask the students to generate all possible evidence for both sides of a debate as a way of suspending judgment and encouraging reflection. Ask students to find counterexamples as well as examples.
- Offer to continue a discussion after class or ask interested students to email you their thoughts if the topic of the argument is not central to the goals of the class session.
- Take a deep breath, and try to understand the content of the student’s complaint or challenge. Ignore, for a moment, any rudeness; if you respond to the content, the student’s attitude and approach may soften.
- Remain calm and nonjudgmental, no matter how agitated the student becomes. Your emotional response will only further fuel the student’s anger. This is especially true if a student makes a personal attack.
- Don’t use your authority as a teacher to simply claim superior knowledge or logic; while in some cases it may be true, it will almost never convince your students, and it discourages their active engagement with the ideas.
- Use evidence when disagreeing with a student and ask students to provide evidence for their positions. You may ask other students to evaluate the evidence that you, or the student, provide, if the argument is related to course content.
- Never get into a power struggle with a student. As the teacher, you already have power; any retaliation to a student’s provocation is likely to be viewed as an abuse of power.
- If a student is agitated to the point of being unreasonable, ask him or her to carry the grievance to a higher authority. Do not continue trying to reason with a student who is highly agitated.
When One Student Dominates the Classroom
Over talkative or disruptive students can derail a class. If a student dominates the classroom, try the following strategies to refocus the class and involve other students:- Ask other students to comment on the dominant student’s ideas and to propose alternative perspectives.
- Try participation strategies that involve the whole group, such as taking a vote, breaking up into pairs, or doing a “round robin,” where every student gives a brief response to a question, problem, or thought-provoking quote.
- If the dominant student seems to be well-intentioned, you might meet with the student privately, thank them for their enthusiastic participation, and ask for advice on how to involve other students. Let the student know that you want to distribute participation more evenly, and invite her to be your “collaborator” (e.g., by not answering a question right away to give others an opportunity, or by phrasing comments in a way that encourages others to respond).
- If a student dominates by asking too many disruptive questions, you can ask the full class how many students would prefer that you spend class time answering a specific question. If the class does not vote yes, let the student know that you can answer his question after class or in office hours.
When Students Remain Silent
Some days, the silence in a classroom can make you long for a little heated debate. If you have students who never answer a question, offer an opinion, or participate in a demonstration, try these strategies for involving them in the classroom:- Make sure that you know the names of your students and that all the members of a class know each other by name.
- Create a safe environment by responding positively to all student feedback, even if you need to correct a statement. Thank each student for his or her contribution and try to find the seed of a correct or more developed answer in the student’s response. Give students the opportunity to revise or clarify their response.
- Prepare students for full-group discussion by having them first discuss the topic in pairs or by spending a few minutes writing out their response to a question.
- Do not put a silent student on the spot unless you have established a norm of calling on students who have not volunteered. A student’s embarrassment at being singled out may make it even less likely he or she will want to participate in class.
- If you decide to establish a norm of calling on students who have not volunteered responses, begin with questions that do not have a single correct answer or questions that ask students to make a choice between options. This makes it more likely that students will be able to answer your question without feeling embarrassment or resentment.
- Require all students in your class to stop by your office hours at the beginning of the quarter. Getting to know each student may encourage them to participate in class.
- Consider asking quiet students to email you their thoughts before or after class. Some students will readily accept this invitation. If they email before class, you will have an opportunity to draw them into the conversation at an appropriate point. If they email you after class, they have the chance to put together a thoughtful response without the pressure of being in the classroom.
Student Excuses
I was locked out of my dorm all night. I had to visit my grandmother, who was having surgery. I slept through my alarm clock because I was up all night studying. I had the flu, then I had bronchitis, then I had a bad reaction to the antibiotics they gave me. I had two other exams the day the paper was due.Which of these excuses would you allow? Does it depend on who uses the excuse and how many other excuses you’ve heard from him? Deciding how to respond to students’ excuses can be a major challenge. No single policy is perfect —inevitably, some deserving students will be unfairly punished for life’s inconveniences and some manipulative students will be unfairly rewarded for creative excuses. The best you can do is have a policy, let students know about it at the beginning of the quarter, and retain the right to be accommodating if the situation merits it. Some policies you might consider:
- Offer all students some flexibility to use at their discretion, e.g., one “grace day” for a single major assignment or one missing assignment if you have frequent assignments. Students don’t need to provide an excuse, but they get only one free pass.
- Have a standard grade penalty for late assignments. It should be strict enough to encourage on-time assignments but not so harsh that it discourages students from turning in work at all (one-half of a letter grade per day late is probably just right).
- All excuses related to other courses, athletic travel, or other events that students know about in advance need to be discussed before the due date/exam.
- Recognize that not all students feel comfortable giving excuses, even for valid and serious problems. You might invite your students to include a note with each major assignment or exam if they think that the work is not a reflection of their abilities or preparation. Let them know that it won’t influence the grade they receive for that assignment or exam, but it may be taken into account in the final grading.
Above all, have compassion for your students. Life’s little and big disasters do get in the way, especially for students, whose lives are densely scheduled. You don’t need to give students grades or credit they didn’t earn, but you should empathize with their situation and help them formulate a plan for the rest of the course.
Grade Complaints
Inevitably, some students will complain if you give them a lower grade than they expected. Because grade inflation is common at many top universities, and because family pressures can be overwhelming, many students believe they need to maintain a near-perfect GPA in order to achieve their personal and professional goals. You will have more success handling grade complaints if you listen to and respond to their anxieties. In addition, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of grade complaints:- Make it clear from the beginning exactly what you expect in papers or tests.
- If possible, hand out guidelines for a good essay or examples of a superior exam answer.
- When you return a graded assignment, note in some detail the weak or strong points of the work and make suggestions for a better performance next time.
- Give students the option of handing in a first draft of an assignment that you will not grade but can critique.
- Save examples of student work or exams that represent the full grade distribution; this will help you explain to students why they did not receive the grade they hoped for.
International
Journal of Asian Social Science, 2013, 3(3):800-813 807
Gender As noted above, financial demands
often militate against the girl child. Such inequalities also contribute to
most school girls‟ not reaching secondary education and in some cases adversely
affecting their academic performance. In 1980 Tanzania‟s professional women
gathered to form a special organ called Women Education and Development (WED),
whose main goal was to enhance gender equity in education. Since then the
levels of enrolment across most mainstream sectors of education have reflected
improvement in terms of quantity and access. However, the qualitative challenge
of meeting girl child needs such as creating gender sensitive environments in
schools, affirmatively aiding their academic performance to favorably compete
with their male counterparts in future professional work settings especially in
areas such as leadership, Mathematics and Science fields, still remain. it is noted
that girls often enter school burdened by disadvantages linked to poverty,
gender inequality and other negative factors and thus require additional
support from teachers and the wider education system. Lack of access to quality
education by most girls has not only led to low educational achievement for
them, but also condemned them to an inferior cultural status which negatively
impacts on Tanzania‟s economic growth and competitiveness in the world.
The Leadership
Challenge Most head-teachers especially in rural areas faced enormous
challenges mainly due to lack of funding, thus they fail to motivate and retain
qualified, adequate staffing levels. Many teachers face transportation and
housing problems that hinder them from getting to school on time thus creating
a regular loss of working hours in some schools. In urban areas, some teachers
hold second jobs, which may detract them from the time and energy they should
expend in their classrooms. When teachers miss school regularly it impacts on
quality education. With less motivated staff and students, particularly arising
from sub standard infrastructure and lack of educational materials, it is not uncommon
for head-teachers‟ time to be wasted dealing with disciplinary issues involving
students and sometimes teachers. Political interference was also cited as a
factor in schools, giving rise to overcautious leadership that holds schools
back. Cases abound where invited public officials and some politicians make
false promises to schools, especially on funding, and when a head-teacher takes
an effort to follow up, he ends up spending a lot of funds going to and fro
with no success. Several participants noted that Tanzania has very good policy
on paper when it comes to quality education and human rights issues at primary
and secondary level, but the implementation of these was seen as very poor.
Each school may need to design its own frameworks, which establishes a quality
conscious school ethos. It is necessary that such designs and practices are
arrived at, not through imposition by the school administration, but through a
wider consultation involving all stakeholders such as students, teachers and
parents.
Quality Gap between Schools
The study noted a
massive gap between many poorly resourced public schools and a very few well
maintained largely private ones. Thus as noted earlier, most students were
dissatisfied with their schools and indicated an intention to transfer to a few
schools perceived as better. The standard ofpublic qualified teachers‟ ratio
(PQTR) for secondary schools is recorded at 1:40 per subject. However the
average PQTR was 1:51 in 2010 which indicated a serious shortage of qualified teachers
in secondary schools. There are also other endemic issues of regional
disparities for example Mara and Kigoma regions having PQTR of 1:82 and 1:80
respectively, while Pwani, the region‟s capital and capital city Dar-es-Salaam,
had a PQTR of 1:31 and 1:36 respectively (Tanzania Ministry of Education and
Culture., 2010). This therefore implies that there is uneven distribution of
teachers across regions and schools and the situation much dire in rural
regions and poor urban schools. Part of the challenge, like in most of Africa,
is that the majority of Tanzanians live in rural areas, and most teachers do
not prefer working in remote rural communities where there is often poor mode
of transport and squalid housing conditions. Schools are often sparsely populated
and students have to travel long distances. This scenario replicated other
cases in Africa where most rural schools are poorly resourced, have fewer
enrolments and often have to rely heavily on the peasant parent community
(Legotlo and Westhuizen, 1996). Remote schools were often hard hit by staff
turn-over, as teachers favoured developed regions. Rural schools also
experienced higher levels of teacher absenteeism. Performance management
systems that combine incentives and regular inspections may need to be
introduced and strengthened at district and school levels so as to reward staff
who are committed and add value to quality education efforts. Considerable
investment in terms of human and material resources seemed highly necessary in
most of Tanzania‟s schools particularly in rural areas, if quality education
was to be realised.
Science and
Mathematics
Quality challenges
also existed in the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics. It is
noted that Mathematics and Science subjects are essential for social and
economic development particularly for developing economies such as in Africa.
Numerous schools lacked laboratories, relevant books and teaching equipment.
Only a few privileged schools had qualified and capable Mathematics and Science
teachers. There were many instances where unqualified teachers or teachers
qualified in other disciplines were assigned to teach Mathematics and Science.
As a result there has been a perennial poor performance in these subjects in
most instances with some failure rates of around 70% (African Organisation of
English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions, 2009). There appeared to be a
glaring need for greater attention and clarity of priorities on poor performing
students in Mathematics and Science subjects as this threatened to hamper
Tanzania‟s efforts on economic growth and competitiveness at regional and
international levels. There should be a concerted effort in training more
Science and Mathematics teachers, up skilling the existing ones and promoting
learner centrered pedagogies which have been proven to be successful elsewhere
in Kenya (Willitter et al., 2012).
CONCLUSION
Based on a
humanist approach to quality education, the study established understanding on
some of the major challenges faced by the education systems in Tanzania. There
is widespread lack of sufficient manpower and infrastructure, poor policy
implementation and sometimes a lack of political will to engage stakeholders in
a purposeful, trustworthy environment thereby threatening healthy links between
education and other national socio-economic goals. As also noted by (UNESCO,
2011), levels of learning still remain low, and disparities seen as too wide
between rich and poor, rural and urban and also on gender, thus impeding
„Education for All‟ goals. In view of Tanzania‟s improved access policy to
education for the poorest between 1999 and 2008, the challenge still remains of
raising quality standards in education while sustaining access for all. Such a
combined strength may help Tanzania meet its citizens‟ needs on quality
education provision as well as position the nation to favourably compete on a
regional and international stage. It was noted in the study that raising levels
of quality in education may require less dependence on central government for
direction, but a concerted effort by school administrators working with local
leaders to create a quality conscious ethos within schools. For its part, the
government may consider addressing the unfair distribution of qualified
teachers and to provide adequate funding to schools so as to beef up
infrastructure and learning materials. Without these critical ingredients,
Tanzania‟s citizens will continue to experience low satisfaction levels on
quality education; increased levels of poverty and the inability to favorably
compete economically with other nations.
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