CHALLENGES EXPECTED TO MEET IN TEACHING AND WAYS EXPECTED TO MEET OR ADDRESS THE NAMED CHALLENGES.

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 21^st 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

These are just a few of the educational tools and educational resources which you can use to facilitate certain tasks or to improve your workflow. New educational apps emerge each day, we just have to select the proper ones that will bring us the most favorable outcome. What kind of educational apps and tools did you use for this school year beginning?

 

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.

You are also less likely to run into conflict with your students if you resolve any mixed feelings you have about your authority as a teacher. Students expect you to set clear boundaries and to hold them to their academic responsibilities.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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?

When a discussion between students becomes more heated than you would like, you can use the following strategies to transform arguments into productive debate:

• 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.

When a student challenges or criticizes you, take the following steps to stay calm and find some value in the exchange:

• 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.

Recognize that talkative and even disruptive students often think they are displaying enthusiasm and thoughtfulness; show appreciation for their commitment to the class, even as you help them find an appropriate way to channel it.

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.

Talking with the student privately can also help. Reasons for being silent vary. A student may simply enjoy listening. Another may lack the confidence to contribute. Some students have quiet personalities; others may be undergoing personal difficulties that inhibit their participation. Some may be unprepared and embarrassed to admit it. Others may come from an educational background that discouraged active participation. Even after you gently encourage them to speak, they may remain silent. This is their right, and ultimately you must respect their privacy.

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.

Sometimes a student’s excuses push the boundaries of plausibility or pile up one after the other as each due date comes around. In these cases, have a conversation with the student about your concerns. You can require some reasonable evidence for their excuse; often this is enough to dissuade malingerers. If it’s a matter of too many excuses, have a discussion about accountability, time management, and fairness. Particularly if the excuses are not compelling, let the student know that other students have had similar difficulties but have not required special accommodation.
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.

When students contest their grades, let them know that when you reconsider their marks, you retain the right to adjust them up or down. If you are the TA, advise students that in difficult cases the professor will make the final decision. (Be sure to discuss this with the professor beforehand, however.) When no resolution is possible, let the student know which office (such as the ombudsperson) will help him or her pursue an appeal. (Retrieved on https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/./teaching.../classroom-challenge on Feb. 2016.)

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.