BROADCASTING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH IN TANZANIA

This article presents an overview of broadcasting development and research in Tanzania, since coming to independence in 1961. Particular emphasis is given to the role of radio as a primary stimulus to the recent mass mobilization campaigns, and its support function in the on‐going national literacy project. The survey was undertaken from June, 1977, to July, 1978, during which time the author was visiting research professor at the University of Nairobi. One month was also spent in Dar Es Salaam during early 1978, interviewing relevant officials and researchers and assessing unpublished reports. The review incorporates published and unpublished material to mid‐1978.     

Who benefits from illiteracy? Literacy and empowerment

Formerly Associate Professor of Adult Education at the University of Dar es Salaam (1970–79) and Director of the Institute of Adult Education, United Republic of tanzania (1979–81). His fields of competence include literacy, adult education and participatory research. Author ofThe Adult Education Revolution in Tanzania and co-editor ofParticipatory Research: An Emerging Alternative Methodology in Social Science Research.     

The significance of student voice: female students’ interpretations of failure in Tanzanian secondary education

In Tanzania, the national examinations are used as the primary tools for selection and transition from lower to upper secondary education. Female students are more likely to fail in the national exams and to drop out from education. This article examines the perspectives of female students concerning their advancement in secondary education. Two sets of qualitative data, responses to a research questionnaire from 100 female lower secondary school students and follow-up interviews with seven mature students enrolled in a non-formal school who had failed in the national examinations, were analysed to identify critical issues influencing the educational advancement of female students in an urban context of Dar es Salaam. Finally, the connections between students' perspectives and the national secondary education development plan are examined. The aim is to highlight how student voice can contribute to transform secondary education and achieve the equality and equity targets.     

Inclusion in education: A step towards social justice

This article discusses the theoretical relationships between inclusion in education and social justice. It draws on Martha Nussbaum's use of the capability approach is given as one of the few philosophical and political theories that places disability/impairment in the social justice debate. The article goes on to present findings from the initial stages of a three-year participatory action research project involving eight primary schools located in Dar es Salaam and Pwani (Coast) regions of Tanzania. The project aims to develop an Index of Inclusion in Tanzania. There are numerous barriers to inclusion at national, community and school levels. Both the literature review and the emerging findings of the project suggest some progress has been made towards inclusive, just and quality education in Tanzania but there is still a long way to go.     

Educational attainments and household characteristics in Tanzania

This paper uses multivariate regression techniques to analyse household survey data collected in rural Tanzania in 1992 in a joint research project by TADREG (Tanzania Development Research Group) and the University of Dar es Salaam. It focuses on how household and individual characteristics affect whether or not a child goes to primary school, completes primary and attends secondary. The regression analysis clearly shows substantial intra-household differences between the way in which household characteristics affect outcomes for boys and girls, and how mothers' and fathers' influence over resource decisions differentially affect outcomes. For example, when looking at the decision as to whether to enrol in primary school, fathers' education has a greater influence on boys whereas mothers' primary education has a greater influence on girls. Furthermore, married mothers' education can increase the probability of girls enrolling in secondary school by 9.7 per cent for primary education and a further 17.6 per cent for secondary, while having no significant effect on the enrolment of boys. These results imply that mothers have a relatively stronger preference for their daughters' education and that their education affords them either increased household decision-making power or increased economic status.     

Non‐formal education implementations in Turkey: issues and latest challenges

The aim of this article is to analyse the latest implementations and issues raised in Turkish non‐formal education from a historical perspective in Turkey. The high population rate and lack of adequate educational opportunities for adults and migration from rural areas to urban areas caused many educational, social and cultural problems in non‐formal education. For solving all the problems, Turkey followed the latest developments in the world about the aims and functions of non‐formal adult education and organised several different adult education programs in terms of integration to international bodies such as European Union and so forth. These programs aim to reach a wide range of people from rural and urban settings, the employees, employers, farmers, students, tradesmen, housewives, artisans and many others. The most important educational characteristic of this audience is that they are not regular students. The organisation way of non‐formal education differ from other developed countries in essence. In social terms, the non‐formal education for adults does not only provide professional and technical training; but also provides the learners with basic literacy and helps continue their educational life, contributes to preservation and improvement of national and cultural values, creates an awareness of citizenship and democratic thinking in Turkey.     

Parental involvement in educational activities in Tanzania: understanding motivational factors

ABSTRACT

In Tanzania, the education system focuses on schools and teachers as key educators of children, while little attention is paid to the home environment. This study examines motivational factors that may influence parental involvement at home and at school, using Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model of parental involvement as a theoretical framework. Participants were 580 parents of Grade 2 children attending primary schools in three districts of Dar Es Salaam. Parents were invited at school to complete a questionnaire. Regression analyses showed that parents’ expectations for children’s school success predicted home involvement, next to parents’ perceived time and energy, child invitations and parents’ self-efficacy. School involvement was predicted by perceived time and energy, and school and child invitations. In a mediation model role construction had an indirect effect on school involvement through child and school invitations and perceived time and energy. Implications for educational policy are discussed.     

How children living in poor areas of Dar Es Salaam,Tanzania perceive their own multiple intelligences

This study was carried out with 1,857 poor children from 17 schools, living in low-income areas of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. All children took the ‘Student Multiple Intelligences Profile’ (SMIP) questionnaire as part of a bigger project that gathered data around concepts and beliefs of talent. This paper sets out two aims, first to investigate the structural representation of the self perceived multiple intelligences for this set of children and second to discuss how the best fit model might reflect children’s culture and their school experiences. After carrying out exploratory factor analysis, a four factor first order model was shown to have a good fit. A higher order factor solution was investigated owing to the correlation of two latent constructs. In order to provide some insight into the multiple intelligences construct the relationship between the SMIP items, student test outcomes and attitudes to learning were examined. The item groupings were explored through African cultural beliefs around intelligences indigenous to African communities.     

Participation in the ICT era: Implementation without humiliation, misconception and false consciousness

The national language of Tanzania is Kiswahili. However, Tanzania has two official languages: English, introduced in colonial times, and Kiswahili, the actual lingua franca spoken by 99 per cent of the population. Kiswahili websites and internet content are gradually increasing, and equipment is becoming more affordable. The research reported on here shows that especially academic staff with good knowledge in information and communication technology (ICT) are using Kiswahili more than others. This gives hope for the future. The language of instruction in Tanzania??s higher education is however English only, resulting in students having to attend lectures and produce their coursework in a language they are not proficient in. Investigating whether University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) staff and students regard themselves as participants and contributors in a knowledge society, the author??s findings suggest two simultaneous processes: (1) There are still remnants from the colonial system in terms of education and language; (2) At the same time ICT-competent staff and students already do participate in the ICT era in Kiswahili and tend to use Kiswahili in their work and studies. A high number of respondents say they use Kiswahili in most of their ICT communication. There is reason to ask: is the notion of English being the only ICT language possibly decreasing? This article builds on fieldwork conducted at UDSM in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011, in connection with the research project ??ICT and Language in Tanzanian Higher Education??.     

Evaluation of adult literacy education in the United States: A review of methodological issues

This is a critical review of methodological issues in the evaluation of adult literacy education programs in the United States. It addresses the key research questions: What are the appropriate methods for evaluating these programs under given circumstances. It identifies 15 evaluation studies that are representative of a range of adult literacy contexts at various evaluation levels; and reviews each study regarding evaluation designs, data sources, learner assessment tools, and indicators of program effectiveness. It summarizes methodological lessons learned regarding the evaluation of adult literacy education and identifies areas for further research.     

Towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: Revisiting language of instruction in Tanzanian secondary schools

Research has been conducted on the detrimental effects of using a foreign language for learning in Tanzania’s secondary schools. While most studies recommend the use of a familiar language for instruction, the use of a foreign language in secondary education in Tanzania has been maintained. This has many consequences on the quality of education, and contributes to student dropout. Presenting a study carried out in the semi-rural areas of Dar es Salaam region in Tanzania, this article examines the extent to which language of instruction (LOI) contributes to school dropout. It postulates that the use of a foreign language for teaching and learning in Tanzanian secondary schools hinders the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study’s findings, drawn from exploratory and qualitative narrative research, indicate that, notwithstanding the presence of several other factors, the use of a foreign language as LOI is a major contributor to student dropout. The use of an unfamiliar language of instruction contributes to students’ lack of interest in and disengagement from learning, which ultimately pushes them out of the school system. This is because students usually perform poorly when an unfamiliar language is used as the language of examination and in classroom interaction. The study also reveals that the voices of both teachers and students are not in consonance with what would be expected in an ideal classroom teaching and learning environment. Student dropout from secondary education caused by an inappropriate LOI leads to myriad further problems which, in turn, negatively affect realisation of the SDGs in Tanzania. This article, therefore, concludes that LOI needs to be strongly factored into the development agenda. In order to ensure equitable access to quality secondary education, as required by SDG 4, the Government of Tanzania needs to adopt a language policy that promotes effective teaching and equal access to quality education in secondary schools.     

苏州高等教育推动城乡一体化建设研究

苏州高校应积极参与到城乡一体化建设实践中来,并以此来促进地方高校的转型发展和城乡教育事业的均等化发展.苏州高校可以通过"高校推进城乡一体化建设工程"来对接城乡一体化建设,组织实施校地共建城乡一体化行动计划、产学研推动城乡一体化行动计划、校镇互动行动计划、空中大讲堂行动计划、校乡共建社区学校行动计划等等.     

Tanzanian Education in the Nineties: beyond the diploma disease

In the 1970s, policies restricting the growth of post‐primary education and guaranteeing government employment for the few graduates limited the spread of the ‘diploma disease’ in Tanzania. The economic crisis of the 1980s meant growing underfund‐ing of education, which, combined with bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption, has led to the collapse of educational quality. Consequently, the majority rural poor have increasingly turned away from formal schooling, while the urban middle class continue to compete through education for the limited number of modem‐sector jobs. Liberalisation has resulted in rapid informalisation of the economy and the shrinkage of the public sector. But, just as previous reforms were unsuccessful in promoting rural development, so the present education system is incapable of promoting self‐employment in the informal sector. Dore predicted that, as a ‘late developer’, Tanzania would suffer an acute attack of certification sickness. That the symptoms are only now appearing among a relatively small segment of the population suggests, perhaps, that Tanzania is an even later developer than Dore imagined.     

English language teaching and whole school professional development in Tanzania

This paper reports a two-year in-depth qualitative enquiry into English language teaching in a typical primary school in an economically disadvantaged ward of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The research found that modest but significant changes to teachers’ pedagogy, practice and understanding of the teaching of English could be achieved. One of the most important changes was the teachers’ increased understanding of the benefits of engaging learners in a greater range of interaction styles. Another important change was greater understanding of the importance of communicative intent and semantics in the teaching of English. The whole school approach to teacher development, including the research team's sustained engagement with the head teacher of the school, was an important context for the changes to practice.     

‘They didn’t tell me anything’: women’s literacies and resistance in rural Mexico

Drawing from ethnographic case studies, this article considers issues of women’s access to education by exploring the literacy experiences of four women in rural Mexico. Ironically, as physical access to education in this area has increased, women’s literacy experiences have become more complex, rather than more libratory. Formal literacy, as it plays out for women in this community, is experienced as both an oppressive force as well as a tool for resistance to other forms of oppression. More importantly, the stories in this article highlight the socially dynamic nature of literacy as these four women utilise interpersonal relationships in order to subvert oppressive norms. These findings have implications both for theories of literacy as well as for educators who wish to work in more engaged ways with women and their children who emigrate from areas like rural Mexico.     

The role of postsecondary Education Institutions in the U.S. Department of Education's adult literacy initiative

On September 7, 1983, the U.S. Department of Education announced a nationwide adult literacy initiative designed “... to promote functional literacy for the entire adult populations.” The department is committed to conducting several activities to attack and solve the problem of adult literacy. Two of the activities pertain specifically to postsecondary education. They are:

? working with postsecondary education institutions to develop demonstration programs utilizing college work-study students in adult literacy programs;

? promoting college student involvement through literacy tutoring experiences in college courses and through student volunteerism.

The authors believe that there should be much greater participation in the initiative by postsecondary education institutions, and they propose that more extensive participation can be attained through the institutions' performance of their usual functions of teaching, service, and research.     

解决“三农”问题的关键是提高农民素质——浙江省江山市农民技术培训工作的调研报告

要解决农业、农村发展面临的各种矛盾和问题,切实提高农民收入,必须在提高农民素质上下功夫。浙江省江山市创建了“农民素质培训工程”,积极发挥农村成人文化技术学校在农民教育上的作用,不拘泥成规,根据农村的实际情况大胆创新,想农民之所想,急农民之所急,以发挥教育培训在农村发展和农民增收中的作用。江山市农村成人教育的宝贵经验,值得借鉴。     

Assessing intellectual potential in Tanzanian children in poor areas of Dar es Salaam

The research set out in this paper attempts to identify whether one of three conventional IQ tests is more capable of identifying intellectual potential amongst poor children in Dar es Salaam. To this end 1857 children from 17 government schools in poor districts of Dar es Salaam were asked to complete a questionnaire and undertake a range of tests. The study included teacher, peer and self-nomination. It has been noted that static testing may not fully elicit the abilities of African children. It has been suggested that dynamic testing might provide a more fair and equitable means of assessment. Therefore 101 students took part in a control and intervention group in order to investigate. The findings show a significant correlation between IQ test scores and other test outcomes. Those with larger families and older children perform less well on IQ tests. Peer ability and self-confidence positively influence test scores.