scholarly journals Teachers' multiple roles and perceived loss of professionalism in Tanzanian secondary schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Godlove Lawrent

The rapid increase in Tanzanian primary school enrolments in the last decade was prompted by the government to develop the Secondary Education Expansion Policy. My study, therefore, explored the impact of this policy on teachers’ professional lives. A qualitative approach was adopted to gain detailed insights into the phenomena under investigation. Data were collected from 30 participant teachers from four community secondary schools in Tanzania through interviews and document analysis. Overall the findings revealed that the government’s shortcomings in hiring support staff prompted teachers to perform extra duties alongside teaching. It also found that the lack of the government’s commitment to rewarding teaching quality exacerbated teachers’ engagement in other income-generating activities. Teachers’ engagement in these non-teaching tasks both in school and out of school affected their own professional identities which subsequently impacted on their teaching competence beliefs. These findings recommend that in order to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, the government of Tanzania must improve teachers’ welfare by employing enough support staff to assist in teaching and learning.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Farzana Sharmin Pamela Islam

As 21st century is the era of modern technologies with different aspects, it offers us to make the best use of them. After tape recorder and overhead projector (OHP), multimedia has become an important part of language classroom facilities for its unique and effective application in delivering and learning lesson. Although in many parts of Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, where English enjoys the status of a foreign language, the use of multimedia in teaching and learning is viewed as a matter of luxury. However, nowadays the usefulness and the necessity of it are well recognized by the academics as well as the government. The study aims to focus on the difference between a traditional classroom void of multimedia and multimedia equipped classrooms at university level by explaining how multimedia support the students with enhanced opportunity to interact with diverse texts that give them more in-depth comprehension of the subject. It also focuses on audio-visual advantage of multimedia on the students’ English language learning. The study has followed a qualitative method to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of using multimedia in an English language classroom at tertiary level. For this purpose, the data have been collected from two different sources. Firstly, from students’ written response to  an open ended question as to their comparative experience of learning  lessons with and without multimedia facilities; and secondly, through  observation of English language classes at a private university of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The discussion of the study is limited to  the use of multimedia in English language classroom using cartoons, images and music with a view to enhance students’ skills in academic writing, critical analysis of image and critical appreciation of music. For this purpose, cartoons in English language, images from Google and music from You Tube have got focused discussion in this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 154-158
Author(s):  
Murana Muniru Oladayo

The strategic place of English language in national development and mutual co-existence of Nigerians is not debatable. English has become a foreign national language to which the destiny of Nigeria is inextricably tied. The teaching of English at all levels of education in Nigeria is bedeviled with certain debilitating challenges. This paper examines some of the challenges of teaching and learning English in public secondary schools in Nigeria. It identifies such problems as poor quality of pupils admitted to secondary school, incompetent teachers of English, poor methodology and lack of motivation among others. The paper concludes that effective teaching of English language is a sine qua non for meaningful development in Nigeria and emphasizes the need for collective efforts in this direction. It recommends better training and retraining of teachers through continuing professional development practices and better commitment on the part of the government to the course of English studies in schools in Nigeria.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  

Formal Education in the 21st Century is focused on the development of learners’ skills and competencies essential to navigate the complexities and uncertainties of the age. Effective acquisition of these skills in the school is predicated on adequate provision of technological resources, adequate school infrastructure and continuous professional development of teachers for innovative instructional delivery. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the extent to which infrastructural provisions and continuous professional development of teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria support the development and acquisition of 21st Century teaching and learning skills. The study which adopted the impact of school infrastructure on learning by Barrett et al.as a conceptual framework, used descriptive survey design. Two self-constructed instruments were used to collect data from (20) selected secondary schools, (50) teachers and (200) students. Data were analysed using frequency count, percentage score, mean, and standard deviation. Findings showed that the schools visited lack infrastructural provisions, the teachers do not have the requisite skills and the students are not aware of any other means of learning different from the conventional styles offered by their teachers. Therefore, this study offered a two-prong approach of immediate provision of technological infrastructure for schools and the development of teachers’ professional skills through focused training targeted at enhancing their technological instructional delivery skills.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1165-1170
Author(s):  
Soni Pankaj ◽  
◽  
Kapoor Kanchan ◽  
Rana Susheela ◽  
Bandana a ◽  
...  

Around the world even the developed countries are stunned by this pandemic causing extensive pain. India is no exception and the Government has imposed a nation – wide lockdown to help restrain the virus. At the onset of the pandemic, medical students in the midst of the session were suddenly pulled out of their studies and same for 3rd and 4th years medical students clerkships were abruptly pulled out of clinical care. Faculty scrambled to adjust learning experiences by switching to online cases and remote activities to prepare students for required exams and to build clinical reasoning skills without the face to face patient encounter. In such a situation, where educational institutions across the country have been closed, both teaching and learning have affected millions of students. As per the orders from the.Government, Universities the colleges have started offering online classes to students. The objective of these online classes is to make sure that students do not lose out on any teaching and learning activities during the lockdown. This paper examines the impact of lockdown on students of medical institutions, the challenges they are facing due to lockdown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-65
Author(s):  
Binar Kurnia Prahani ◽  
Tsung-Hui Cheng

Social distancing and physical distancing policies have been implemented in many countries for some time in the face of a COVID-19 pandemic. The new policy that has been adopted by many countries is "New Normal". New Normal is a scenario to accelerate the handling of COVID-19 in health and socio-economic aspects. One of them is the Government of Indonesia has announced plans to implement new normal scenarios by considering epidemiological studies and regional readiness. With the implementation of New Normal, education will be run again according to the health protocol. New Normal policies in education must also be in line with instructions issued by The United Nations Agency for Child Welfare (UNICEF). UNICEF has issued guidelines for countries that want to reopen teaching and learning activities in schools. The guide consists of three stages, namely before opening, entering the opening process, and when opening has been carried out. Research on the planning, preparation, implementation, and evaluation of New Normal in the field of learning and teaching needs the attention of all parties, including academics. The results of research and publications on the impact of New Normal in the field of learning and teaching are believed to be beneficial in the field of education.


2020 ◽  
pp. 271-277
Author(s):  
Inger Marie Dalehefte

The chapter highlights how an outsider with a leadership position (head of the department of education), experienced the impact of the promotion preparatory seminars on her staff. Primarily, their influence was perceived as beneficial, inspiring the staff members who attained promotion to be more motivated in their work. Secondly, the department met the staff qualification criteria required by the government. This dual benefit created general enthusiasm within the department. However, the author emphasizes that more support and resources are necessary to support staff members who wish to join the docent career path to the top academic position.


Author(s):  
Rudolf N. Akongoh

Speaking is an important language skill that deserves a place both in English language teaching and English language assessment. However, the assessment of speaking in Cameroonian secondary schools is still neglected in many teacher-based English language tests. Often, attempts made to assess the skill are done either almost always indirectly or informally, leaving a wide gap between tenets professed in the Competency-Based Approach (CBA) to English language teaching and practice in the field. In 2012, the government of Cameroon officially introduced the CBA as the pedagogic paradigm for the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL), and by extension, assessment in secondary schools. Eight years down the line, little seems to have changed concerning the way speaking has always been assessed, even though the CBA requires that learners practically demonstrate knowledge, skills and values in testing situations. This article set out to evaluate the contribution of teacher training to the assessment of speaking. Data was collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. A total of 259 questionnaires were administered to examiners of the June 2019 marking session of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education (CGCE) as well as members of the Cameroon English Language and Literature Teachers’ Association (CAMELTA). Also, four interviews were conducted with the maximum variation principle in mind. The findings revealed that teacher training, both pre-service and in-service, is a major factor responsible for the neglect of speaking in assessments. It was recommended that teacher-training institutions introduce or expand courses on testing to include direct assessment of speaking and that opportunities be created for in-service teachers to acquire certification on assessment within the framework of the CBA to English language teaching.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Roseline O Osagie

The government policy directive to secondary schools has been to diversify their programs to include vocational and technical education in the 6-3-3-4 system in order to make provision for students with varying aptitudes. This article explores the impact of this policy by examining some factors affecting the implementation of the policy in private secondary schools in Edo state. Subjects for the study were fifty (50) students, fifty (50) teachers and five (5) principals randomly drawn from five(5) private secondary schools in Edo State. The study utilized interviews, observations and a questionnaire to assess the implementation of government policy onvocational and technical education in private secondary schools in Edo State. The findings showed that there was a dearth of qualified teachers for vocational and technical subjects, poor infrastructure, lack of equipment, instructional materials and books. The schools were not adequately financed. It was observed that the federal government did not make adequate preparations before it issued directives for the take off of the programs in the schools. Recommendations were made for the federal government to sensitize the public on the importance of vocational and technical education, as it plays a vital and indispensable role in the economic and technological development of the country.


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