Understanding and improving quality of secondary school education : conceptions among teachers in Tanzania

Temat för studien handlar om gymnasielärares uppfattningar om kvalitet och om hur kvalitet kan utvecklas i gymnasieutbildningen in Tanzania. Studien är till sin karaktär kvalitativ och består av utprövade semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt trettio lärare som arbetar i fyra gymnasieskolor både i urbana och rurala miljöer. Lärarna har varierande arbetserfarenhet och undervisar i olika ämnen. Huvudfokus har gällt identifieringen av variationer i lärares uppfattningar om kvalitet. På basen av två forskningsfrågor avslöjar analysen uppfattningar av hur lärare förstår och önskar utveckla kvaliteten på gymnasieutbildningen. Resultaten visar att lärare förstår kvaliteten på utbildningen i sina skolor som försök att möta skolans och samhällets mål, som individuella prestationer och förmågor som att inneha kompetenser och som att möta utmaningar inom utbildning, Identifierade uppfattningar var baserade på lärarnas personliga kunskap, arbetsmiljön och varierande omständigheter som rådde i deras skolor. Uppfattningar om en förbättring av kvaliteten i gymnasieutbildningen innefattade utveckling av lärares motivation, skolmiljön, arbetet i klassrum, kvaliteten på lärares kunskaper och färdigheter och undervisningsmaterial. Ambitionen bakom studien ar att erbjuda en plattform för strategier för att förbättra kvaliteten på gymnasieutbildningen. Resultaten strävar till att ge en fördjupad insikt i uppfattningar hos en utvald grupp av lärare som arbetar under samma villkor inom gymnasieskolor I Tanzania. Av den här anledningen är den genererade kunskapen därför relevant för att belysa lärares uppfattningar även utanför den studerade gruppen av respondenter.

Conceptions of mathematics teacher education : thoughts among teacher educators in Tanzania

This study addresses the question of teacher educators’ conceptions of mathematics teacher education (MTE) in teacher colleges in Tanzania, and their thoughts on how to further develop it. The tension between exponents of content as opposed to pedagogy has continued to cause challenging conceptual differences, which also influences what teacher educators conceive as desirable in the development of this domain. This tension is connected to the dissatisfaction of parents and teachers with the failure of school mathematics. From this point of view, the overall aim was to identify and describe teacher educators’ various conceptions of MTE. Inspired by the debate among teacher educators about what the balance should be between subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, it was important to look at the theoretical faces of MTE. The theoretical background involved the review of what is visible in MTE, what is yet to be known and the challenges within the practice. This task revealed meanings, perspectives in MTE, professional development and assessment. To do this, two questions were asked, to which no clear solutions satisfactorily existed. The questions to guide the investigation were, firstly, what are teacher educators’ conceptions of MTE, and secondly, what are teacher educators’ thoughts on the development of MTE? The two questions led to the choice of phenomenography as the methodological approach. Against the guiding questions, 27 mathematics teacher educators were interviewed in relation to the first question, while 32 responded to an open-ended questionnaire regarding question two. The interview statements as well as the questionnaire responses were coded and analysed (classified). The process of classification generated patterns of qualitatively different ways of seeing MTE. The results indicate that MTE is conceived as a process of learning through investigation, fostering inspiration, an approach to learning with an emphasis on problem solving, and a focus on pedagogical knowledge and skills in the process of teaching and learning. In addition, the teaching and learning of mathematics is seen as subject didactics with a focus on subject matter and as an organized integration of subject matter, pedagogical knowledge and some school practice; and also as academic content knowledge in which assessment is inherent. The respondents also saw the need to build learner-educator relationships. Finally, they emphasized taking advantage of teacher educators’ neighbourhood learning groups, networking and collaboration as sustainable knowledge and skills sharing strategies in professional development. Regarding desirable development, teacher educators’ thoughts emphasised enhancing pedagogical knowledge and subject matter, and to be determined by them as opposed to conventional top-down seminars and workshops. This study has revealed various conceptions and thoughts about MTE based on teacher educators´ diverse history of professional development in mathematics. It has been reasonably substantiated that some teacher educators teach school mathematics in the name of MTE, hardly distinguishing between the role and purpose of the two in developing a mathematics teacher. What teacher educators conceive as MTE and what they do regarding the education of teachers of mathematics revealed variations in terms of seeing the phenomenon of interest. Within limits, desirable thoughts shed light on solutions to phobias, and in the same way low self-esteem and stigmatization call for the building of teacher educator-student teacher relationships.

Experiences among primary school teachers in Tanzania

The overall aim of the study was to explore primary school teachers’ experiences of constraints to their work, and actions taken for improvement after undergoing in-service courses in the Education Quality Improvement through Pedagogy program. The research interest was thus to deepen the understanding of teachers’ experiences of constraints to their work and experiences of actions taken to improve classroom actions. In order to achieve this ambition, the study was conducted with primary school teachers in Shinyanga district-Tanzania. Two research questions guided the study: What do teachers experience as constraints to their work? The second: How have teachers improved their classroom actions after undergoing professional development courses? The theoretical framework of the study is centred on limiting and enabling frames on teachers’ work and professional development. In order to understand the classroom situations, qualitative research was designed applying a phenomenological approach with semi-structured interview, observation and videotaping to collect data. Forty experienced primary school teachers from ten primary schools participated in the study. The results of the first research question indicate that teachers face many constraints in their work. Three categories identified as interactional, environmental and professional role constraints. The most critical experienced by all teachers is teaching in large classes and inadequate teaching and learning materials. The results of the second research question show that teachers’ actions taken for improving their work were influenced by professional development activities. Three main categories including expanded interaction, expanded use of environment and expanded professional roles were identified. Generally, the knowledge generated is relevant for viewing teachers’ experiences of the challenges they encounter in teaching and the importance of professional development beyond the sampled respondents. The results suggest that constant provision of teachers’ professional development could improve teaching performance.

Stretching the drum skin : an analysis of power relations in leadership and succession in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Tanzania-Northern diocese 1942– 1993

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Follow-up of three large community-based programs to reduce anaemia among children 24-59 months in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania

L'anémie de l'enfant reste un problème d'importance pour la santé mondiale, malgré les décennies de recherche visant à comprendre son étiologie et à développer des interventions efficaces pour réduire sa prévalence et ses conséquences. Bien que les facteurs de risque individuels de l'anémie soient connus, y compris les facteurs liés à la malnutrition et à la morbidité, l'interaction entre lesdits facteurs est moins documentée dans des contextes où les enfants sont fréquemment exposés à plusieurs facteurs en même temps. Cette étude vise à documenter les efforts de lutte contre l'anémie du programme MICAH qui a été mis en oeuvre au Ghana, au Malawi et en Tanzanie. Ensuite, en utilisant les données relatives à la fois au processus et à l'évaluation colligées au cours du programme, elle vise à mieux comprendre les facteurs de risque d'anémie chez les jeunes enfants dans ces contextes et à comprendre comment les relations entre ces facteurs peuvent avoir changé au fil du temps lors de l'intervention. Spécifiquement, cette étude vérifie s‘il y a des preuves d'une réduction de la vulnérabilité des enfants aux facteurs de risque associés à l'anémie dans chaque contexte. Un examen de la documentation a été réalisé afin de caractériser le contexte du programme et des interventions, leur l'intensité et étendue. Les données transversales sur la nutrition et l'état de santé des enfants âgés de 24 à 59 mois (N = 2405) obtenues en 2000 et 2004 à partir des enquêtes d'évaluation du programme MICAH au Ghana, au Malawi et en Tanzanie, ont été utilisées pour décrire la prévalence de l'anémie. Les modèles polynomiaux de régression logistique et linéaire ont été utilisés pour estimer les risques d'anémie légère et d'anémie modérée / sévère et les niveaux d‘hémoglobine associés à des groupes de variables. Les estimations du risque attribuable à une population (RAP) ont aussi été calculées. Une anémie (Hb <110 g/L) a touché au moins 60% des enfants dans les trois pays; l'anémie modérée / sévère (<100 g/L) constituait la majorité des cas. Une forte diminution de l'anémie a été observée entre 2000 et 2004 au Ghana, mais seulement une légère baisse au Malawi et en Tanzanie. Le risque d'anémie modérée / sévère était associé au retard de croissance chez les enfants du Ghana (OR 2,68, IC 95% 1,70-4,23) et du Malawi (OR 1,71; 1,29-2,27) mais pas de la Tanzanie (OR 1,29; 0,87- 1,92). Le paludisme et les maladies récentes étaient associées à une hémoglobine plus basse. Une atténuation de cette association en 2004 a été observée seulement au Malawi pour le paludisme et au Ghana pour les maladies récentes. Le risque d'anémie modérée / sévère était 44% moindre chez les enfants âgés de 48 à 59 mois comparativement aux enfants de 24 à 35 mois dans les trois pays et cela n'a pas changé entre 2000 et 2004. Les RAP estimés ont montré qu‘environ un cinquième des cas d‘anémie modérée à sévère était attribuable au retard de croissance au Ghana et Malawi, mais pas en Tanzanie. Des RAP moindres et dépendants des contextes ont été trouvés pour le paludisme et les maladies récentes. Dans ces zones d‘intervention intégrées de santé et de nutrition la relation de certains facteurs de risque à l'anémie se modifia avec le temps. Le retard de croissance est resté toutefois un facteur de risque indépendant et non mitigé de l'anémie. Une réduction efficace des causes de la malnutrition chronique est nécessaire afin de réduire la vulnérabilité des enfants et de garantir un impact maximum des programmes de lutte contre l'anémie. Une mitigation de l'impact du paludisme peut par contre être visée dans les régions endémiques.

Meat yield and quality of Tanzania Shorthorn Zebu cattle finished on molasses/maize grain with agro-processing by-products in 90 days feedlot period

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding molasses or maize grain with agro-processing by-products on yield and quality of meat from Tanzania shorthorn zebu (TSZ) cattle. Forty five steers aged 2.5 to 3.0 years with 200 +/- 5.4 kg body weight were allocated into five dietary treatments namely hominy feed with molasses (HFMO), rice polishing with molasses (RPMO), hominy feed with maize meal (HFMM), rice polishing with maize meal (RPMM) and maize meal with molasses (MMMO). Ad libitum amount of each dietary treatment and hay were offered to nine steers for 90 days. Cooking loss (CL) and Warner Bratzler shear force (WBSF) values were determined on M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum aged for 3, 6, 9 and 12 days. Steers fed on HFMO diet had higher (P < 0.05) nutrient intake (86.39 MJ/d energy; 867 g/d CP), weight gain (919 g/d) and half carcass weight (75.8 kg) than those fed other diets. Meat of steers from all diets was tender with average WBSF values of 47.9 N cm^(−2). The CL (22.0 +/- 0.61%) and WBSF (53.4 +/- 0.70 N cm^(−2)) were highest in meat aged for 3 days followed by 6, 9 and 12 days. WBSF values for meat aged for 9 and 12 days from steers fed HFMO and RPMM diets were similar and lower than those on other dietary treatments x aging periods. Overall, molasses and hominy feed can be used to replace maize meal in feedlot finishing diets to spare its use in animal feeds.

Análisis de los efectos generados por la explotación y exportación masiva de la Perca del Nilo en las relaciones interestatales entre Tanzania, Uganda y Kenia por parte de multinacionales europeas en términos de seguridad ampliada entre 1970 y 1985

El lago victoria en los años 50, sufrió uno de los cambios ecológicos más representativos, el cual fue la introducción de una especie Invasora, la Perca del Nilo. Este hecho en el largo plazo, se convirtió en el detonante de nuevos problemas, del mismo modo que contribuyo al sostenimiento de otros. La explotación y exportación de la Perca del Nilo dentro de la región del Lago Victoria comenzó entre los años 1970 a 1985, y con ella diversos problemas de seguridad (Económica, Ambiental, Societal, Política, y Militar)aparecieron, especialmente con la llegada de las multinacionales europeas. Esto generó un ambiente de inseguridad regional en Tanzania, Uganda y Kenia

Fauna en Tanzania.

Programa emitido el 27 de enero de 1995

Las ni??as, las ??ltimas : un estudio sobre el abandono escolar femenino en Kibosho Central (Tanzania)

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n