Toward Effective Provision of Under-Five Childcare Services: Experiences from Marginalized and Vulnerable Communities in Tanzania

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the provision of under-five childcare services taking experiences from marginalized and vulnerable communities in Tanzania. This interpretive study employs phenomenology design to investigate the views of stakeholders based on childcare services. The focus was to determine the childcare interest, needs and requirements of caregivers living in vulnerable and marginalized communities in Tanzania and across the world. This study was grounded by parenting and child-rearing theory which emphasizes in caring for young children from the early stages. The findings indicated that the situation of children and childcare services amongst marginalized and vulnerable communities was not satisfactory. Several NGOs and Networks have been supporting childcare services with minimal support from the government. The Government and the responsible ministries and departments are responsible for reducing the vulnerability of children and their families through accessible, comprehensive, and integrated quality childcare services. This study recommends that to improve the current situation and attain the quality provision of childcare services the government policy planners in collaboration with childcare service providers and practitioners need to establish a strong commitment to the provision of quality childcare services and programs in marginalized and vulnerable communities

Enhancing Young Children’s Access to Early Childhood Education and Care in Tanzania

This chapter draws on the current situation of limited access of young children to early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in Tanzania. It offers information and evidence on early childhood education and care (ECEC) from an international perspective to those who are, directly or indirectly, involved with young children and their families. Basically, early childhood education and care in Tanzania is still unsatisfactory. Many children have no access to early childhood settings for various reasons including: lack of parents’ awareness on the importance of early investment in education, lack of support from the government, low socio-economic status of parents, gender discrimination, and traditional norms and cultural values. To improve the situation, there is need for a forging of partnership between the government, parents, and the community. Government policy-makers have to set clear policies regarding how quality early childhood education and care can be equitably funded and conducted throughout the country

Impediments to Effective Enactment of Early Childhood Education Curriculum and Pedagogy in Tanzania: Issues and Experiences of Teachers in Urban and Rural Pre-Schools

The purpose of this study was to investigate experiences, possibilities, and issues encountered by teachers in the enactment of early childhood education and care curriculum and pedagogy in the Tanzanian context. Worldwide, the concept of early childhood education and care does not refer to a single entity; rather, the term covers a variety of programmes for young children between birth and eight years. It is theorised in the literature that improving human development in the early years in good quality early education, is definitely a way to break out of poverty because early investment has a very high economic rate of return. The government of Tanzania formalised pre-school education for children aged 5 and 6 years old under the Tanzania’s Education and Training Policy in 1995 and placed it under the direction of the Ministry of Education. Having formalised pre-school education, the government in partnership with parents, community, and non-governmental organisations agreed to support this education. However, anecdotes suggested that all activities to implement the policy were left to parents, communities, and non-governmental organisations. Hence, it was suspected that there might be challenges, experiences, and possibilities arising when teachers enact the current pre-school education curriculum developed in 2005, and associated pedagogies in the classroom context. This study within an interpretive paradigm took a case study approach to investigate participants’ views on the enactment of the Tanzanian pre-school education curriculum and associated pedagogies. Views on the curriculum enactment were elicited from 28 participants; six from government educational officials (national level) and 22 from the local level (six teachers, four parents, and 12 pre-school children) in the one rural and the one urban pre-school. Multi-methods were used to generate data through individual interviews, focus group discussions, classroom observations, documentary review, informal conversations, and the researcher’s reflective journal. Data were analysed thematically by NVivo 10 software developed by QSR International. Ecological systems theory developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005), and sociocultural theories developed by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) were used as lenses for framing the study, data analysis, interpretation of findings, and drawing conclusions. The findings revealed that there was a mismatch between the intended pre-school education curriculum and the curriculum enacted by teachers in the field. The data analysis indicated that this ineffective enactment of the curriculum and associated pedagogies in the field was influenced by lack of clear policy guidelines as to how pre-school education would be funded and conducted (i.e. structural and quality aspects), limited human and physical resources, lack of involvement of the key users on curriculum development, lack of awareness of parents and community regarding the importance of early education investment, and detrimental cultural beliefs and traditions practiced in relation to young children. Hence, in public pre-school settings studied, parents and the community were not able to provide quality pre-school education. Quality pre-school education in the international literature indicates the importance of learner-centred pedagogy. However, few studies conducted in the Tanzanian context have written on the importance of learner-centred pedagogy in teaching and learning. Moreover, those studies that have been carried out have not indicated how learner-centred pedagogy could be enacted in the Tanzanian context. So, this study has provided a number of suggestions to inform government policy makers of ways to implement learner-centred pedagogies for quality early childhood education and care. To that end, the study concludes that for the better enactment of pre-school education curriculum and pedagogical practice, there is a need for the government to prioritise in early education. It needs to involve parents and community to work with qualified teachers and local experts to develop child-centred pedagogy. Together with this, the study contributes to knowledge by developing an early childhood education and care model aiming at promoting capacity building for parents, community volunteers, teachers, and children for quality early education provision

Pedagogical Practices in Early Childhood Education and Care in Tanzania: Policy and Practices

The purpose of this study was to examine current pedagogical practices in early childhood education and care in Tanzania, a reflection from policy and practices to the implementation of Learner-Centred Pedagogy and to put forward possible improvements for the future. In 2005 a new pre-school education curriculum introduced a learner-centred pedagogy so the first intention of this study was to find out how this pedagogy was being used in the classroom context. Anecdotal experiences indicated that classroom teachers continued teaching using traditional methods i.e teacher-centred pedagogy even after the new curriculum development which introduced child-centred learning.  Child-centred pedagogy has the potential for promoting children’s creativity, problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, learning dispositions as well as socio-emotional/behavioural development skills. This study employed qualitative methodology and a case study approach. A total number of 28 people were participated in the study, whereby six were teachers, 12 children, and four parents in one rural and one urban pre-school (local level) and six government education officials (national level). Data was generated by using semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions guided by a series of open-ended questions, as well as classroom observation and documentary reviews. Findings showed that teachers were not using child-centred approaches in teaching and learning due to a lack of knowledge of the methods of using the new approach, and large classes with untrained teachers with insufficient teaching and learning materials and facilities. This study recommends for future practice that changes need to be made, for government policy makers to address the challenges identified. It needs the provision of initial teacher education, professional development, and to be richly resourced, so that qualified teachers may be able to translate philosophy to practice and promote children’s meaningful learning and development. Keywords: Early childhood education and care, initial teacher education, learner-centred pedagogy, pre-school education curriculum, pre-school teachers

Educational Stakeholders Perceptions on the Provision of Pre-Primary Education in Zanzibar

This study explored educational stakeholder’s perceptions on the provision of PPE in Zanzibar, using the case study design. The target population was pre-primary school teachers, pre-primary school head teachers, quality assurance officers from the Ministry of Education and parents. A total number of 20 participants participated in the study: 6 pre-primary school teachers, 3 pre-primary school head teachers, 5 quality assurance officers from the Ministry of Education and 6 parents. The study employed the semi structured interviews which were conducted to PPE teachers, head teachers and quality assurance officers and Focus group discussions with teachers. The study established that PPE plays important roles to young children as it enables them to lay their educational foundation for future development, improving self-confidence and providing strong base for lifelong learning and cognitive, physical and social development. However, the quality between one PPE school to another differ in terms of teachers qualification, resources and facilities, school management and learning environment. The study recommends that professional development training for pre-primary school teachers be conducted and maintained. Such trainings should be handled by PPE experts. This would improve the knowledge, skills and performance of teachers on pedagogical skills to ensure the supportive teaching in PPE for better learning of children. Finally, Quality Assurance Officers should constantly monitor the quality of pre-primary education in order to ensure that schools meet the required standards for better teaching and learning in PPE

Early childhood education in Tanzania: Views and beliefs of stakeholders on its status and development

Globally, there is consensus among education stakeholders that early childhood education sets a foundation for children’s development, learning, and future life achievements. While global perceptions of early childhood care and education (ECCE) have been broadly explored in other parts of the world, little is known about ECCE in Tanzania even though it is ideally a compulsory part of formal basic education for every child before joining grade one. This study investigated the status of early childhood education (ECE) in Tanzania by critically analyzing the views and beliefs of stakeholders on its status and development. The study recruited two policy makers, 14 ECE college principals, 34 preprimary college tutors, and three ECE academics using a homogeneous sampling technique. Employing a phenomenological research design, the study used questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGD) and documentary analyses in collecting the required data.  Findings revealed that while in the policy and curriculum documents ECE holds equal status with other levels of education, it holds extremely low status among education stakeholders, resulting in ill-prepared preservice ECE teachers and limited parent-school engagement. To improve the quality of ECE in Tanzania, stakeholders suggested improvements in the quality and quantity of preservice teachers, including detachment of preprimary classes from primary schools and establishment of an integrated ECCE policy, guidelines, and practices to be completed by an ECCE joint taskforce.  Further, in-service training for ECE college tutors and principals is critically important, as is concentration of limited resources in few selected teachers’ colleges

Parents’ Involvement in Early Childhood Education Curriculum Development: A Case of Kaskazini ‘A’ District in Zanzibar

This study sought to explore the state of parents’ involvement in early childhood education curriculum development in Kaskazini A District, Zanzibar. The study used the qualitative approach in the light of Grassroot Rationale curriculum development model by Hilda Taba (1962). Face to face interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data from parents, curriculum developers and Pre-primary Education Officers. Results have uncovered that parents were ineffectively involved in the process of pre-primary curriculum development; they were rather involved in curriculum implementation through participating in school meetings to discuss different issues about their children’s learning in school and home so as to improve their performance. The study recommends that: Firstly, curriculum development bodies should strengthen involvement activities and ensure that the process includes relevant ideas from all the stakeholders, including the parents. Secondly, parents’ involvement should be given priority as it is a way of improving children’s learning during the curriculum implementation. Lastly, effective strategies should be employed by curriculum developers to encourage parents’ involvement in the process of curriculum development

Challenges Experienced by Teachers in Implementing the Pre-Primary Education in Zanzibar

This study examined challenges experienced by teachers while implementing PPE in Zanzibar. The study employed qualitative methodology and a case study design. A total number of 18 respondents participated in the study where by nine were pre-primary school teachers, six were pre-primary school head teachers and three were quality assurance officers from the Ministry of Education. Data was collected by using a focus group discussion, semi structured interviews and documents. The study concluded that inadequate teaching and learning materials, low parental involvement, in-adequate training, shortage of qualified teachers, low parental economic status, shortage of play grounds, learners’ disciplinary and behavioral issues and overcrowded classrooms were key challenges encountered by teachers in the implementation of the PPE curriculum. The study recommends that government authorities that oversee PPE in Zanzibar should provide in-service training opportunities for teachers to be well prepared to handle the PPE more effectively. Relevant authorities should ensure construction of more classrooms to match with the enrollment ratios. Furthermore, there is a need to sensitize parents to get involved in their children’s school affairs for better outcomes to be realized