Browsing by Author "Marwa, Betty Joseph"

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    Education stakeholders’ perceptions of the teaching profession: a case of Mbeya City
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2012) Marwa, Betty Joseph
    The study aimed at investigating education stakeholders’ perceptions of the teaching profession. The objectives of the study were to find out the extent to which the teaching profession is perceived in the community, to identify factors that influence education stakeholders’ perceptions of the teaching profession and finally to find out their views on how to improve the teaching profession. The characteristics of a pure profession model by Ornstein & Levine (2003) were adopted to guide the investigation. The participants of the study were 30 parents, 30 students and 20 experienced teachers in Mbeya city. Respondents in the study were selected through purposive and simple random sampling. The study adopted a case study research design using qualitative approach. The instruments of data collection were three namely, interviews, focus group discussion and documentary review. Qualitative data was subjected to content analysis. It was found that to a great extent education stakeholders’ had negative perceptions of the teaching profession and that the teaching profession has a poor image in the society. The reasons behind education stakeholders’ perceptions of the teaching profession among them were said to be low salary, poor living and working conditions, lack of profession autonomy, lack of control over licensing standards and entry requirement, lack of the body of knowledge and skills. As result many teachers run away from the profession. Students choose teaching as the last resort after missing their preferences and for those who did not perform well in their national examinations join the teaching profession. In order to restore the lost respect of the teachers and the teaching profession the welfare of teachers should be improved. The study recommends that the government should ensure better living and working environment, workout in all teachers discontents so as to attract best candidates in the profession and create a good image of the profession among the community members. However, there is a need to design a policy showing clearly the criteria for selecting students to join teachers training colleges as well as measures to be taken for those who violate it.