The effective use of participatory approach in teaching in primary schools in Tanzania: a case of Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam City
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Date
2010
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The aim of the study was to examine the effective use of Participatory Approach (PA) in teaching in primary schools. Specifically, the study explored the effective use of PA in primary schools, examining competence of teachers in implementing PA, and examined the opinion of teachers and key education administrators on the use of PA in teaching and gender differences among teachers in the use of PA in teaching. The Patton’s (1987) modified Creative Evaluation Conceptual Framework and review of previous studies provided frameworks for the study.
Mainly, the study applied qualitative research approach, with total sample of 89 participants in categories of District Education Officer, school inspectors, ward education coordinators, head teachers, teachers and pupils who were obtained through purposive, stratified and random sampling procedures. Data were collected through interview, questionnaire, documentary review and observations and were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In general the findings indicated that PA was not widely employed in schools. However, there were observable differences on the use of PA between government and non-government schools. Non-government schools indicated to have made some progress towards implementing PA where as government schools were experiencing barriers such as overcrowded classrooms, overloaded syllabus, lack of in-service training, shortage of teachers and instructional materials such as computers, audiotapes, film strips, flip charts and text books which cater for the use of PA in teaching. The findings indicate that competency of subject teacher’s in applying PA especially in government schools was limited more by factors that originated not from the teachers themselves rather from a trickle of a kind of education provision system in the country and school catchments community. There were no observed differences between male and female in the use of PA in teaching in the studied schools. Thus, it is recommended that for effective use of PA in teaching effort should be done to train and employ teachers, provide appropriate in-service training, seminars and workshops and build enough classrooms to reduce overcrowdness in classes. Further studies in the area of participatory approach in teaching are needed in particular in exploring the mechanism of using PA in large classes by employing technology such as projector, disc, computer and film.
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Available in print form
Keywords
Primary schools, Teaching, Kinondoni municipality, Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania
Citation
Mkoma, P. J (2010) The effective use of participatory approach in teaching in primary schools in Tanzania: a case of Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam City. Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx