Examining the teaching of performing arts subject in public and private primary schools and its contribution to students’ future artistic talent development: Case of Kinondoni District

This study examined the teaching of performing arts subject and its contribution to students’ future artistic talent development in primary schools. The specific objectives of the study were; examine teaching of performing arts subject in primary schools, assess performing arts subject content in primary schools, examine the challenges of teaching performing arts subject in primary schools and examine the contribution of performing arts subject to students’ future artistic talent development. The study was conducted in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam region. A mainly qualitative study, employed use of a case study research design. The study involved 96 respondents in the categories of (1) DEO, (06) head teachers, (06) academic teachers, (18) teachers (60) pupils and (05) underground artists obtained through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The data were collected using interviews, direct observations, focused group discussions and documentary reviews which were subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that first; performing arts subject in Tanzanian primary schools was taught as other subjects considering its importance to individuals’ future artistic talent professional development. Second; the subject content contained a number of artistic activities like, dancing, narrating stories, weaving, drawing, acrobatics, dramatizing and singing to mention a few. Third; the findings further revealed that in primary schools there is still lack of enough qualified performing arts subject teachers and the facilities for teaching the subject. Many visited teachers who teach performing arts subject had no background in the lesson. Teachers who were assigned to teach performing arts subject particularly in public primary schools lacked the required knowledge and experience and so incompetent. Finally, there observed the contribution of performing arts subject taught in primary schools to future artistic talent development. The study recommends that performing arts subject in primary schools should be treated as other subjects for proper implementation and be enhanced by emphasizing collaborative work between the government and other education well-wishers. Specifically, the ministry of education and vocational training has to recruit and deploy more performing arts subject teachers who will facilitate attainment of all the required knowledge and skills through teaching the subject. However, the government should make a conducive educational policy and create good environment for all early learning educational institutions to value much performing arts subject perceiving it in a positive way than it is today as it is still not examinable.