Challenges facing Iringa municipality primary school teachers following frequent curriculum changes in teacher education programs in Tanzania

The purpose of this study was to identify important challenges facing primary school teachers following frequent curriculum changes in Tanzania by drawing examples from Primary schools in Iringa Municipality. The study was guided by four specific objectives: Firstly, to investigate challenges encountered by teachers during teaching/learning process. Secondly, to examine educational stakeholders' perception of frequent curriculum changes in teachers' training and primary education. Thirdly, to examine whether the duration of one year for pre-service teachers to study at the Colleges was sufficient for preparing teachers in teaching methodologies. Fourthly, to investigate whether teachers trained under pedagogical skills alone are more competent professionally compared to those trained under subject and methodology curriculum. The sample of the study constituted 58 respondents including Education Officers, Primary School Inspectors, Ward Education Coordinators, Head Teachers and Class teachers. These respondents were identified by using purposive sampling and stratified random sampling procedures. The data were collected through interviews, questionnaires and documentary review and later on subjected to analysis by using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The findings reveal that primary school teachers face several challenges following frequent curriculum changes. These include lack of in-service training before and after curriculum changes, lack of teaching and learning materials, production of under-qualified teachers due to short period of training in colleges and poor supervision from education leaders. The researcher recommends that, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and the government should involve education stakeholders particularly teachers in any curriculum innovation. Also teachers should be given frequent in-service training to support their competencies in order to ensure the provision of quality education