Life skills education in mainland Tanzanian primary schools: Its appropriateness and relevance to the world of work.

The study "Life Skills Education in mainland Tanzanian primary schools: its appropriateness and relevance to the world of work" aimed to explore how life skills education was being perceived by the clientele, how it was being implemented and the problems which might constrain effective implementation of the programme so as to suggest ways for improving the situation. The study was directed by an eclectic model for data needs and data analysis which embraced elements life skills education in schooling as well as explored attitudes, perceptions and expectations of pupils, teachers and parents. The study also investigated the type of valuable and relevant life skills, facilities for teaching life skills including time and the quality of life skills teachers and teaching methods. It also explored the common understanding between the protagonists. A case study was conducted in six primary schools in order to obtain an indepth understanding of the status of life skills education. Data collection methods included documentary analysis, interviews and observations. The findings revealed that there was a big contradiction between official objective of primary education and aspirations of learners and parents. There was also an element of gender bias by all the clientele in assigning occupational skills, though all of them had positive attitudes towards the life skills subject. Apart from a few books supplied to schools, there were no other facilities and materials were supplied for the new subject. Time allocated for life skills subject was also inadequate. The findings also disclosed that the subject was taught by unqualified teachers who had no requisite skills. The teachers lacked proper methodology for integrating classroom activities with work and life in the community. It was therefore, concluded that the teaching-learning environment was not conducive for effective and efficient implementation of life skills education in the primary schools. It was therefore recommended that the syllabus for life skills must be reviewed, teachers for teaching the subject properly trained, basic facilities and materials for teaching life skills provided to schools, and a motivating environment for both pupils and teachers must be created so that the clientele can see the significance of the subject.