Assessment of alignment of UNESCO pillars of education in biology syllabus: case of selected ordinary level secondary schools in Tanzania

The purpose of this study was to assess the alignment of UNESCO pillars of education in ordinary secondary education biology syllabus. The study adopted qualitative research approach and exploratory case study design. The study employed purposeful sampling to obtain a study sample. A sample of 30 ordinary secondary education biology teachers from five public secondary schools was used. Focus group discussion, observation and documents were employed as data collection methods. Data collected were analyzed by Nvivo7 software by content analysis approach which generated the categories. The findings from the study indicated that biology teachers understood the pillars of education and they had designed biology teaching according to pillars of education; field study and observation were employed during execution of learning to know; construction of diagrammatic food chain and food web was employed during realization of learning to do; group discussion, group experiments, group projects and subject clubs were employed during carrying out learning to live together and observing the environment was employed during actuating learning to be. Together these findings suggest that UNESCO pillars of education are aligned in the ordinary secondary education biology syllabus in Tanzania. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should explicitly state the UNESCO pillars of education in the biology curriculum as are learning types which orient biology learning process towards 21st century pedagogy and skills. Further studies should be conducted to assess the alignment of UNESCO pillars of education in biology syllabus by including both biology teachers and students.