Secondary school teachers’ awareness of educational policies’ enactment in Kibaha district, Tanzania

Teachers ‘awareness of educational policies’ interpretation and transition is acknowledged as critical factor for effective enactment of those policies in school context. While many policies done in schools are produced by government elitors, legislators and sometimes by influential stakeholders, policy making in all its levels and in all its sites also involves negotiations, contestation or struggle between different groups who may lie outside the formal machinery of official policy-making. This study investigated secondary school teachers’ awareness of educational policies’ enactment in Kibaha District. The study was guided by three research objectives which were to: (i) Explore level of skills secondary school teachers have for interpreting and translating educational policies, (ii) Examine secondary school teachers’ participation in educational policies decision-making; and (iii) Identify school level policies developed by teachers through interpreting and translating the Grand National educational policies. The study was conducted in Kibaha District, involving four secondary schools (three public owned secondary schools and one private owned school). The study involved 31 respondents, including 4 schools heads, 11 heads of departments and 16 classroom teachers. The research field was conducted from January to February, 2017. The study respondents were obtained using purposive sampling. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and documentary reviews. The generated data were analysed in the light of research objectives using thematic analysis method and presented in quotations, tabular forms and excerpts. The study findings indicated that majority of secondary school teachers were less aware of educational policies’ enactment and lacked the required skills for interpreting and translating educational policies. Moreover, the findings revealed minimal participation of secondary school teachers in educational policies decision-making. The findings also found out that in the process of interpreting Grand National educational policies teachers created various principles, rules and regulations to guide school practices without knowing that those were school level policies. In the light of the research findings, it is concluded that teachers’ unawareness on educational policies interpretation and translation resulted into inappropriate enactment of those policies at school-level. It is recommended that educational policy-related courses should be mandatorily offered in teacher training colleges. Teachers should also be given opportunities to participate in all policy decisions affecting their schools to facilitate the effective implementation of those policies.