About the project
Rose Matetes project is, as mentioned above, about decentralization of primary school management and teachers’ accountability in teaching and learning in Tanzania. There had been various arguments towards advocating decentralization of social services including education. First, there is an argument that decentralization brings decisions closer to the people for more equitable distribution of public services and more participation of the local people in the school development. The second argument is that, local people have better knowledge on the local conditions and preferences and so they are more likely to be effective in service provision than central actors. Third, it had further been argued that, because many developing countries are increasingly unable to administer primary education from the centre, then, a suitable option is to decentralize the service. Many governments of the world today are striving to give alternative means of managing education to enhance pupils’ academic achievements, by allowing the communities/parents to participate in the educational process of their children. This is so, because, we live in a world that has optimistic view about what education can do in the society. However, there had been skepticism view about decentralization process in education. The opponents argue that, decentralization works more in wealthier societies where the population has a stature of voicing out and defending for their preferences. In poor communities, it has been argued that decentralization will not function well as the majority of the population lacks such capability of controlling the resources. In Tanzania, the studies that have been carried out so far, suggest that the community participation in school development had been revolving around classroom construction. It is in this grounds that this study intends to investigate the extent to which decentralization of primary school management can make teachers accountable in teaching and learning. The key questions to this study are; I. Does decentralization of primary school management make teachers accountable in teaching and learning in Tanzania? II. What are the possible responses of teachers in relation to the decentralization process as the mechanism of controlling their work performance? III. What are the successes (if any) and challenges of decentralization of primary school management process in a Tanzanian context?
Objectives
The project has three specific objectives:
- Investigating the influence of community on teachers’ accountability in teaching and learning in a Tanzanian context.
- Exploring the possible responses from the teachers on decentralization as a mechanism of controlling their work performance
- Finding out the successes and challenges of decentralization of primary school management as a means of accountability in education
Outcomes
Tanzania being among the developing countries that had recently adopted decentralization policies in education, this study is expected to contribute to the knowledge on how decentralization process in education can lead into teachers’ accountability in teaching and learning. It is also hoped that the findings of this study will shade the light and facilitate the informed decision–making process in policy formulation among the policy makers and planners in strengthening decentralization of primary school management. Moreover, the study is expected to give an understanding on how other countries of the world manage teachers under decentralization process and hopefully help local authorities in regulating their practices when dealing with teachers under decentralization process. It is further hoped that the findings of this study will provide knowledge to the community on the importance of participating in the education process of their children at the same time serving as an important literature to other researchers and contribute to the available knowledge on decentralization process in education.
Background
This research project is within the institute for educational research in the faculty of education at university of Oslo. It will be carried out in three years. The study is grounded on Critical Theory that advocates freedom and emancipation process. The theory also acknowledges self-reflection and self-awareness in the sense that people in a certain culture or locality are conscious about their problems, causes of those problems and they have possibly better knowledge and better means of overcoming or solving the problems.
The study also will base on Educational for Self-Reliance (ESR) Theory as it was propounded by Julius Nyerere. To Nyerere people should work hard in a self-help spirit and contribute to the societal development. In order to achieve this goal Nyerere contended that the center should not plan what should be taught in schools. People in the locality should decide what their children should learn.
The study will employ four main research methods in data collection. These are; semi-structured interview, questionnaire, focus group discussions and documentary analysis.
Financing
Quota Funding program. Also, the Faculty of Education through the Institute for Educational Research at University of Oslo is partly sponsoring my studies for stationeries and field work allowances during data collection.
Research category
This study follows under Applied Research