Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a synthesis of literature reviews and stakeholder interviews conducted in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper…

This paper reports the findings of a study that had examined the operations of open schools for out-of-secondary-school youth and adults in Tanzania. Its objective was to establish the practicality of the policy guidelines in guiding the operations of open schools and the emerging controversies and dynamics in their daily operations. This…

This article investigates how the secondary education expansion policy shapes the construction of teacher efficacy. Bandura's self-efficacy theory underlies this article, and qualitative case study was the main approach. Around 12 and 16 teachers, respectively, participated in individual and group interviews. Findings indicate that the inadequate…

Educating gifted and talented students is of paramount importance not only for individuals but also for enhancing a nation's socioeconomic development, science and technology. However, while there appears to be increasing evidence at the international scholarly space on the importance of promoting gifted education, the situation is different in…

Globally, there is consensus among education stakeholders that early childhood education sets a foundation for children's development, learning, and future life achievements. While global perceptions of early childhood care and education (ECCE) have been broadly explored in other parts of the world, little is known about ECCE in Tanzania even…

Education is important for human development. It is a basic human right as articulated in the Constitution of United Republic of Tanzania of 1977. Since then, a series of reforms for improving access, quality and relevant education were adopted in the country. This study evaluates the relevance and quality of social science textbooks used in…

Teacher absenteeism constitutes a significant barrier to achieving quality education in many low- and middle-income countries globally, where teachers' school absence rates range from 3 per cent to 27 per cent. Over the past few decades, Zanzibar has implemented a number of policy reforms and made tremendous progress in expanding access to primary…

In the year 2000, a global agenda to achieve quality education for all children by 2015 was birthed. However, even after the lapse of this period, quality of education remained low in developing countries. In light of this, the World Bank developed a framework for assessing education quality based on six facets, namely, assessment; autonomy;…

Teacher absenteeism constitutes a significant barrier to achieving quality education in many low- and middle-income countries globally, where teachers' school absence rates range from 3 per cent to 27 per cent. Tanzania Mainland has made significant progress in achieving universal primary education and improving the quality of education. Since…

One of the aims of teaching and learning mathematics is to encourage and enable learners to become confident in using mathematics to analyze and solve practical problems in real-life situations. However, while a few students prosper in learning of mathematics, many students find it difficult and ultimately fail the subject. This study analyses…

The Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) initiative aims to improve early childhood education worldwide through measurement of children's development and learning and the quality of learning environments. Led by UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, MELQO comprises an…

Global attention to early childhood education (ECE) has led to an increased focus on ECE teacher training as a critical component of providing young children with access to high-quality ECE programs. In this paper, we ask how Tanzanian stakeholders at different levels of implementation experienced and responded to efforts to build capacity in…

The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) carries out large-scale cross-national research studies in member countries in the Southern and Eastern Africa region. It aims to assess the conditions of schooling and performance levels of learners and teachers in the areas of literacy and numeracy. SACMEQ has…

This study explored the stakeholders' construction of quality of Pre-primary Education (PPE) based on the various dimensions of PPE in Tanzania with special attention being paid to policy as discourse. The study involved a total of 129 informants sampled differently. The study sampled parents through convenience sampling technique, while teachers…

Quality of education is a complex concept. Numerous studies attribute quality of education as an inclusive term that contains access and input on the one hand and process, output or outcome on the other. Others regard access and input of education as separate but equally important concepts of quality of education. For the latter, quality of…