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The influence of educational reforms on teachers is scarcely investigated. This study, therefore, explored the implications of the secondary education expansion policy in Tanzania for the teaching profession. A qualitative case study approach was adopted to gain a better understanding of the phenomena under exploration. Focus group discussions, one-to-one interviews, and document analysis were used for data collection. It was revealed that strategies geared towards enhancing the success of the secondary education development policy, especially those related to producing high-quality teachers to teach the newly built schools were not fully implemented. Challenges related to the admission process for, and the delivery of, pre-service programmes adversely affected the social positioning of teachers, and consequently, their identity construction was severely compromised. Reshaping the pre-service programmes in ways that enhance teachers’ sense of themselves as professionals would make teaching an appealing and promising job, and ironically the expansion policy would be effectively accomplished.

IntroductionTanzania, like other developing countries, has adopted numerous educational reforms geared towards addressing challenges rooted in either the colonial or post-colonial educational systems. However, the influence of these reforms on teacher professionalism is seldom studied. This study, therefore, gained insights into how the secondary education expansion policy related challenges affected teachers as teaching professionals.MethodsThe qualitative case study design was adopted in order to capture the holistic overview of the phenomena under exploration. Individual interviews, focus group discussion, and document analysis were utilized for gathering data. The main participants were teachers and school principals who were purposively selected from the Iringa region, Tanzania. The region promptly managed to build at least one secondary school in each ward (i.e., at least two villages) as per the government’s expansion enactment directives.ResultsIt was revealed that the inadequate enactment of the expansion policy adversely affected teachers’ self-beliefs about their own teaching aptitudes, their apathy towards teaching, as well as their social status. These issues undermined successful implementation of the policy itself.DiscussionThe study adds to a growing body of literature around how teachers “construct” what secondary expansion means for them as both effective and ethical professionals.

The study examined the influence of school heads' clinical supervision practices on teachers’ professional competency development in public secondary schools in Tanzania. It was a mixed-methods research approach that involved Tanzanian school heads and teachers. Survey data from 94 participants were quantitatively analysed, and narrative data from 28 informants were subject to content analysis. Based on narrative findings, clinical supervision was the factor in developing teachers’ professional competencies: searching for teaching and learning resources, understanding the subject matter, organizing lessons, conducting interactive teaching and learning, and evaluating students’ learning. The descriptive results showed pre-observation of the lesson plans (M = 1.79) ranked at strongly agreed responses. Pre-observation of schemes of work, classroom observation, supervisory feedback, teachers’ professional support, and post-observation had a range of (M = 1.86) and (M = 2.06) ranked at agreed responses. These findings detail that school heads’ clinical supervision practices positively influenced teachers’ professional competency development. Therefore, the present study contributes to the existing literature of clinical supervision that each clinical supervision technical aspect has the potential to enhance teachers’ teaching professional competencies development in the workplace. These findings exceptionally increase the need to strengthen the clinical supervision practices that centrally map teachers’ professional needs and development.

In the present digital age, improved teacher digital competencies are increasingly becoming an important component of teachers' qualifications. The purpose of this study was to investigate the digital competencies level of student-teachers and probe the areas for improvement. The subject of this study was undergraduate student-teachers in their final year of Bachelor of Education degree programmes from the College of Education at one of the public Universities in Tanzania. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were employed to get a sample of 549 participants. The study employed the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) as a theoretical framework. The study employed a quantitative approach and descriptive cross-sectional design. Data were collected through an online survey that included six competency areas linked to teachers' professional practices. Data analysis procedures included descriptive and inferential analysis. The findings revealed that student-teachers perceived their digital competencies as moderately higher at the knowledge acquisition level and moderately low at the knowledge deepening level of ICT CFT. The results also demonstrated that student-teachers were more competent in integrating technology in educational aspects that are indirectly linked to teaching (e.g. teacher professional learning, and organization and administration) and less competent in educational aspects that are directly linked to classroom teaching (e.g. pedagogy, and curriculum and assessment). The study further established a positive and statistically significant association between student-teachers' digital competencies and knowledge acquisition and knowledge deepening levels. The results of the present study signify the importance of developing student-teachers' digital competencies across all educational aspects. However, in order to guarantee technology integration in classroom teaching, it is recommended that teacher education programmes focus more on improving student-teachers' digital competencies in competency areas that are directly linked to classroom pedagogical practices.

The study employed the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) to assess undergraduate student-teachers' digital competencies in an educational context. Within the quantitative approach, the study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design. The data was collected from a sample of 549 student-teachers through the self-developed questionnaire. Data analysis involved both descriptive and inferential analysis. The study found that student-teachers' digital competencies at both knowledge acquisition and knowledge deepening levels were moderate. However, their digital competencies were moderately higher at the knowledge acquisition level, which signifies confidence in basic digital skills. In addition, it was found that gender and age had statistical significance on perceived digital competencies, particularly at the knowledge acquisition level. Based on the findings, it is recommended that while considering the varying levels of comfort with technology across the gender and age groups, a tiered teacher training programme should be put in place where student-teachers can progress from the basic level to the advanced level of digital competencies.

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 implementation of the policy affected the sources of teacher efficacy. The study identified that social persuasion is one of the most social self-efficacy contributors. It also pointed out factors which support a view of mastery experience as the most powerful source of self-efficacy, and the causes of teachers' negative emotional states beyond school context.