Perception of teachers on availability of instructional materials and physical facilities in secondary schools of Arusha District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study investigated on teachers’ perception on availability of instructional materials and physical facilities in secondary schools of Arusha district, Tanzania. It utilized descriptive case study design and data was collected through questionnaire, interview schedules and documents. Simple random and purposive samplings were used to select a sample of 318 out of about 1049 selected school stakeholder in Arusha District. To establish validity, the instruments were given to experts for scrutiny who went through them against research questions and gave necessary recommendations for improvement before data was collected. A pilot study was conducted to schools which are not part of the sample and calculated using the SPSS. Reliability test yielded 0.727 Cronbach’s Alpha for instructional materials and 0.778 for physical facilities which means the questionnaire was highly reliable. The study concludes that there is inadequate number of textbooks, reference books, maps and globes in schools under investigation due to increase of students in Community Schools. Further, schools have inadequate physical facilities such as classrooms, desks, chairs and the available classrooms are poorly constructed with inadequate spacing. Researchers recommend that Curriculum developers at Tanzania Institute of Education together with policy makers should come up with a policy guideline that will enhance provision of instructional materials and physical facilities.

Keywords: Availability, adequacy, instructional materials, physical facilities, Arusha District