Assessment of teaching staff adequacy in Tanzanian community secondary schools: A case of Arusha District

Abstract

The present study assessed teachers’ adequacy in Tanzanian Community Secondary Schools due to massive failure of learners. The study 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 result yielded 0.871 Cronbach’s Alpha which means the questionnaire was highly reliable. Researchers concluded that teachers’ working load is heavier, something which hinders effective teaching and learning. Scarcity of Science Teachers is more critical as compared to Arts Teachers. Thus, teachers cannot have sufficient time to mark assignments and counsel students with difficulties in learning.  Therefore, it is recommended that government and policy makers need to come up with strategies to fight inadequacy of teachers in Tanzanian Community Secondary Schools.

Keywords: Adequacy, teacher-student ratio, teaching load, Arusha District