Browsing by Author "Tandika, Pambas Basilius"

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    STEM starts early: Views and beliefs of early childhood education stakeholders in Tanzania
    (Istanbul Kultur University, 2020) Ndijuye, Laurent Gabriel; Tandika, Pambas Basilius
    For about a decade, Tanzania has intensely focused on developing literacy and numeracy skills in pre-primary and early grades programs. Recently, the attention has shifted towards the significance of teaching Science, Mathematics, Technology and Science (STEM) in the early years. To enhance the 21st century skills necessary for building a middle income and knowledge-based economies, the existing empirical evidence emphasizes the need for STEM education starting from the pre-primary level. This paper aims to unpack the state of STEM education in pre-primary education in Tanzania. By using homogenous purposive sampling, two policy-makers, three ECE academics, eight school principals, and eight pre-primary teachers from rural and urban public schools were recruited. Data were collected by interviews, semi-structured survey questionnaires, and documentary analyses. Though there was consensus among ECE stakeholders that children should be exposed to STEM environments as early as possible, findings indicated that even among ECE practitioners, there is a very vague understanding of what entails of STEM education in ECE. Further, while teachers were aware and guided to facilitate science and mathematics education, they were not aware and there were no specific policy briefs/circular instructions on how to facilitate Technology and Engineering education in ECE. The paper concludes with suggestions on how to integrate STEM in early childhood education, especially for Tanzania.
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    Timely promotion as a motivation factor for job performance among pre-primary school teachers: Observations from Tanzania
    (Türkiye Okul Öncesi Eğitimini Geliştirme Derneği, 2019) Ndijuye, Laurent Gabriel; Tandika, Pambas Basilius
    The study explored the role of timely promotion as a motivational factor among pre-primary school teachers. Two districts (1 urban affluent and 1 rural poor) were selected. Stratified purposive sampling was used in the selection of 16 schools - 08 from each district; 32 pre-primary school teachers – 04 from each school, and 08 school principals – 01 from each school. Data were collected through interviews, questionnaires and documentary review. Regardless of urbanicity, findings revealed that the primary responsibility of teachers was to ensure children’s holistic development. Achievement of this role solely depended on timely promotion and other motivational factors such as the involvement of teachers in decision making, appreciation from educational officers, and good working conditions. It recommends that joint efforts among pre-primary education stakeholders should timely promote teachers, pay their salary arrears, upwardly review teachers’ welfare packages, and the conditions of services.