- Title
- A critical analysis of the establishment, conceptualisation, design and curriculum component selection of Master of Education programmes at selected Tanzanian universities
- Creator
- Ramadhan, Maryam Khamis
- ThesisAdvisor
- Wilmot, D
- ThesisAdvisor
- Brown, Bruce John Lindsay
- Subject
- Master of education degree Tanzania
- Subject
- Universities and colleges Curricula Tanzania
- Subject
- Universities and colleges Evaluation
- Subject
- Teacher effectiveness Tanzania
- Subject
- Master of education degree
- Subject
- Educational change Tanzania
- Subject
- Secondary school teachers Tanzania
- Subject
- Pedagogical content knowledge Tanzania
- Subject
- Universities and colleges Administration
- Subject
- Critical realism
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- text
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- PhD
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62214
- Identifier
- vital:28139
- Description
- There is a dearth of research on how the design and curriculum of a Master of Education (MEd) qualification for university-based teacher educators of prospective secondary school teachers may or may not contribute to the problem of poor secondary school learning outcomes in Tanzania. This qualitative study analyses the establishment, conceptualisation, design and curriculum components of selected MEd programmes with the purpose of identifying and explaining the conditions enabling and/or constraining the development of quality teacher educators. The research used a case study design to investigate how and why particular knowledge is privileged in two MEd programmes at two Tanzanian universities with a view to probing the relevance of the knowledge to teacher educators professional roles and practices. The study used critical realism as an under-labourer to investigate power structures and the generative and causal mechanisms underlying the two MEd programmes. The study draws on aspects of Bernstein’s theory as analytical tools to explain what emerges from the data. The data was collected from interviews, document analysis and observation, and analysed using thematic analysis, abductive and retroductive modes of inference. The research revealed and explains how underlying structural and agential mechanisms have shaped the establishment, conceptualisation and curriculum design of the two MEd programmes. The findings revealed a strong relationship between constraints, including the lack of appropriate MEd design team and the inadequacy of resources and facilities, and the quality of MEd graduates. Such constrains are possible mechanisms associated with the agential actions of the top administrators affect the relevance and appropriateness of the MEd curriculum components, the effective lecturers transmission and students acquisition of knowledge and skills. The research also explored how underlying mechanisms shaped the selection of course content and the privileging of certain types of teacher knowledge. These mechanisms include programme entry qualification, curriculum arrangement of core and elective courses, the lack of awareness of the knowledge and skills requisite for teacher educators’ specialisation, and the absence of recontextualisation principles to guide appropriate selection and recontextualisation of the relevant teacher educator’s courses. There is evidence that both MEd programmes have insufficient pedagogical knowledge and lack large components of academic content knowledge of teaching. An emphasis on individual disciplinary education courses with strong boundaries between modules and topics, aimed at developing specific education specialisations, results in teacher educator professional knowledge being less developed. Furthermore the accumulation and repetition of inappropriate knowledge has resulted in these programmes being weak regions for teacher educators’ professional fields of practice. This has implications for the quality of the secondary school teacher professional development courses on which these MEd graduates teach. It raises questions about the quality of the secondary school teachers being produced, and the extent to which this is contributing to the disappointing performance of Tanzanian schooling. The study generates insights into the mechanisms and conditions constraining the development of quality teacher educators. These conditions include the domination of higher education by customer demand, weak university regulatory systems, and the autonomy of university administration in terms of programme approval and other academic operations. Some administrators and lecturers showed an understanding of what would enable quality teacher educator development in the MEd programme. The findings of the research may help to strengthen and enhance quality assurance in the Master of Education programmes for teacher educators in Tanzania in ways that help develop quality secondary school teachers and improve school learning outcomes.
- Format
- 330 pages, pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Ramadhan, Maryam Khamis
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