Matthew A. M. Thomas

Equity, Power, and Capabilities: Constructions of Gender in a Tanzanian Secondary School

This article aims to move beyond issues of access to schooling for girls to investigate the constructions of gender through a macro-level analysis of policy and micro-level analysis of practice at a secondary school in Tanzania. State-sanctioned school texts are examined, as well as classroom discourse and teachers’ understandings of gender, to show how both “gender as equity” and “gender as power relations” perspectives interact in schools. While there have been advances in the recognition of gender as a structuring force within schools and society, this article contends that the capabilities approach adds value to these views by considering how gendered texts and discourses may still be limiting the capabilities of female and male students in Tanzanian secondary schools.

Zambian Teachers' Perceptions of Expert Teaching: Resourcefulness, Punctuality, and Sobriety.

This research examines Zambian teachers’ perceptions of expert teaching, as identified by characteristics possessed by a theoretical “expert teacher”. One primary question guided the study: In the minds of teachers at basic schools (grades one to nine) in Choma District, Zambia, what specific characteristics are believed to be essential for teachers to possess in order to be an expert teacher? Additionally, an ancillary question was explored concerning the relationship between teacher perceptions of expert teachers and the local environments where they live and teach. Conducted in 2008, this study utilized qualitative methods to explore these questions. The results of the research revealed six characteristics Zambian teachers believe are essential to being an expert. The characteristics have implications for change within national educational policies, teacher training programs, and individual schools. These suggested modifications, in turn, have the potential to improve the overall quality of education in Zambian schools.

‘Shit shows’ or ‘like-minded schools’: charter schools and the neoliberal logic of Teach For America

Abstract Over the past three decades, two neoliberal educational reform efforts have emerged in tandem – the charter school movement and Teach For America (TFA). This paper critically examines the relationship between these entities through the lens of TFA corps members placed in charter schools, and explores two types of schools described by interviewees, namely, ‘shit shows,’ and ‘like-minded schools.’ Grounded in corps members’ teaching experiences, this paper argues that even at its best, the close partnership between TFA and charters can create a mutually reinforcing educational subculture that is isolated from broader educational discourses and practices. At its worst, this partnership can result in the ill-advised ‘propping up’ of under-funded, mismanaged, ill-equipped charters that might otherwise struggle to find adequate staffing and, consequently, close. This paper suggests that these two tendencies – toward corps members’ insularity and poor placement – have the potential to conflict with the charter movement’s and TFA’s stated purposes of improving the quality of schooling for disadvantaged and marginalized students.

Gendered Aspects of Classroom Practice

The previous chapter introduced the concept of inclusive education as broader than the provision of “special education” for youth with disabilities to mean education for all youth who, by virtue of belonging to a particular racial, class, ability, or gender group, have traditionally been excluded or marginalized in a country’s education system. In this chapter, we focus on gender relations in secondary education, and particularly on girls’ experiences in the schools in this study. Although girls in Tanzania currently constitute a slight majority in Standards 1–7, this situation changes significantly in secondary and tertiary education: by the end of Form 4, girls make up 46 percent of the student body; by the end of Form 6, 39 percent; and at the undergraduate level they are only 36 percent (Ministry of Education and Vocational Training [MOEVT] 2010a). Thus, in our exploration of inclusive education in this volume, both disability and gender warrant attention.

Teachers’ Conceptualizations and Practices of Inclusion

The expansion of primary and secondary schooling in Tanzania during the past decade has had numerous positive benefits for Tanzanian children and communities. Through initiatives like the Primary and Secondary Education Programmes (PEDP and SEDP), which have been discussed in previous chapters, enrollment rates have risen and government-sponsored “ward schools” now provide more opportunities for secondary schooling. At the secondary level alone, the participation rate has increased from a net enrollment ratio of 5.9 percent in 2004 to 27.8 percent in 2009 (Ministry of Education and Vocational Training [MOEVT] 2010b).

“Good Intentions Can Only Get You So Far”: Critical Reflections From Teach For America Corps Members Placed in Special Education:

Research on Teach For America (TFA) continues to grow, but scant scholarship has explored the experiences of its corps members working in special education in urban schools. As teachers who require in-depth knowledge of legal and liability processes as well as effective pedagogical practices, corps members in special education positions have significant demands placed on them that often lie beyond the roles and responsibilities of other TFA teachers. This article therefore focuses on the experiences of five TFA corps members placed in special education as it explores their critical reflections about the minimal preparation and support they received from TFA. In light of recent special education initiatives launched by TFA, the article raises questions about the continued involvement of TFA in the field of special education and its ability to adequately prepare corps members for the unique responsibilities served by special education teachers in the United States.

The dangers of relentless pursuit: teaching, personal health, and the symbolic/real violence of Teach For America

ABSTRACT This paper examines the pressures experienced by teachers as they strive to embody the Teach For America (TFA) motif of ‘relentless pursuit’. It draws on interviews conducted with 36 teachers and uses a Bourdieuian analysis to consider the mechanisms of control manifested through socialization and corps member habituation. The findings suggest that corps members experience both symbolic and self-imposed overt violence as they aim to meet the demands of TFA. This has implications for the increasing number of teachers in programs around like TFA as well as the broader discourses of teacher accountability and the teaching profession.

Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals

Abstract This article explores two distinct strategies suggested by academics in Tanzania for publishing and disseminating their research amidst immense higher education expansion. It draws on Arjun Appadurai’s notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ internationalisation to analyse the perceived binary between ‘international’ and ‘local’ academic journals and their concomitant differences in status. In an attempt to examine critically how the status quo regarding knowledge production in higher education is maintained and reproduced, the article explores interactions between a Tanzanian academic and an educational researcher from the global North, including the ways in which research collaborations between academics from different contexts and material conditions in their institutions may both advance and inhibit professional development of academics and comparative education research, writ large. The article concludes with a call for comparative education researchers to carefully consider the future of educational research in sub-Saharan Africa and the complexities of continued involvement in knowledge production processes.

International collaboration: Processes, Benefits, Tensions, and Conclusions

In recent years, international efforts to improve educational quality in sub-Saharan Africa have focused on promoting learner-centered pedagogy. However, it has not fl ourished for cultural, economic, and political reasons that often go unrecognized by development organizations and policymakers. This edited volume draws on a long-term collaboration between African and American educational researchers in addressing critical questions regarding how teachers in one African country—Tanzania—conceptualize learner-centered pedagogy and struggle to implement it under challenging material conditions. One chapter considers how international support for learner-centered pedagogy has infl uenced national policies. Subsequent chapters utilize qualitative data from classroom observations, interviews, and focus group discussions across six Tanzanian secondary schools to examine how such policies shape local practices of professional development, inclusion, gender, and classroom discourse. In addition, the volume presents an analysis of the benefi ts and challenges of international research between Tanzanian and U.S. scholars, illuminating the complexity of collaboration as it simultaneously presents the outcome of joint research on teachers’ beliefs and practices. The chapters conclude with questions for discussion that can be used in courses on international development, social policy, and teacher education.