Impediments towards Teaching Strategies Used in Promoting Education Equity in Bukombe District Public Secondary Schools, Geita in Tanzania

Abstract

The study assessed teaching strategies used by professional teachers on promoting education equity in public secondary schools in Bukombe, Geita, Tanzania. The main aim was to identify barriers that must be overcome to ensure fair learning opportunities for all students. Equity Pedagogy Theory created by Gloria Ladson Billings (1995) was employed. A mixed research approach under convergent parallel design was adopted. A sample size of 345 respondents which included326 students; 18 teachers, 5Heads of schools (HOs), 5 Ward Education Officers (WEOs) and 1 District Secondary Education Officer (DSEO) was involved. Participants for the study were obtained through stratified simple random sampling and purposive sampling. Questionnaires, interviews, documentary review and structured observation were used in collecting data. Quantitative data collected were coded using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS program version 26, and then presented in tables, frequencies, percentages and figures. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented normatively. The results of the findings obtained revealed that, teaching strategies used by professional teachersdo not promote equitable education for students. The study identified a number of obstacles such as: inadequate and delayed funding, shortage of teachers, physical and instructional resources, lack of professional development, limited community participation in school development activities, lack of motivation and support services in the schools. The study recommended that, the government through theMinistry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) should allocate sufficient financial budget for public secondary schools, employ enough teachers, allocate sufficient teaching and learning materials, provide professional development on equity teaching, construct enough physical infrastructure, recruit adequate human resources. This could help in changing the mindset sand support of the community, administration and teachers of public secondary schools to improve teaching strategies as service delivery programs for students so as to overcome the existing obstaclesin public secondary schools.