Perception and practices of formative use of teacher made tests in Tanzanian primary schools

This thesis is about the outcomes of an intervention that employed a collaborative approach to implement for supporting primary teachers to adopt formative assessment for classroom teaching and learning in a Tanzanian education context. Taking into account of recent work on teacher learning about teacher change and the Tanzanian cultural context, the investigation employed a collaborative approach in implementing the intervention for adoption of formative assessment. The continued outcry on decline in quality of classroom teaching and learning and poor performance in national examinations constituted the first motive for undertaking the study on formative assessment. The investigation on formative assessment was also a response to the 2005 Tanzania’s adoption of competence based curriculum that espouses a constructivist view of learning. The main research question that informed the study was what happens when Tanzanian primary teachers adopt more formative assessment approach for classroom teaching and learning? Methodologically, the study employed a grounded theory approach. Interviews, focus group discussions, documentary sources and classroom observation were used to obtain the data for the main research question. A purposeful sample was employed to obtain a group of ten primary teachers to implement the intervention for adoption of formative assessment for a period of 11 months.

The findings of the study showed that adopting formative assessment for Tanzanian teachers was beneficial to the teachers in supporting their teaching and pupil learning. On the other hand, the adoption of formative assessment posed challenges to teachers mainly because of the cultural view about learning and assessment, roles of teachers and pupils in a classroom context. However, the study also demonstrates the effectiveness of collaborative approach for supporting teachers in changing their classroom practices towards more formative approach of assessment.

The findings were discussed in terms of the benefits, challenges and implications for teacher support in adopting formative assessment in the light of the existing literature and the Tanzania cultural and material contexts. Recommendation for policy practice in teacher support process for adopting formative assessment for classroom teaching and learning for Tanzania and other educational contexts are provided. The need to roll out the intervention in the wider context of Tanzania’s schools has also been recommended.