Teaching profession and educational accountability in Tanzania

Teaching profession has recently been scrutinised by different groups of people and sometimes, head teachers have been demoted because of poor academic performance of pupils in the National Examinations. In a decentralised framework through the Primary School Development Programme (PEDP), the school committees have to oversee the functions of the schools to ensure that teachers are accountable for the pupils' learning. This study investigated how teachers as professionals are accountable for pupils' learning and achievement in the National Examinations in Tanzania. This was a qualitative study that was conducted in Dar es Salaam and Mbeya Regions. The study involved 90 classroom teachers, 10 head teachers, 6 school committee members and 2 district educational officers, making a total of 108 participants. Data was collected through open-ended questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion and documentary analysis. Results from both Dar es Salaam and Mbeya indicated that demoting teachers because of poor performance in the National Examinations is unfair and it undermines the teachers' professional credibility and status although demotion can be warranted to irresponsible and those who do not adhere to the professional standards. Teachers also opposed to be supervised by the school committee as its members do not belong to the teaching profession. Teachers thought school committee members need to deal with all activities that facilitate teaching and learning environment outside the classroom. Some teachers, however, thought that involving the school committee is important because it consists of people who represent the parents who need to know the value for money invested in the education of their children. The argument in this paper is that while teachers' accountability for pupils' learning is important, however, teachers' evaluation of their work performance needs to base on their fulfilment of the ascribed professional code of conduct. Pupils' academic performance is a combination of many factors and it cannot be determined by teaching alone.