Africa Tanzania : Involving children in education research

Tanzania Azimio school

[Photo credit: Kim TD]

Some time ago when I was conducting some research in classrooms in Mali I considered involving the children in the research.  Although it seems simple, it is not actually an easy thing to do. I wondered about taking a small group from one class to visit another class which was using a different teaching technique and asking them to share their experience with their classmates. It didn’t work. The teachers were not happy about it, and I could not obtain parents’ permission to involve their children in the research.

Following my own experience, I was interested to read on the communication Initiative about a study in Tanzania which has tried to involve children in an education research programme. The children are considered as ‘consumers’ of education and their opinions have been sought on a range of issues related to education’. As a precurser to the report a report brief was published called  ‘Children participating in research’ (PDF). One of the most interesting aspects of the research to me was that it was proposed to involve children in the analysis of the data.

You can download a PDF of the full report of Tanzanian Children’s Perceptions of Education and Their Role in Society : Views of the Children 2007.

This report contains children’s opinions on a range of issues related to education, such as school services (including healthcare, water supply, and food), textbooks, performance by teachers, discipline, extra charges, and their desired improvements to education.

I was particularly interested to look at the methodology section of the report. The tools the researchers used were:

• For quantitative questions (yes or no): Responses were gathered by a show of hands, or “voting” with small seeds, stones, or whatever was locally available. Alternately, the game “the sun shines on” would be played, where children would move in a loose circle. The facilitator would say something like, “the sun shines on those who pay school contributions” and those for whom the answer was yes would move to the centre of the circle.
• For qualitative questions: Children performed scenes from their daily interactions in role plays.
• For mixed answers: Opinion lines were used. A line is marked on the ground and children are told that at one end their teachers are kind, listen to them, and help them, and on the other end teachers are disciplinary figures you are afraid of. The children are asked to place themselves on the line according to their estimation of their teachers. This gives quantitative response (70% of children feel their teachers are more helpful than disciplinarian) and qualitative response (children discussing amongst themselves where they should be).

Suggested Books (US)

• History and Development of Education in Tanzania
• Tanzania – Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture

More Africa education books

Suggested Books (UK)

• History and Development of Education in Tanzania
• Tanzania – Culture Smart! The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

More Africa education books

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