School Quality Assurance Guidelines: Its Implementation and Challenges in Public Secondary Schools in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania

Abstract

Quality assurance guidelines are indispensable elements in quality effectiveness and maintenance. The guidelines put more consideration on strengthening and promoting the quality of the teaching and learning process. This study aimed at assessing the implementation of quality assurance guidelines in promoting the quality of teaching and learning. It was guided by two research objectives; to describe the status of school quality assurance implementation, and to identify the challenges encountered by the internal and external School Quality Assurance Officers during quality assurance exercises. The study adopted a Mixed Methods research approach and a descriptive survey design. The targeted sample was drawn from Temeke Municipality and included six public secondary schools, 60 students, 34 teachers, 6 head of schools, 3 ward district officers, 1 district education officer and 6 district quality assurance officers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation. A synthesis of the findings revealed that public secondary schools in Temeke Municipality were exposed to quality assurance exercises by the school quality assurance officers. The findings also revealed that quality assurance reports were only shared to Education officer, Head of school, and teachers. Other stakeholders like students and ward education officers were not given the reports. On the basis of the findings, it was concluded that quality assurance guidelines are fairly implemented in secondary schools in Temeke Municipality. However, challenges such as shortage of funds, shortage of staff, lack of working facilities, overcrowded classrooms, and lack of transport and materials for SQAOs made it impossible for the guidelines to be effectively implemented and thus impeded the acquisition of educational competencies among students in public secondary schools in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania. Therefore, educational stakeholders should ensure adequate provision of resources to schools to facilitate the effective implementation of the quality assurance guidelines as stipulated in the NSQAF, (2017).

Perencanaan Jaminan Mutu di Madrasah Aliyah Nuurul Qur'an Bogor

“…Efforts to overcome obstacles to the implementation of the education quality assurance system include improving the results of fulfilling quality, increasing targets that have not been achieved, improving each aspect that might affect the quality assurance system, and setting quality targets for future improvements. Follow-up and evaluation in improvement to improve the quality of madrasah (Medard & Mwila, 2022).…”

The Assessment on the Process of Carrying out Quality Assurance of Educational Materials in Tanzania

“…The domain and area of focus of guidelines focus on essential elements of education materials, influencing the improvement of learning materials. These domains provide a framework for assessing educational material quality and can be utilised by internal and external quality assurance teams to ensure focus on the most critical aspects [9,14].…”

“…The measurement and evaluation are the tools for determining the quality of the learned materials. If the education materials are of higher quality, the literature said that links to better performance of the students [14]. That is to say, educational materials significantly correlate with academic performance.…”

“…School quality assurance is successful globally when guidelines focus on all areas and domains for improvement. Domains, the most influential educational components, provide a framework for assessing a school's calibre [14]. Internal and external quality assurance teams can use these guidelines to ensure focus on crucial issues.…”

“…The framework provides the functions and guidelines for the quality assurance organs to implement. The framework assessment shows that Tanzania's quality assurance program evaluates student achievement, instruction, learning, assessment, curriculum, leadership, management, and resources and facilities to ensure adequate school management and resources [14,16,18]. The face look of the framework statements indicates that the quality should look at the curriculum and resources that might be interpreted as the evaluation of the educational materials.…”