Positioning Secondary School Teachers as Passive Actors During School Quality Assurance Policy Implementation in Dodoma, Tanzania

Abstract

While the impact of the School Quality Assurance (SQA) policy on students’ learning outcomes is well-documented, there exists a limited understanding of how its implementation influences teachers’ power and identity. This study analysed how teachers were positioned during the SQA policy implementation in four purposefully selected secondary schools in Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Data gathered from 19 participants, including heads of schools, department heads, subject teachers, WEOs, and SQAOs through policy documents and semi-structured interviews, unveil a critical observation. Despite teachers being pivotal to school functioning, the SQA policy positions them as passive objects lacking the knowledge to evaluate school quality based on proposed domains. This study contends that such positioning aligns with previous top-down school inspection models, which had limited impact on enhancing secondary school quality. To address this, the study suggests a radical shift towards teacher empowerment through collegial supervision rather than conventional external quality assurance visits.

Keywords:        school quality assurance policy, secondary schools, teachers, positioning, empowerment