Department of Education Psychology and Curriculum Studies

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Browsing Department of Education Psychology and Curriculum Studies by Author "Kavenuke, Patrick"

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    The Critical Thinking Skills of Prospective Teachers: Investigating their Systematicity, Self-confidence and Scepticism
    (Elsevier, 2020-05-03) Kavenuke, Patrick; Kinyota, Mjege; Kayombo, Joel
    Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in studying about Critical Thinking Skills (CTSs). Indeed, the theme has become one of the most significant current discussions amongst many other international agendas. Given the perceived importance of CTSs in this 21st century, we investigated the CTSs of prospective teachers. The aim was to investigate the extent to which prospective teachers possess CTSs. Moreover, the study examined factors influencing CTSs of prospective teachers. The study sample (n = 965) was comprised of first, second and final-year students from one of the teacher education universities in Tanzania. The CTSs were measured using three dimensions—systematicity, self-confidence and scepticism. Overall, the results in dicated that prospective teachers had higher mean scores in systematicity and scepticism, but significantly lower mean scores in self-confidence. Also, factors such as parents’ education, parents’ occupation and year of study were significantly related to at least one dimension of CTSs. For instance, father’s education positively and significantly predicted prospective teachers’ scores on scepticism. These results have far-reaching implications for policy and future research.
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    Examining Teacher Trainees’ Attitude towards Teaching Profession and Teaching Subjects in Tanzania
    (Huria Journal, 2019-09-30) Kinyota, Mjege; Kavenuke, Patrick
    Teacher trainees’ positive attitude on teaching is fast becoming a key instrument in teacher trainees’ motivation to teaching. Thus, it is regarded as a central policy agenda that has recently captured the minds of academics and researchers. Based on those facts, we examined the extent to which teacher trainees hold positive attitude on two dimensions—attitude towards teaching profession and teaching subjects. Additionally, we investigated whether these dimensions of attitudes are significantly related to demographic variables such as gender, GPA, whether or not they had worked before joining teacher education university programme, years of work, future work preferences and subjects of specialization. Participants for this study constituted a sample of 901 final-year teacher trainees from one of the teacher education university college in Tanzania. Findings indicated that teacher trainees’ attitude and GPA were not significantly related. Instead, a significant correlation was observed between the two dimensions of attitudes. Shockingly, findings indicated that more than 50% of teacher trainees had no preferences of working as teachers. Worse enough, the figures were similar even among science and mathematics majors who are highly demanded in the teaching career. Finally, the implications for policy and future research are put forth.
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    Promoting Teacher Professional Learning in Tanzanian Schools: Lessons from Chinese School-Based Professional Learning Communities
    (Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences,, 2019-06-30) Kinyota, Mjege; Kavenuke, Patrick; Mwakabenga, Rehema
    This paper reports on the history, features, and challenges of School-Based Professional Learning Communities (SBPLCs) in China to elicit lessons for Tanzania towards improving in-service teacher professional development. Based on the Chinese SBPLCs, this review aims to provide some insights to educational planners and teachers in Tanzania on how to establish and maintain effective school-based professional learning. This analysis used 30 journal articles published over the past twelve years (2006-2017) to provide research-based evidence. The findings indicate that Chinese schools have registered significant achievements in SBPLCs by supporting teacher collaborative learning and research in both rural and urban areas. As Tanzania strives to promote school-based teacher professional development, several lessons are worth learning. Thus, the study recommends that the country endorse professional learning at the school level by developing explicit in-school policies, allocating time for teacher learning, offering financial and material support to teachers, and encouraging teachers to take charge of their professional learning
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    Whose Names are in Science Textbooks? Justifying the Need for Critical Pedagogy in Tanzania Science Classrooms
    (Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences,, 2018-06-30) Kinyota, Mjege; Kavenuke, Patrick
    Textbooks are the most important teaching and learning resources in education in most developing countries, including Tanzania. However, researchers in education have tended to ignore critical issues related to textbooks. For example, while Africa, as a continent, has contributed a lot to the development of science and technology, it is unfortunate that African scientists and their achievements do not feature in science textbooks used in African schools. This paper seeks to explore critical aspects in science textbooksthat are often taken for granted, such as names of scientists cited in those textbooks. Additionally, the question of what are the stereotypes and the hidden messages that students in developing countries learn when science textbooks are full of white male Western scientists’ names was considered pertinent for this study. We argue that such biased naming in science textbooks sends negative messages and stereotypes to students on what counts as legitimate science knowledge. We also argue that the messages, in turn, limit students’ creativity and affect their identities as science knowledge producers and owners. The situation may be worse for non-white female students from developing countries. We recommend that teachers should use critical pedagogy in science classrooms so that issues related to the nature of science and the historical development of scientific knowledge are critically questioned, analysed and discussed. Given the limited time due to the pressure of national examinations, we also recommend teachers to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate critical pedagogy. Lastly, we call for the integration of indigenous scientific knowledge in science curriculum in Tanzania