Investigation of the Effectiveness of Teacher-Education Curriculum in Primary School Mathematics in Tanzania Mainland. African Studies in Curriculum Development & Evaluation. No. 64.

An investigation was made of the effectiveness of the teacher education curriculum for primary school mathematics teachers in Tanzania. Subjects were a random sample of 8 teacher trainees in each of 4 selected colleges, as well as 4 school principals, 12 tutors, and 16 serving teachers. Data were gathered by means of questionnaires and observations. Results showed that colleges in Tanzania do not have a prescribed mathematics textbook. It was also indicated that topics such as probability, number bases (other than base 10), and intersection and union of sets should be dropped or taught with very little emphasis and that topics such as equations and business arithmetic should be added to the present syllabus. Results indicate that a review of the existing college mathematics syllabus is necessary. Other observations showed that mathematics teachers in primary schools used very few teaching aids, class textbooks were available, and subject matter was fairly well understood by pupils. The poor mathematics background of the teacher trainees was noted by all respondents, and block teaching practice during the first and second year of teacher training was recommended. Samples of the research instruments are appended. (JD)

an: ED233016; docTypes: Reports - Research; pubTypes: Report;