Pedagogical and Assessment Practices towards Competency-based Education in Tanzania Teacher Colleges

The study sought to investigate the pedagogical and assessment practices to enhance Competency Based Curriculum in Tanzania Teacher Colleges. Specifically, the study explored tutors’ understanding of the subject competencies as described in teacher education curriculum, examined the competency-based teaching and learning techniques used by tutors in Teacher Colleges and evaluated the tools used by tutors to assess the mastery of the built competencies in Teacher Colleges. The study was conducted in two Teacher colleges in Mbeya Region. A qualitative research approach and descriptive survey design were employed in which data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions from 50 respondents sampled purposely from curriculum practitioners in Teacher Colleges. Questionnaire data were subjected into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20 to get frequencies and percentages then supported by verbatim quotes from interview and thematic paraphrase from Focus Group Discussions. The results indicates that, most of the tutors were aware of the competencies to be developed to students and the competency-based teaching and learning techniques in their respective teaching subjects as prescribed in the teacher education curriculum. However, such tutors rarely employed the competency-based teaching and learning techniques in their lessons which hamper the development of the intended competencies in the teacher education programme. Therefore, the study concludes that, since the river cannot flow higher than its source, tutors’ understanding of the intended competencies and the competency-based teaching and learning techniques without actual use of such techniques does not impact on the preparation of the competent teachers required to implement competency-based curriculum in schools. From this conclusion, it is recommended that, in-service training for Competency-based teaching should be conducted to all tutors and Management of Teacher Colleges. The practical interview should be conducted to the applicants for tutorship in Teacher Colleges instead of relying on direct placement from University graduates or transferring teachers from schools to Teacher Colleges based on their level or years of experiences. In light of the findings and conclusion of this study, further study may be conducted on developing measuring scales for competency development in teacher education.