Implementing competence about vision disturbances in Tanzania’s teacher education: A contextual analysis

Abstract

Around the world, schoolchildren suffer from vision disturbances that may challenge their ability to learn to read and write. Often teachers lack the competences to identify and help children who struggle with vision problems. This study is a part of a Norwegian-Tanzanian research project with intentions to strengthen teachers’ competences on identifying and improving pupils’ vision problems. With a qualitative research design, we analyse how contextual factors of task, time, scale and direction provided possibilities and barriers for implementing the new competence in Tanzanian special needs teacher education, and for scaling up the competence to mainstream teacher education. The task, timing, and direction of the capacity building meant that the efforts were well received in special needs teacher education. The core ideas of the competence building corresponded with the national education strategies for inclusive education and may spread awareness on learning difficulties amongst teachers. Teachers’ knowledge and awareness of vision disturbances and other learning problems may contribute to enhancing inclusive educational goals. However, further scaling up of the competence to ordinary teachers and into mainstream classrooms is hindered by factors related to task and scale, in particular a dual-track educational system and lack of teacher competencies.