The significance of student voice: female students’ interpretations of failure in Tanzanian secondary education

Abstract

In Tanzania, the national examinations are used as the primary tools for selection and transition from lower to upper secondary education. Female students are more likely to fail in the national exams and to drop out from education. This article examines the perspectives of female students concerning their advancement in secondary education. Two sets of qualitative data, responses to a research questionnaire from 100 female lower secondary school students and follow-up interviews with seven mature students enrolled in a non-formal school who had failed in the national examinations, were analysed to identify critical issues influencing the educational advancement of female students in an urban context of Dar es Salaam. Finally, the connections between students' perspectives and the national secondary education development plan are examined. The aim is to highlight how student voice can contribute to transform secondary education and achieve the equality and equity targets.

Keywords:

• gender equality
• secondary education
• student voice
• dialogic educational development
• Tanzania
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Notes

1. The Tanzanian education system consists of seven years of primary education (Standards I–VII, age group 7–13), followed by four years of lower secondary education (O-level, Forms I–IV, age group 14–17) and two years of upper secondary education (A level, Forms V–VI, age group 18–19). Primary education is public and free. Secondary education in both public and private schools is fee-based (URT and UNESCO 2012). Within the categories of public and private schools, there is a variety in resources and performance (Hartwig 2013; Posti-Ahokas and Palojoki 2014). Therefore, the division between public and private is not of relevance for this research.

2. In 2011, only 68.7% of O-level students and 39.9% of A-level students were enrolled at the right age (URT 2011).

3. The schools were given the labels of: (1) ‘new community school’, (2) ‘established community school’, (3) ‘high performance government school’, (4) ‘established private school’, and (5) ‘NGO education centre’. Schools 1–3 are classified as public and schools 4–5 as private. All schools were following the same national curriculum.

4. School 5 ‘NGO education centre’ is run by a non-governmental organisation and is classified as a private school. N.B. The status of private schools varies from high-performance and well-resourced ones to low-performance and poorly resourced institutions (see Hartwig 2013; Posti-Ahokas and Palojoki 2014).

5. The student parliament consists of three members elected through a general vote. The purpose of the student parliament's work is to link students with school administration, to help administration to solve problems, to assist in achieving results and to organise extra-curricular activities, including academic clubs and study tours.