By Willy Lazaro Mbunju Komba

CHANGING POLITICS AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN TANZANIA: THE IMPACT ON POLITICAL EDUCATION AND CIVICS CURRICULA 1967-1994 By Willy Lazaro Mbunju Komba A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of London Institute of Education April 1996 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the limits of the curriculum in Tanzania's socio-political reforms as the country moves from a single- party socialist to a multi-party liberal and market oriented system. It focuses on the dominant influence of political culture on the curriculum process. The study was suggested by syllabus changes at all levels from primary through to university, and drew from one of the observations made by the Presidential Commission's Report of 1991 that Tanzanian political culture was authoritarian/quiescent, and that the curriculum could contribute to the realization of a society which would allow political choice. In view of the fundamental pedagogical implications, the study contrasted the West European liberal concept of choice with the collectivist Tanzanian political culture, its manifestation in the educational philosophy, and examined how it was internalized by educators. Specifically, it investigated teachers' perception of the curriculum changes, and of their role in a changed political environment. Through a conceptual model derived from the literature, the data (obtained from documentary sources, interviews, and from a questionnaire administered to 100 school teachers and 35 teacher trainees) were analyzed and interpreted. The findings suggested that teachers had internalized the authoritarian values concerning the outcomes of teaching and learning of Civics (e.g. unconditional obedience/loyalty to authority). It was argued that changing national political ideologies required not only surface changes in national politics but also in deeper values of the society as a whole, and that the facile association of Political Education with authoritarianism or Civics with democracy was unsustainable. As this study was limited by the size of the sample and type of respondents, broad based research on the residual political cultures in Tanzania and on African concepts of political choice or pluralism might yield more convincing evidence of the political values identified in this study. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 List of Tables and Figures 8 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations 11 Chapter 1: Introduction and Background to the Study 12 1 Statement of the problem and the focus of enquiry 17 2 Conceptual issues 18 2.1 Political culture 18 2.2 Political Education or Civics? 21 2.3 Social Studies/Political Studies 29 3 Significance, Ssructure and content of the investigation 33 4 Organisation and sequence of the study 35 5 Notes 36 Chapter 2: The Idea of Choice in Political Philosophy 38 1 Introduction 38 2 Liberalism and political choice 39 2.1 Classical liberalism 39 2.2 Liberalism and the extent of political choice 42 2.3 New liberalism 43 2.3.1 Friedrich von Hayek 44 2.3.2 John Rawls 45 2.3.3 The liberalism of Karl Popper 46 3 Choice under libertarianism 47 3.1 Robert Nozick 48 4 Choice under communitarianism 51 4.1 Classical communalism 51 4.2 Modern communitarianism 53 4 5 Choice under Marxism 56 6 Globalization and the crisis of national identity 58 6.1 Denial of national identity/self determination 61 7 Conclusion 63 8 Notes 66 Chapter 3: Tanzanian Political Culture 68 1 Introduction 68 2 Tanzanian politics 1961 - 1991: an overview 69 2.1 Colonial legacy 69 2.2 The single-party system: its creation and functioning 70 2.3 Limits of the single-party system 71 3 State-party interpretations 72 4 Ethnic and cultural diversity 80 5 Views on political culture: a synthesis 82 5.1 Various interpretations 84 5.2 Charismatic leadership 85 5.3 Aggregative mechanisms 86 5.4 The conditioned capitalist State 91 5.5 Crisis of ideological hegemony 92 6 Summary and educational Implications 93 7 Notes 96 Chapter 4: Political Culture and the Aims of Political Education/Civics Curriculum: Ambiguities and Contradictions 97 1 Introduction 97 2 System of general education and training in Tanzania 97 3 The curriculum and assessment system 100 3.1 Aims and goals of education 101 3.2 Education for Self Reliance: the five rationales 102 4 Dominant political values in the old curriculum 103 4.1 Civics before 1968 106 4.2 Elimu ya Siasa or Political Education 1968-1991 108 5 4.3 Professional perception 111 5 The new civics syllabus 112 6 Comparison between old and new syllabus 114 7 Classroom practice: research findings in Tanzania 116 8 Contradictory contents explained 118 8.1 Nation building theories 119 8.2 Self determination theories 122 9 Inferences 123 10 Notes 127 Chapter 5:Policy Making and the Political Education/Civics Curriculum 130 1 Introduction 130 2 Administrative structure & policy making framework 131 3 Ministry's response to Nyalali: the recent curriculum decisions 136 4 Adequacy of the response and impact on political learning 138 4.1 Interpretations in the Ministry 138 4.2 The Nyalali Report and the idea of political choice 141 4.3 Preference for civics 143 4.4 Emphasis on science education 146 4.5 Medium of instruction 147 5 Summary and findings 154 6 Notes 155 Chapter 6: Teachers of Civics in Secondary Schools in Tanzania 157 1 Introduction 157 2 Graded level of training 157 3 Ideological orientation of teachers since 1967 161 4 Teachers' professional and political values 162 4.1 Training and implications for teachers' values 162 4.2 Position in school hierarchy 163 4.3 Influence of gender 163 4.4 Work experience 164 5 Teachers' social and professional position 164 6 6 Data collection 169 6.1 The sample and sampling procedure 169 6.2 Validity and reliability 172 6.3 The questionnaire for Civics teachers 172 6.3.1 Teachers' perception of their competence 173 6.3.2 Views on the medium of instruction 174 6.3.3 Problems of the new syllabus as perceived by teachers 175 6.3.4 Teachers' perception of their role 175 7 Notes 177 Chapter 7: Teachers' Perception of the Curriculum Changes and of Their Role 180 1 Introduction 180 2 Teachers' perception of their competence 180 2.1 Familiarity with the new syllabus 180 2.2 Perception of the difference between Civics and ' Siasa ' 181 2.3 Teachers' satisfaction with the new syllabus 185 2.4 Views on desired educational outcomes 186 2.5 Problems of the new syllabus as perceived by teachers 187 2.6 Supporting reasons 189 2.6.1 Civics easier to teach 190 2.6.2 Civics difficult to teach 192 3 Teacher attitudes and values as reflected in their views on the medium of instruction 193 3.1 Professional and political values 194 3.2 Professional considerations 195 3.3 Political/ideological values 197 4 Teacher attitudes and values as reflected in perception of their role 199 4.1 Educational interpretation of political reforms 199 4.2 Handling of controversial topics 201 4.3 Views on classroom discipline: use of the cane 203 4.3.1 Total supporters 205 4.3.2 Total opposers 206 7 4.3.3 Conditional supporters 207 4.3.4 Inferences: control versus self-discipline 208 5 Conclusion 210 6 Note 211 Chapter 8: Summary, Conclusions and Implications 212 1 Conclusions 213 1.1 Liberalism vis a vis Tanzanian political culture 213 1.2 The educational response 215 1.3 Teachers' political values 216 2 Implications 217 2.1 Policy implications 217 2.2 Implications for educational theory 218 2.3 Research implications 218 Appendices 220 Appendix 1 Interview schedule 220 Appendix 2 Questionnaire for Civics Teachers 223 8 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Page Table 2.1 A freedom/autonomy/self determination/choice matrix 50 Table 3.1 Kiswahili political vocabulary based on family relationships 89 Table 4.1 Secondary education enrolments and ratios 1987-1989 98 Table 4.2 Distribution of secondary schools by zone and ownership 99 Table 4.3 Distribution of High Schools by zone and ownership 100 Table 5.1 '0' - level subject combinations 140 Table 6.1 Regions and High Schools visited by zone 171 Table 6.2 Number of Civics teachers studied by zone, gender and qualifications 171 Table 6.3 University trainee teachers by gender 172 Table 7.1 Respondents' familiarity with the Civics/' Siasa' subject 181 Table 7.2 Teachers' and trainee teachers' response categories on perception of difference between Civics and ' Siasa' by syllabus 182 Table 7.3 Teachers' and trainee teachers' satisfaction with the new Civics syllabus by objectives, content and medium of instruction 184 Table 7.4 Respondents' valuation of desired educational outcomes by gender and qualification 186 Table 7.5 Respondents' perception of difficulty in teaching Civics vs 'Siasa' by gender and qualification 187 Table 7.6 Respondents' perception of difficulty in teaching Civics vs 'Siasa' by level of training 188 Table 7.7 Response frequency of reasons for and against Civics teaching as given by trainee teachers and teachers 189 Table 7.8 Respondents' preference of the medium of instruction by gender and qualification 194 Table 7.9 Response frequency of reasons for preference of the medium of instruction between teachers and trainee teachers 195 Table 7.10 Respondents' educational interpretation of socio-political reforms by gender and qualification 200 9 Table 7.11 Respondents' self perception and their handling of controversial topics 202 Table 7.12 Respondents' views about continued use of the cane in secondary schools 204 Figures Fig.3.1 A conceptual model for Tanzanian political culture 83 Fig.4.1 Ideologies of classroom political learning 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY 228 Unpublished official documents & reports 228 Published and other secondary works 231 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am particularly thankful to my Supervisor Dr.Martin Mclean who accorded me excellent advice and assistance throughout the entire course of the study, and to Dr Carew Treffgarne for her encouragement in the early stages of the study.

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