Apolonia Agaptus

ACADEMIC BENCHMARKING AND THE PROVISION OF QUALITY SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TANZANIA

By Haruni Machumu

The academic benchmarking process is broadly employed by private secondary education providers and educational stakeholders in Tanzania to examine the benefits and drawbacks of service delivery. The study explored the use of academic benchmarking in providing quality education in Tanzanian secondary schools. Employing a cross-sectional research design, data were collected from 188 participants and subsequently analysed both descriptively and thematically. The study found that the academic benchmarking process plays a significant role in ensuring the provision of quality education through internal assessment, comparisons, and the adoption of best practices from benchmarked schools. Further, the findings reveal that six types of academic benchmarking are utilized in Tanzanian secondary schools. According to the study, proper academic benchmarking in secondary schools will improve educational results among secondary school graduates. Furthermore, academic benchmarking in secondary schools affects school rankings, which reflect a school’s potential to do well at the end of national examinations. The study concludes that academic benchmarking enhances the provision of quality education by influencing future performance and commitments to work on secondary schools’ goals, vision, and mission. Moreover, the study provides both theoretical and practical insight to the understanding of the necessity of academic benchmarking in secondary schools. © 2024, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. All rights reserved.