Haruni Machumu

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

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.

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Teachers' perceived roles and their constructivist engagement practices in blended learning environment courses in Tanzanian universities

By Haruni Machumu

This study examines the relationship between teachers' perceived roles and their constructivist engagement practices in constructivist-based blended learning environment (BLE) courses in Tanzanian universities. The study used a mixed-methods research design with multiple data collection techniques to collect data from 261 teachers across ten selected universities. Step-by-step statistical analyses and content analysis were used. The results show that teachers' main perceived role is one of support, followed by leadership and design roles in constructivist-based BLE courses. The results also suggest that collaboration was a preferable mode of engagement to motivation or facilitation in terms of teachers' constructivist engagement practices in constructivist-based BLE courses. The findings further reveal that there is a statistically significant correlation between teachers' perceived roles and constructivist engagement practices in constructivist-based BLE courses. The results advance the knowledge base regarding teachers' perceived roles, teachers' constructivist engagement practices and constructivist-based blended learning. Furthermore, the results could be beneficial to higher education institutions (HEIs) attempting to implement constructivist-based BLE courses, demonstrating that the deployment and implementation of constructivist-based BLE courses in teacher education should align with teachers' perceived roles and their constructivist engagement practices. © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

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