3 Investigating teachers’ well-beinginTanzania

The findings discussed in this paper are drawn from a larger project, which sought to understand the values, beliefs and lived experiences of Tanzanian teachers (Tao 2013). Data was collected from the Arusha region in Tanzania in 2010 at three government primary schools: a rural school with 1253 students and 25 staff; an urban school with 1448 students and 39 staff; and a peri-urban school with 1867 students

Dr. Sharon Tao

and 31 staff. Despite their differing environments, all three schools had similar levels of material deprivation (general lack of textbooks, classrooms, and desks, amongst others), a lack of in-service training for teachers and student populations from generally low socio-economic backgrounds. The ratio of female to male teachers varied at each school (rural: 68% women; urban: 95% women; peri-urban: 81% women). There were also variations in teachers’ age, levels of experience and ethnic backgrounds, but greater homogeneity was apparent in characteristics such as religious affiliation (Christian), socioeconomic level (low), and qualification (completion of lower secondary and teacher training college).

Since the central focus of the research was to provide nuanced explanations for a variety of teachers’ practices, ethnographic case studies were used. Methods included focus groups, semi-structured and informal interviews, questionnaires and participant observation with teachers, as well as with head teachers, school committees, and District Education Officers. Participant observation as a full-time member of staff (which entailed teaching Standard 3 – 6 English in classes of 65 - 120 students) facilitated close relationships with teachers and students, and provided insights into the daily conditions, pressures and politics that teachers face.

4 Findings: WhatTanzanianteachersvalue

The table below presents the six most salient functionings gleaned from discussions with teachers and the questionnaires completed at the three schools. These functionings included: 1) Being able to live in a satisfactory home; 2) Being able to take care of family; 3) Being healthy; 4) Being able to help students learn; 5) Being able to participate in training (and upgrade qualifications); and 6) Being respected. The table provides an overall view of how many teachers discussed (without prompting) each of the functionings during focus groups and interviews (which are demarcated with ‘D’), and how many teachers ranked these within the top five (of a list of 53 predefined capabilities) on questionnaires (which is demarcated with ‘Q’). It should also be noted that some functionings were constitutive of broader functionings, and were thus included in this broader tally, for example, discussions of ‘being able to live in a safe place’ were included in the overarching functioning of ‘being able to live in a satisfactory home’, and ‘being able to drink clean water’ was considered to be part of ‘being healthy’. That said, although the salience of a functioning was determined by characteristics such as presence and frequency, greater importance was placed on the intensity of discussion because it was found that focusing on frequency was misleading, as many teachers (particularly in focus groups) tacitly agreed with functionings and topics through non-verbal nods and gestures.

Table 4.1: Functionings that teachers valued most by school type

D: # of teachers who spontaneously discussed this topic at length in focus groups and interviews

Q: # of teachers who ranked this functioning highly (within the top 5) in a list of 53 experienced. These discussions were also significant as teachers’ empirical behaviours are very much predicated on how and to what extent they decide to comply or contend with these constraints.

5 Causallinksbetweenvaluedfunctioningsand empiricalbehaviour

As discussed previously, a Critical Realist Theory of Causation can be used to causally link constrained well-being to teachers’ ‘deficient’ or ‘negative’ practices and behaviours. Teachers’ valued functionings can be viewed as the causal mechanisms that generate much of their behaviour, and various conditions of service (conversion factors) constrain what teachers value being and doing. Teachers’ deliberation then determines whether they choose to comply with constraints (thereby not achieving their valued functionings), or whether to contend with them, which often leads to the production of certain ‘deficient’ behaviours, such as absenteeism or corporal punishment.

For example, several teachers articulated with quantity and depth their valuing of being able to take care of their families. This functioning of ‘being able to take care of family’ often entails the physical act of caring, such as preparing food, as well as the symbolic act of providing, such as paying for school fees and clothing. When asked about constraints on their ability to care and provide for family, teachers remarked that a low salary was the greatest impediment to both. Although many teachers saw a lack of funds as a systemic problem that they could not do much about, others seemed determined to contend with such a constraint by seeking other avenues for income. As one peri-urban female teacher commented,

“Sometimes you find time to escape and look for work so that you can get money so that you can take your kids to school. I will look, if the head is not there, then I will escape. Or I will lie and say I’m sick so that I can go and find other work. So the result is the bad behaviour of escaping or saying lies.”

This very candid response demonstrates the instrumentality of income for achieving this valued functioning and how constraint via a low salary prompts some teachers to seek supplementary income elsewhere. Sen (1999: 14) is very sympathetic to the ‘usefulness’ of income, and states, ‘‘we generally have excellent reasons for wanting more income or wealth. This is not because income and wealth are desirable for their own sake, but because, typically, they are admirable general-purpose means for having more freedom to lead the kind of lives we have reason to value.’’

Figure 5.1 below outlines the causal links between teachers’ valuing of ‘being able to take care of family’, the conversion factors surrounding this functioning, and the empirical outcomes that result.

Using the Capability Approach to improve the efficacy of teacher training

Dr. Sharon Tao

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Valued Functioning Being able to take care of family

Enabling conversion factors

Environmental resources, time Socialsharing of responsibility

Personalenergy levels

Decision by teacher (to realise valued functioning)

Empirical event 1

Teacher takes care of family

Empirical event 2

Teacher decides not to take care of family

Constraining conversion factors

Environmentalwork hours, travel distance, low salary

Socialunequal gender roles

Personallow energy

Decision by actor (to comply or contend with constraint)

Empirical event 3

Teacher cannot take care of family (distraction, lack of focus in class)

Empirical event 4

Teacher takes second job to take care of family (lack of preparation, absenteeism)