Teacher Agency and Innovation in Tanzania
Team
Dr Rhona Brown (lead)
CenTCS
University of Glasgow
Dr Janice Kim
School of Education
University of Glasgow
Dr Nkanileka Mgonda
University of Dar es Salaam
Dr Allen Rugambwa
Independent Consultant
Dr Jacqueline Halima Mgumia
University of Dar es Salaam / Imagine Education
Abstract
Teacher Agency and Innovation in Tanzania (TAIT) is a collaborative research project conducted by researchers from the University of Glasgow and the University of Dar es Salaam. The project explores how teacher agency and innovation are understood, enabled, constrained, and enacted in practice in Tanzanian secondary schools. The exploratory study (2024–2026) involved 410 participants, including teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, and local education officers. Data were collected through participatory workshops, online teacher reflection groups, a contextually-sensitive survey, and a validation symposium. The survey captured broader patterns in teachers’ self-reported agency, while qualitative methods provided deeper insights into lived experiences, contextual meanings, and the relationships between agency and innovation.
Keywords
teacher agency; Tanzania; secondary