Date of Award
12-2019
Culminating Project Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Higher Education Administration: Ed.D.
Department
Educational Administration and Higher Education
College
School of Education
First Advisor
Roger Worner
Second Advisor
James Johnson
Third Advisor
Kay Worner
Fourth Advisor
David Lund
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Abstract
The leadership of development programs in developing countries is characterized by complex leadership processes failing to produce the intended results of improving education, economic development or poverty reduction in many developing countries. The research revealed that the programs had not been able to resolve such complex matters as the achievement gap and improvement of the quality of education in Tanzania. A lack of visionary leaders and leadership failures meant that these development programs did not produce their intended results.
The purpose of the study was to examine the past educational development program efforts in order to assess issues that contributed to their success or failure and secure recommendations to improve future educational development program implementation. Historical analyses of changes of leadership over significant periods demonstrated that leadership had a profound influence on the development or lack of development of the country. Thus, these failures bring into question the effectiveness of processes and leadership strategies that rely on foreign aid as the fundamental source for sustainable development programs in African countries.
The study focused on the evidence that many government programs sponsored by international institutions do not lead to improvement in education, social or economic development. The qualitative research study facilitated the use of an inductive approach (new information) from the selected coastal region in Tanzania to identity concepts that could lead to better leadership processes and strategies in the future implementation of educational development programs. Theoretical sampling of the emerging concepts may reveal mental models, strategic structure, processes and outcomes that could result in implementation of sustainable development programs in Tanzania in the future.
The study results indicated several educational development program successes included increased enrollment at primary and secondary school levels and increased access to education for female students. Results from the study illustrated that a shortage of teachers due to increased population, inadequate budgets to conduct school inspection, and cultural beliefs hindered development programs’ successes. Two other areas reported as concerns included a lack of accountability and discrimination regarding special needs children. Participants’ recommended training of visionary leaders, recognition, training and remuneration for teachers, and the updating of policies with clear expectations.
Recommended Citation
Shedrack, Nancy, "Tanzania Leaders’ Perceptions of Practices that Resulted in Successes and Failures of Educational Development Programs in Coastal Tanzania" (2019). Culminating Projects in Higher Education Administration. 40.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/hied_etds/40
