Tucheze pamoja: Co-creating feasible and sustainable play-based learning approaches in Tanzania

• In Event: Learning through play across diverse geographies: Culturally- and contextually-responsive approaches in Mexico, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda

Proposal

Tucheze Pamoja is an extension of an ongoing collaboration between Michigan State University (MSU) and Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) through the Tanzania Partnership Program (TPP). Our play-based learning agenda responds to a policy-practice gap in Tanzania; although pre-primary teachers are required by policy to use play-based approaches (United Republic of Tanzania, 2023), most continue to rely on didactic and teacher-centered methods (Authors, 2017; 2021). Building on previous work in which we designed and constructed a playscape with elements that align with the national curriculum at the DUCE demonstration pre-primary school (Authors, 2021), the aim of this project is to develop an approach to play-based learning that is culturally relevant, feasible, and responsive to local realities and create and pilot a teacher professional development (TPD) program that reflects this approach.

Our project centers the experiences and insights of Tanzanian teachers, ECE experts, and practitioners by undertaking this work as a Community of Practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991). A CoP is “a social organization in which learning and participation takes place” (Patton & Parker, 2017, p. 352). Our CoP will be comprised of DUCE demonstration school pre-primary teachers, faculty from DUCE, MSU, Aga Khan University, and the Open University of Tanzania, as well as NGO partners from Project Zawadi.

As a CoP, we will develop a shared understanding of play-based learning that is relevant and feasible in Tanzania, create and pilot materials and resources to support pre-primary teachers’ use of play-based approaches, and develop video examples of Tanzanian pre-primary teachers implementing play-based approaches. We will draw on the knowledge, insight, and evidence generated by our CoP to then create and pilot a TPD program to foster pre-primary teachers’ understanding of and ability to implement play-based learning.

In this presentation, the Co-PIs will describe the three phases of the project and share reflections on Phase 1, in which the CoP will work together to build a shared understanding of play-based learning. We will share initial evidence from the project and describe how it will inform subsequent phases of the project. Amid the groundswell of interest and support for play-based learning, this work contributes to efforts to promote sustainable and relevant play-based practices.

Authors

• Bethany Wilinski, Michigan State University

• Subilaga M Kejo, Dar Es Salaam Univ College of Education