Towards Inclusive Teacher Professional Learning: Gender, Disability, and Equity in the Blended Communities of Learning in Tanzania

• In Event: Social justice, compassion and inclusion in teacher education and professional development

Proposal

As education systems worldwide confront widening social, digital, and equity divides, the Government of Tanzania has introduced a national teacher professional development Learning Management System (LMS) to strengthen pedagogical skills and subject knowledge through school-based Communities of Learning (CoLs). This initiative is among the first in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish technology-enhanced professional learning at national scale (Author, 2023; Author, 2024). Since 2022, we have conducted a longitudinal study of its implementation through an intersectional lens, focusing on gender, disability, and rurality (Crenshaw 1991; McAleavy et.al. 2018; Singal, 2024).
Situated in an ecosystem framework for technology-supported Teacher Professional Development (Hennessy et.al. 2022), our study draws on data from 226 teachers, 31 school leaders, and 37 local and national stakeholders across four rural regions. Methods included participatory, gender-sensitive, and disability-aware focus group discussions (including sessions with teachers with disabilities), multi-level stakeholder interviews, school-level CoL observations, and teacher surveys, conducted in multiple visits to the same schools over a school year. Schools were purposively selected to ensure representation of women teachers, teachers with disabilities and varied digital infrastructure contexts
Findings highlight systemic inequities at the intersections of gender, disability, and rurality that limit teachers’ participation in LMS-supported CoLs. Women teachers were observed to make fewer, and less substantial contributions during CoL sessions, and often reported less access to internet and interest in using technology compared to male teachers. Women’s caregiving responsibilities and male and female teachers’ chronic illnesses also affected their CoL engagement, while teachers with disabilities faced challenges with technological accessibility.
At the same time, we document adaptive strategies at the local level, where teachers and leaders creatively respond to constraints. These local practices, including examples of relational agency (Edwards, 2005; Nguyen & Dang 2021) and what we termed “administrative” agency, illustrate the importance of the ‘middle layer’ of educational officers/school leaders within a decentralized TPD system. These findings offer insights into how inclusive digital or blended professional development can be effectively scaled in low-resource settings.
The study demonstrates how gender, disability, and equity shape the design and practice of blended CoLs. It contributes to global debates on building inclusive teacher professional learning that bridges divides and fosters equity, collaboration, and peace in a divided world.

Authors

• Kristeen Chachage

• Fika Burton Mwakabungu, Tanzania Institute of Education