ABSTRACT
Despite students being co-constructors of classroom reality, existing studies have left out their perspectives. An evidence based on the links between the implementation of learner-centred pedagogy (LCP) and learning outcomes is also lacking. Moreover, the research on LCP carried out in Tanzania has seemingly overlooked possible historical connections with the current efforts to implement LCP in the country. To address these gaps in the research, this study applied the comparative case-study approach to examine the inextricable links between the history (transversal); macro-, meso- and micro-levels (vertical); and local cases (horizontal) of LCP implementation in Tanzanian primary schools. This chapter establishes the foundation for the transversal and vertical axes, which Chapters 5–8 will employ to analyse the horizontal findings. The transversal axis explores indigenous education and educational development under Nyerere. This chapter also introduces interviewed teachers’ views on Nyerere to link the past and the present, with attention to whether and how Nyerere’s ujamaa philosophy and educational agenda continue to exist today. The transversal axis eventually meets the vertical axis analysing policy diffusion and appropriation at the international, national and local scales. The transversal and vertical examination provides the historical, societal and cultural background of the data explored in subsequent chapters.
