Swahili-medium primary school teachers’ experiences with overcrowded classrooms and school choice

Abstract

Many teachers in Swahili-medium primary schools enrol their children in English-medium primary schools. This choice is notable in Tanzania. Swahili-medium primary schools serve most pupils but face overcrowded classrooms and little chance for individualised instruction. This study explored Swahili-medium primary school teachers’ experiences with overcrowded classrooms and how these influence their decisions to choose English-medium primary schools for their children. The study applied a qualitative research approach using a phenomenological research design to explore the problem. A purposive sampling strategy was applied, followed by a simple random sampling strategy to select 20 Swahili-medium primary school teachers, who were then interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Organisational culture theory, rational choice theory, and cultural capital theory were applied together to guide the study. The findings revealed that overcrowded classrooms create noisy and disruptive teaching and learning environments, limit teachers’ ability to provide personalised instructional support, reduce opportunities to motivate pupils to learn, and constrain the use of diverse learner-centred teaching strategies. Swahili-medium primary school teachers reported that these classroom challenges, combined with broader systemic and cultural factors related to educational quality and future opportunities, influence their decision to enrol their children in English-medium primary schools. The results suggest that targeted policy and school level interventions to improve classroom conditions in the Swahili-medium primary schools could improve the quality of instruction and lead to a decrease in the teachers’ preference to enroll their children in English-medium primary schools.