Perceptions of stakeholders on modalities for giving quality assurance feedback to tutors in teachers’ colleges in Tanzania

Effective dialogic feedback demands active zonal quality assurance officers and tutors. The use of oral and written modalities to provide quality assurance feedback on learning environment in teachers’ colleges could make tutors more active in teaching. This article appraises modalities used to give feedback to tutors; and analyses the modalities regarded by tutors and quality assurance officers as effective in Tanzania. The article adopts a qualitative multiple-case study involving thirty-four respondents from three teachers’ training colleges in Tanzania. Data were collected using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and documentary reviews with tutors. It is revealed that oral and written modalities were mainly used to give quality assurance feedback to tutors in teachers’ colleges. Moreover, these feedback modalities do not have a bearing on the effectiveness of learning in the studied institutions. The paper also identifies significant differences between the quality of oral and written feedback. Tutors tend to prefer oral to written quality assurance feedback modality. Specifically, tutors perceived oral quality assurance feedback modality as the most effective way as it allows for more interaction, collaboration and dialogue between tutors and zonal school quality assurance officers. On the other hand, zonal quality assurance officers prefer written to oral quality assurance feedback modality as most effective for permanent record keeping in the majority of cases. Moreover, written feedback is the only means by which quality assurance stakeholders get to know about the state of quality of education provision in teachers’ colleges. It was also found that the new framework for giving quality assurance feedback was adopted and implemented before tutors were adequately oriented to the framework. It is, therefore, recommended that before quality assurance framework and its modalities of giving quality assurance feedback are changing feedback modalities, the government should first consider adequate training of zonal quality assurance officers for them to perceive feedback as a dialogic process.