At the concluding stage of this study, several critical questions still need to be answered. Some directions for future research to complement the picture provided by this study are suggested to further the purpose of repositioning and improving the quality and relevance of Tanzanian secondary education.
As this study involved only female students, it is not in a position to comprehen-sively analyse the gendered meaning of education and its relevance. A study including both male and female students would be helpful to better understand how the personal relevance of education is gender differentiated by young people. Further insights into the processes that reproduce gender inequality are needed for meaningful interventions.
Analysing the gendered meanings of education for young people is important since the gender differences tend to be perpetuated as people enter adulthood (Egbo 2005;
Subrahmanian 2007).
Hoppers (1996) has argued that during the formulation of the global Education for All targets, quality was predominantly associated with the delivery of curriculum, while insufficient concern was given to the social relevance and work orientation of secondary education.53 This tendency is still present in the current Secondary Education Development Plan in Tanzania. From the perspective of social relevance, it is important to analyse how much the Tanzanian education system is concerned about the ‘missing middle’ who are less likely to make the transition to upper-secondary and higher education. The new education policy54 could be analysed from the perspective of how the social and personal dimensions of relevance are addressed. Interviews and other modes of inquiry could be initiated to follow how the dialogue around secondary education is evolving. Further investigations on social relevance could be conducted with parents to understand why they are willing to send their children to school despite the problems related to quality and the low private returns to education.
In the future, further opportunities for student voice research in Tanzania will be sought to better utilise the transformative potential of critical research in education.
Approaches utilising students as co-researchers have been suggested as options that are more transformative than using students as data sources or active respondents (Fielding 2001). Applying participatory research approaches in the planning of sex education in Kenya, Ghana and Swaziland; Cobbett, McLaughlin and Kiragu (2013) demonstrated how creating participatory spaces through research can carry over to everyday prac-tices in and out of schools. Initiating participatory action research in voluntary Tanzanian schools would provide opportunities to pilot student voice work for school improvement and gain further knowledge on the potential role of student voice.
53 As an example of the revived policy interest in the social relevance of education and em-ployment, the Global EFA Monitoring Report focused on youth and skills (UNESCO 2012a).
54 The policy document is still in draft and thus not available for analysis.
Alternatively, introducing student voice work in teacher education could be a relevant avenue for introducing the approach in Tanzanian institutions.55 If student teachers were introduced during their teacher education to dialogic approaches that develop
‘collective social expertise’ (Suoranta & Moisio 2006), student voice could become part of their professional skills and thereby contribute to the democratic development of schools.
Rudduck and Fielding (2006, 229) have contended that the patches of exciting student voice work can be difficult to move to the mainland of the school to create a productive and democratic community. Based on Brazilian experience of the democratic schools established by the movement of landless rural workers within the formal education system, McCowan (2011) has encouraged creating pockets of democratic experience within undemocratic school systems. The Tanzanian non-formal school where this study was partly carried out showed some encouraging examples of a more democratic and supportive school culture compared to the standard government schools. More could be learnt from these progressive schools to understand how students can contribute to the transformation of their schools and the education system as a whole.
These ideas are presented to encourage further research that is committed to enhancing equity and social justice in education. Instead of considering students merely as objects and targets of policy, they could become participating subjects in the dialogic development of education. As stated by social activist bell hooks (1989, 12):
”Only as subjects can we speak. As objects, we remain voiceless - our beings defined and interpreted by others”.
55 See Cook-Sather (2006) for an inspiring example of collaboration between secondary school students and teacher education students.
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