Discursive Construction of External School Quality Assurance Policy Actors’ Power in Selected Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Abstract

In 2017, the School Quality Assurance (SQA) policy was adopted and implemented in secondary schools in Tanzania. Since the beginning of its implementation to date, not much is known about how SQA policy discourses construct external SQA policy actors’ power versus internal SQA policy actors. This study analyzed how SQA policy discourses discursively construct external SQA policy actors’ power in selected secondary schools in Tanzania. Since policies are implemented through the production, distribution, and consumption of texts and discourses, the study was mainly based on textual and discourse analyses. Findings indicate that SQA policy discourses reconstructed the power of external SQA policy actors rather than the internal SQA policy actors and stakeholders. It is argued that by empowering external SQA policy actors, SQA policy implementation becomes more or less the same as school inspection. It is recommended that an effective SQA policy implementation needs to empower internal SQA policy actors because they interact daily with teachers and students to improve teaching and learning, curriculum, school leadership, school environment, and community engagement.