Tanzania and Zanzibar face daunting early childhood education issues. Most Tanzanian children from 3-6 depend on a public education, and the country focuses too few resources on early childhood.
That’s not unusual. Advances in neuroscience and child development research continue to heap on the evidence that education investments in Early Childhood Education produce disproportionate lifelong benefits. Even as the research heaps and politicians hesitate, teachers know what really works.
Modernizing the Missionary Past
Tanzania and Zanzibar teachers offer a unique perspective. The Madrassa Early Childhood Program arrived around 2010. Parents heralded its arrival. Most parents here practice Islam, so replacing the old missionary Christianity with local religious values amplified support for the Madrassa Program. All public pre-primary schools follow the Montessori model. Only private schools may choose other curricula approved by Tanzania’s education ministry, the International Baccalaureate or Reggio Emilia.
Montessori is a good start.
Montessori is a child centered teaching approach focusing on physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Classes in Montessori schools include arithmetic learning, alphabet learning, physical education, playtime, creativity-enriching activities using Play-Doh or Legos. Teachers individually observe each child and assess thought processes and interpersonal skills. The Montessori approach uses structured learning built upon individual eagerness for knowledge and individual initiative for learning.
Montessori in Tanzania has been a success. Students display exemplary knowledge and superior abilities to traditional desk-and-row programs. The Ministry of Education reports improvements in a host of skills with particular successes in idea abstraction, concept adaptation, thinking logic, nonverbal expression, information reception, activity transition and relationship building.
Reggio Emilia is better.
In recent years, small private early childhood schools have introduced Reggio Emilia. Like the Montessori program, Reggio Emilia is child centered. Unlike Montessori, Reggio Emilia focuses more on self-directed and experiential learning in relationship-driven environments. In layman’s term, Reggio Emilia prioritizes child’s play. Reggio Emilia is a growing global trend. In Tanzania, schools that have adopted this approach too Montessori to the next level of student freedom. Teachers quickly noticed that freeing a child’s thought process both intellectually and emotionally occurred best without long hours of structured teaching under Montessori. Teachers saw three advantages, improved relationship-building, thought-expression, opinion-expression and empathy-signaling.
Reggio Emilia roots its curriculum on respect, responsibility and community. Those principles match the other preferred global curriculum, the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. Both programs’ principles are derived from research requiring curricula recognize individual student personalities, learning styles and intelligence types. Starting from the assumption each child needs a tailored education program, Reggio Emilia is self-guided.
Teachers observe, gauge and engage students based on demonstrated student interest. Planning follows observation. Teachers are co-learners, mentors and advisors. On the ground, Reggio Emilia students paint, perform, play, talk and listen. Theatre, music, art and show-and-tell happen every day.
Children succeed.
On the social-emotional side, Reggio Emilia children exhibit more confidence, expressive skills, oneness and compassion than their peers. On the academic side, they exhibit exemplary creativitiy in academic performance. Local elementary school teachers report that children who have exited the Reggio Emilia approach echo the same gains. They note disproportionate advantages in adaptability, academics, relationships and persistency in their areas of love, such as art or arithmetic.
Teachers of this program believe Reggio Emilia offers three advantages over other curricular systems.
Children grow into the individuals they ought to be.
Children focus on their own best traits.
Children enhance their own best traits to the extent of their capacity.
Touching, moving, listening, and observing happen routinely in Reggio Emilia schools. Full sensory engagement improves perception and comprehension. Teachers knew that. What teachers didn’t know and learned in Tanzania is that Reggio Emilia’s whole-life-experience approach to learning creates gains far beyond academics. In a time when learning-to-learn is the focus of K-12 and higher education systems, no goal is greater than raising students who know themselves and are happy with what and who they are.
Donaldina Lugeumbiza is a Tanzania-based freelance writer. She writes on the cross section of diplomacy, international development and education. She enjoys medical novels, medical dramas, deep sea diving and experimental cooking.