Instructional Practices of School Heads and Quality Education Under the 2023 Competence-Based Education Reform in Public Secondary Schools in Mwanza City, Tanzania

Abstract

This study examined how the instructional practices of school heads supported quality education during implementation of Tanzania's 2023 competence-based education reform in public secondary schools in Mwanza City. The study is guided by Human Capital Theory and pragmatism, also, the study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. The accessible population comprised teachers, students, and school heads in ten selected public secondary schools, together with city education officers. The final sample was 213 participants: 96 teachers and 104 students completed questionnaires, while ten school heads, one Teachers Service Commission officer, one District School Quality Assurance officer, and one District Education Officer participated in semi-structured interviews. Schools were selected by simple random sampling; teachers and students were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling; and key informants were selected purposively. Quantitative data were analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics 27 using frequencies, percentages, and means, while interview data were coded thematically in NVivo 14 and integrated with the survey results. The findings revealed that school heads generally supported learner-centered teaching, professional development, pedagogical innovation, formative assessment, and access to instructional resources. Students similarly perceived that classroom practices encouraged active participation, practical-skill development, regular feedback, differentiated learning, and instructional support. Interview evidence reinforced these findings through descriptions of school-based coaching, curriculum monitoring, feedback routines, and resource mobilization. The study concludes that school heads were perceived to create enabling conditions for reform-aligned teaching, although the descriptive cross-sectional evidence does not establish causality. City authorities should institutionalize sustained professional learning, strengthen formative assessment, and provide equitable instructional resources.