Special education was introduced in Tanzania Mainland in 1950 by the Church Missionary Society. Despite its long history in the country, not many policies have clearly stipulated the need for special and inclusive education. This paper succinctly and systematically evaluates various educational reforms and policies in Tanzania, and points out some successes and embedded challenges in the development of special needs and inclusive education in Tanzania. To analyze clearly the current situation of special and inclusive education in the country, the Peter's model and cases of some identified schools for exceptional students are used. The analysis has indicated an evolution from special to integrated and later on to inclusive education, which has led to an apparent increase in the number of schools and subsequent relatively higher enrollment figures for children with special needs. Despite this evolution, Tanzania has a long way to go, when compared to other countries in effectively achieving the provision of education to exceptional individuals. Finally, towards a new era of special and inclusive education in Tanzania, various recommendations are offered.

This study analysed sighted students’ prosocial behaviour towards assisting their peers with visual impairment (VI) in inclusive secondary schools in Iringa Municipality, Tanzania. An embedded single case study design was used. Seventy six respondents, consisting of teachers and students with and without VI participated in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured and face to face interviews, focus group discussions, and closed-ended questionnaires. Data was analysed through thematic analysis and presented in tables and quotations of participants’ actual words. Results have indicated differences in prosocial behaviours between sighted day-students and sighted boarding students with the latter being more prosocial as a result of altruistic and egoistic factors; having a positive attitude and due to the influence of religion and school administration . Similarities between sighted students and those with VI were linked to sighted students’ prosocial behaviour. The latter students’ attributions, and misunderstandings among students. determined their prosocial behaviour towards assisting their peers with VI. Awareness raising and sensitisation of members of the community, as well as replicating the study in inclusive and co-education schools for students with VI are recommended in the paper.

Understanding how student teachers undertake their group work may provide solid foundation for developing essential skills required for the 21st Century teachers, and subsequently help improve group-based assessment in higher education. However, social loafing has been found to interfere with this assessment mode. This article reports on undergraduate student teachers’ reactions to social loafers when working on group assignments as part of their continuous assessment. It focuses on how they go about doing their group work and react to the social loafers. The data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews from 18 purposefully and conveniently selected participants. The findings have indicated procedures that students observe in doing their group assignments such as formulation of own group norms and rules, and holding of meetings for the work being determined by the nature of the assignments, and their submission deadlines. Additionally, it has been found that group members employ humanitarian, punitive and threatening approaches as they react to social loafers. The article concludes that proper planning for students’ group assignments is important and; both instructors and students should play their roles accordingly to overcome the problem of social loafing when the use of group-based assessments is indispensable within higher education contexts.

Educating gifted and talented students is of paramount importance not only for individuals but also for enhancing a nation’s socioeconomic development, science and technology. However, while there appears to be increasing evidence at the international scholarly space on the importance of promoting gifted education, the situation is different in Tanzania where there is yet no systematic provision for it. This article reviews literature to establish the need for the systematic provision of gifted education in Tanzania and suggests ways on how its development can be initiated in the country. The article identifies areas considered essential in improving gifted education while promoting equity and excellence in nurturing the gifted in Tanzania. These areas are discussed within the context of the proposed model for developing a system of gifted education in the country. In this development, the article argues for the integration of prosocial education with gifted education for the desired future of Tanzania’s gifted education.

Previous research supporting differentiated instruction (DI) has led to its adoption in different countries as a promising pedagogical framework for addressing diverse learners’ needs. To date, there exists little information on DI from Tanzania especially when competence-based education and inclusion are being embraced. To address this gap, this study explored how Tanzanian teachers perceived DI in their working with academically high-achieving secondary school students. The study was strongly informed by a constructivist research tradition, adopting a multiple case study design. Focus group discussions and interviews were used as data sources and thematically analyzed. The analysis revealed teachers’ limited perceptions of DI, although consonance with the existing literature on DI practices for high-ability learners. After discussing the findings, as conclusion, the article stresses the importance of training teachers on DI to enhance their instructional practices for high-ability learners in Tanzania, along with setting the grounds for future research.