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This study investigates teacher educators’ perceptions of and challenges affecting the use of critical pedagogy in higher teacher education in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative case study design and collected in-depth data through semi-structured interviews and direct classroom observations. The findings showed that critical pedagogy is a significant approach for developing students’ abilities to do critical reflection. However, critical pedagogy demands building a friendly relationship with students and encouraging dialogic interactions; all these lead to critical reflection in return, ensuring better understanding of the subject content. Most importantly, the findings report several challenges related to the presence of crowded classes, the use of lecturing teaching style and the use of English as a language of instruction, the use of unsuitable assessment format that is university guided and lack of teaching resources. These challenges impede the effective use of critical pedagogy in teaching. To overcome such challenges, policy makers and institutional leaders need to rethink of providing teaching resources and encouraging the use of critical pedagogy in teaching and learning at higher teacher education programmes. The study concludes that by practising what teacher educators perceive to be critical pedagogy, classrooms will be transformed into places of liberation. Further, while this qualitative study does not intend to make any generalisation, the findings might be of interest to international teacher educators who are interested in employing the critical pedagogy approach effectively.

Teachers enter the profession with enthusiasm for the new adventure. Unfortunately, when they start working, they encounter circumstances that give rise to stress. The present study, which used a sample of 550 participants from 50 primary schools selected from the Kisarawe district in the Coastal Region of Tanzania, examines the extent of stress among primary school teachers and the factors influencing stress. Overall, the results indicate that teachers’ levels of stress range from low to moderate. Moreover, the results from hierarchical regression analysis indicate that factors such as sex, class size, age, career intentions and teaching subject significantly predict teachers’ stress. The study concludes that there is a need for the government, policymakers and school administrators to reduce teachers’ workload. Furthermore, school administrators in particular should be supportive and should design mechanisms that could develop a sense of collegiality among teachers in order to improve teacher-to-teacher relationships.

The debate on brain drain-brain circulation has been a long-lasting phenomenon of interest among educators in the field of education, in particular, international and comparative education. This long-lasting debate triggered us to rethink about the effects which the concept has on the source country as well as the destination country. The study explored the perceptions of Highly Skilled Personnel (HSPs) residing in Sub-Saharan Africa on HSPs mobility. Respondents for this study comprised of 43 Sub-Saharan African scholars. Data were collected into two phases. First, all the 43 respondents actively participated in a four-day Online Focused Group Discussion (OFGD) moderated by the researchers. The second phase involved online interviews with 12 members who also participated in the first phase. Findings indicated that the majority of respondents favoured brain circulation. This implies a significant shift from brain drain to brain circulation. The socio-economic and political contexts of countries where respondents came from influenced their responses. We suggest that in the current globalized world, instead of restricting HSPs mobility, Sub-Saharan African countries need to create attractive working environment as a means to retain the best talents and motivate those who left to come back. Furthermore, Sub-Saharan African countries must work with diaspora to improve knowledge and business networks that will enable these countries to improve their economies thereby compensating the cost incurred in educating mobile talents. Finally, brain drain-brain circulation agenda should not be viewed in isolation rather as multidimensional in nature due to its overarching countless influencing factors.

Aim/Purpose: Our study explores the perspectives of international doctoral graduates on ‎‎(national) dissertation assessment in China.‎ Background: In the absence of national standards or in the presence of impractical ones ‎for assessing doctoral dissertations, these factors have inevitably led to what ‎‎Granovsky et al. (1992, p. 375) called “up to standard rejected” and “below ‎standard accepted.” Improving upon this debate, this study examines the ‎lived experiences of seven doctoral graduates who have completed their ‎doctoral degrees in a leading university in China.‎ Methodology: An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) method was used, which ‎entails seven participant observations, seven semi-structured e-interviews, and ‎‎29 external reviews.‎ Contribution: In the present study, we addressed the issue of doctoral dissertation assessment ‎standards ‎with a view to enhancing understanding of the quality of doctoral ‎education. It ‎emphasizes the strengths of this aspect in China and critically describes the ‎weaknesses based on the experiences of doctoral ‎graduates in China.‎ Findings: Among the major findings of this study are: (a) the external review of the ‎dissertations presented in the literature review appears to be extremely unique ‎in comparison to the countries discussed in the literature and the countries of ‎the participants (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Yemen); (b) the ‎national assessment strengthens higher education on a macro level, but is ‎detrimental at the micro-level; and (c) while external reviews appear credible ‎as a policy towards the standardization of doctoral dissertation assessment, ‎this credibility evaporates when one considers the quality of reviews provided ‎and the motivation of reviewers to pass or reject a dissertation, including the ‎supervisor’s exclusion from this process.‎ Recommendations for Practitioners: Students seeking a doctoral degree or dissertation should become familiar ‎with the A-Z detail of the requirements for the degree and thesis. In addition ‎to meeting this overt requirement, their efforts must also be directed to meet ‎the covert requirements, including the requirements of the ‎external reviewers, their supervisors, and the country’s laws. There is a ‎necessity for external reviewers to rethink their decisions and attempt to ‎assess objectively, putting aside their personal views and preferences. There is ‎a need to re-examine the flexibility granted to external reviewers for making ‎decisions regarding doctoral degrees.‎ Recommendation for Researchers: Future research should consider involving an increased number of parties in ‎the conflict between doctoral students, supervisors, and external reviewers.‎ Impact on Society: The Chinese government allocates ‎substantial resources for doctoral studies for both international and local students. The spending of government funds on a doctoral student for four years or more, and then the degree is decided by an external reviewer, is uneconomical on the level of financial capital and human capital. Doctoral students are also human beings, and it does not seem ‎logical that one should judge the quality of their efforts over the course of ‎three or more years by reading the doctoral dissertation once. While they were ‎pursuing their doctoral degrees, they kept their families apart, they lived alone, ‎struggled to make it through hardships, and were easily ‎destroyed.‎ Future Research: In the future, more interviews may be conducted with respondents belonging ‎to a variety of universities in China, including Chinese students. Additionally, ‎supervisors and external reviewers (if available) should be included. Last but ‎not least, including decision-makers in Chinese higher education can give ‎future research more credibility.‎