Instructional strategies for nurturing critical thinking skills in non-formal secondary education in Tanzania

In this study, we explored the contribution of instructional strategies in nurturing critical thinking skills in Non-Formal Secondary Education (NFSE) in Tanzania. It was carried out in the Dar es Salaam Region. A qualitative approach with phenomenology design was employed and it involved 44 learners and 8 teachers making a total of 52 participants. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), document analysis, and observations and were analysed thematically. The findings indicate that teachers in NFSE mostly employed the lecture method in teaching. Although problem-solving, questions and answers, group discussion, and oral presentation were viewed to contribute towards the inculcation of critical thinking, such methods were rarely employed by teachers. It was further found that teachers used questions and answers to enable learners to pass the National Examinations and most of the people who taught in NFSE did not attend teacher education that could help them possess the pedagogical knowledge and skills to nurture critical thinking in learners. The key argument in this study is that if NFSE is to inculcate critical thinking in learners, teachers need to use interactive instructional strategies. For this to take place, training programmes for teachers in pedagogical knowledge and skills are imperative.