Perceptions of Senior Academic Staff on Novice Teacher Induction in Public Secondary Schools in Chato District, Tanzania

Novath Joas and Upendo P. Biswalo
St John’s University of Tanzania
E-mail: joasnovath8@gmail.com

Abstract: Mentoring is widely recognised as a critical mechanism for supporting novice teachers during induction, yet its institutionalisation in Sub-Saharan African schools remains uneven. This study examined the perceptions of senior academic staff regarding their role in mentoring novice teachers during induction in six public secondary schools in Chato District, Tanzania. A qualitative case study design was employed. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 senior academic staff and 2 Ward Education Officers, complemented by review of School Management Team minutes, induction records, and mentor allocation documents. The study found that senior academic staff articulated a rich, multidimensional understanding of mentoring and consistently framed it as an institutional duty. However, documentary evidence revealed that mentoring lacked formal mentor allocation systems, written induction guidelines, structured monitoring templates, and documented feedback cycles in most sampled schools. Mentoring in Chato District is therefore best characterised as discursively institutionalised but practically individualised. Drawing on Social Capital Theory and Levinson’s Career Stage Theory, the study argues that the effectiveness of mentoring depends on the convergence of a supportive institutional environment and a developmentally sensitive response to novice teachers’transitional needs. The study recommends the development of operational mentoring guidelines within the MEWAKA framework, the integration of mentoring into leadership preparation and appraisal, and the strengthening of ward and district level monitoring systems.