Teacher’s level of preparedness to utilize room to read innovations in public primary schools in Tanzania

Literacy development is very important especially to young learners because it is not only for the purpose of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Literacy development rather is about development in many practices learners are exposed to, through the interaction with others and the environment in which they live. Therefore, school and home based environment are importance in promoting learners’ literacy development. Room to Read organization intervened in school settings by providing story books which are the useful resource in teaching process Literature appears to concentrate on the usefulness of using story books in literacy development to learners though very little has been written on the preparation of the teachers to promote literacy development through story books. This study seeks to determine the teachers’ level of preparedness to utilize Room to Read innovation of literacy development. The study was a qualitative in nature which allowed a case study design whereby a single school was been studied. Semi structured interview, focus group discussion, classroom observations and document analysis were used to collect data. The selection of sample consisted of a head teachers, teachers who taught standard three and standard three. The participant managed to give out the clear picture about the level of preparation they had in order to implement story books in promoting literacy development. The study revealed only academic teachers and the librarian got trained out of 22 teachers in the school. These made the use of story books to be inactive and created the sense that story books are meant for the Kiswahili teachers alone. Teachers were comfortable in using resources like chalk boards and text books. Nevertheless, literacy development of the learners in schools was challenged by inadequate knowledge teachers had to utilize story books in literacy development. The study then, suggest for the alteration of curriculum in teachers college to include the course about the use of story books in promoting literacy development. This would increase teachers’ level of preparedness in pedagogical aspect