Data on pre-service teachers’ experience of project activities based on the teacher education support project in Tanzania

Supporting teacher education in Tanzania has long been a common practice implemented by both local institutions and development partners. Despite a huge investment that has been dedicated to improve teacher education in Tanzania, a lot remains unclear on how direct beneficiaries perceive their engagement with the project activities including the milestones achieved by the implemented projects in teacher colleges (TCs). This article presents data on the experience of pre-service teachers (N = 2,772) participating in the Teacher Education Support Project (TESP), a project collaboratively implemented by the Governments of Tanzania and Canada. In this cross-sectional survey, data was collected from all the 35 public TCs in the Tanzania Mainland from May to August 2021. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted coupled with Monte-Carlo parallel analysis to examine the factor structure of the questionnaire alongside the descriptive analysis of pre-service teachers’ responses. The data covers four dimensions of the project services delivered to TCs, including library facilities, teaching and learning materials, science and ICT support as well as teaching and learning methods employed by tutors following TESP intervention. Broadly, useful insights that enlighten the progress made by the TESP so far are presented to stimulate the debate on how to successfully implement a development project geared towards strengthening teacher education in Tanzania and elsewhere. The presented data provides opportunity for educational researchers, teacher educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers to rethink on the key areas that need immediate attention to enhance the important work of preparing teachers in TCs in Tanzania and possibly beyond.