The student teacher mentoring programme (STMP) has been an important feature of the Zimbabwean teacher education landscape since 1995. However, this programme has not been evaluated and thus the need for this article, which seeks to evaluate the implementation of the STMP in Zimbabwe. Data were collected through responses to checklists and questionnaires by ten lecturers and sixteen mentors; fifteen student teachers responded to questionnaires, and two school heads were interviewed. The main findings are that: (1) the STMP is being implemented through the key elements (mentors, student teachers and the mentoring context); (2) while the key participants are playing their part in the STMP, the latter is not being effectively implemented because of lack of funding. This has negatively impacted on the STMP, resulting in low mentor morale. In the recommendations it is urged that the status of the mentor is recognised, in a bid to boost the STMP.

This inquiry involves two case studies that examine the beliefs of two selected ESL teachers in Zimbabwe teaching at the secondary school level. The study looks at the various nested contexts of the two case studies at the international, national, provincial, school and classroom levels with respect to Zimbabwe before and after independence in 1980. The analysis of the nested contexts aims to show how the various factors at the different levels impinge on the ESL instruction of the two teachers. / The study adopts a naturalistic, classroom-based approach that allows for the holistic investigation of teacher-learner interactions in socially-situated cognitive instruction. Specific research questions addressed are: (a) What are the classroom interaction patterns of each of the two teachers selected for the study? What do these patterns and the teachers! classroom artifacts reveal about their beliefs about the construction of social knowledge at secondary school level? (b) How does each teacher in the study construct academic knowledge in his/her ESL instruction? What do the patterns of construction and the teachers' classroom artifacts reveal about their beliefs about the instruction of ESL academic knowledge at the secondary school level? / The study uses tools of data collection and analysis from constitutive ethnography and ethnomethodology. Data from interviews, classroom observations, field notes, artifacts and documents are analyzed to see what they reveal about each teacher's beliefs about ESL instruction. Four major themes emerge from the analysis of these data: (a) teachers' beliefs about curriculum documents; (b) teachers; beliefs about ESL models for instruction; (c) teachers' beliefs about interactional rights and obligations in the classroom and (d) teachers' beliefs about teaching linguistic and communicative competence. A major finding of this inquiry is that the two selected teachers, guided by their personal beliefs, respond in different ways to the many contextual factors that impinge on their teaching, giving rise to each teacher's unique teaching repertoires. In the fight of this major finding, it is recommended that ESL teacher education programmes in Zimbabwe begin with the student teachers' beliefs rather than the traditional "method" paradigm.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education Sport, Arts and Culture offers as one of the primary school curricula, an AIDS curriculum which all Grades 4 to 7 teachers in Zimbabwe’s primary schools mandatorily implement with a view to contributing towards the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS among the young primary school learners. The purpose of this research was to explore and describe teachers’ understanding and implementation of Zimbabwe’s primary school AIDS curriculum regarding the ways in which they articulated teaching practices and processes in their classrooms. The study also aimed to elicit the teachers’ views on how personal and contextual factors impact their adaptation and enactment of the curriculum. The study also sought to establish teachers’ perceptions of their practical experiences with the implementation of Zimbabwe’s primary school AIDS curriculum and their suggestions for improving practice. The study follows a qualitative case study design with minimal quantitative results. It involved three purposively selected primary school grade six teachers (n=3) each of whom was asked to teach five lessons while being observed over a period of three months. Each teacher availed his or her teaching scheme/plan to the researcher who conducted document analysis to glean their symbolic conceptualisation of actual classroom practice of the curriculum. This was followed by three semi-structured interviews with each participating teacher to elicit their perceptions. A content analysis using ideas borrowed from the grounded theory approach was employed resulting in thematic findings. The findings of the study confirm and enhance the theoretical significance of the phenomenological-adaptive perspective of educational change and Honig’s (people, policy, places) and cognition model for describing teacher implementation of the mandatory AIDS curriculum. The findings also confirm the complex ways in which human-generated personal and contextual factors played out in framing and shaping teachers’ personal adaptation of the mandatory AIDS curriculum. The study confirms the adaptation claim that as cognitive sense-makers, teachers mutate and enact a curriculum according to their personal subjective interpretations in the context of unique use-setting implementation realities. Although one of the participants’ understanding and practice displayed considerable comprehension of the requirements of the curriculum, the other teachers displayed an understanding of this curriculum in a superficial way, and experienced few positive experiences and several conceptual and operational constraints in its implementation. Drawing on their practical experiences with the implementation of the curriculum, teachers offered suggestions for transforming the implementation proficiency of this curriculum, which formed part of the conceptual strategy I developed for improving practice. Thus the resultant achievement of the study was a conceptual strategy that was constructed from the key findings of the study to provide educational change leaders with nuanced ideas and insights for improving practice.

No description available.

As part of a drive to improve the quality of teachers, Zimbabwe introduced a school-based mentoring model in 1995, a move which regrettably seems not have borne fruit. Therefore, this study sought to propose an improved mentoring model for initial teacher training for primary school teachers. Efforts to improve the current mentoring could, however, be facilitated if they were informed by an empirically-based understanding of the shortcomings of the existing mentoring system for student teachers and teachers. In order to attain the above objective, this study adopted a multisite case study design, guided by the interpretive paradigm. A core of nine primary schools, drawn from the rural, urban and peri-urban areas of the Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe, was purposively selected to participate in the study. In the participating schools, key participants were student teachers and mentors, while school principals participated when they had time. A secondary group of primary schools were also identified to be used as validation of findings in a wider setting. An in-depth literature study on teacher education and mentoring was also carried out and this, combined with empirical data, illuminated the issues being investigated. The empirical data were primarily gathered through focus group and face-to-face individual semi-structured interviews, while participant observation (used in conjunction with informal unstructured interviews) and questionnaires were used to verify and triangulate data collected through the interviews. To safeguard the ethical integrity of the study, ethical approval from the relevant university committee, as well as the official consent of educational authorities, was obtained beforehand, as was the informed consent of individual participants. The research established that the support rendered to student teachers in the participating primary schools was largely inadequate and of a shallow mode, focusing primarily on facilitating the mastery of technical skills and the provision of psycho-social support, while being sorely deficient in empowering the student teachers with the skills and attitudes to reflectively and critically engage with their own and others‟ teaching practices. The mentoring was taking place in the context of field experience, organised along the apprenticeship model, hence located in an outmoded traditional paradigm of field experience, something which is regrettable at a time when international best practices seek to move towards a reflective-inquiry-oriented paradigm. Secondly, the research found that the participating schools were not structurally or culturally ready to take significant teacher training responsibility; hence the schools, in their present state, could be seen as constraining the smooth functioning of the mentoring model. Thirdly, some mentor-based factors also seemed to inhibit the functioning of the mentoring model. These included teachers who were attitudinally indisposed to accept student teachers as their professional colleagues, preferring to relate to them hierarchically and vertically, thereby limiting the emergence of a culture of professional collaboration and reciprocal learning relationships. In similar vein, the mentors‟ lack of training limited their capacity of mentors to perform the extended range of mentoring functions necessary for supporting student teachers trained in 21st century schools. The above conclusions and implications point towards the following recommendations: Mentor support for student teachers should be extended from the present superficial level to include functions that are oriented towards reflective practice. However, for this to happen, some adjustments will need to be made in the schools. These include, most importantly, making time available for mentoring activities. In order for the mentors to be able to perform their mentoring functions knowledgeably, they must be made fully aware of what they are supposed to do by providing them with the official documents spelling out mentoring expectations in schools. Additionally, the commitment of mentors to their duties could be made more sustainable by putting in place a clearly defined reward structure that is fully recognized officially and integrated into the employee grading system. To make school environments more propitious towards mentoring, schools must be structurally modified and re-cultured to create slots for mentoring activities, provide opportunities for informal professional interaction among teachers, as well as establish professional engagement forums, such as school-based learning circles. The research also suggests that student teachers should be allowed to choose their mentors through providing them with opportunities for early contact with their prospective mentoring partners. In an attempt to close the gap between college-based modules and field-based school experiences, the research further recommends that college-based modules be delivered in a way that ensures that they are fully integrated with student teachers‟ field experiences. Finally, mentoring could be better facilitated if schools and colleges adopted a partnership arrangement that is more aligned to mentoring. This implies provisionally shifting from the present separatist to the HEI-led partnership model, while preparing for the adoption of a fully-fledged collaborative partnership in the long term. The research was, however, by no means carried out perfectly. It was somewhat limited by its failure to take into account the view of officials from the Department of Education, as well as the input of colleagues in teacher education. In similar vein, the researcher felt that a more nuanced and fine-grained picture of the participants‟ mentoring experiences could have emerged if he had spent more time in the field, something which limited resources and work commitments did not allow him to do. Some significant issues arose from this study, but which it could not pursue. These include exploring the possibility of coming up with a model of teacher education that integrates ITE and CTPD in the context of mentoring, as well as conducting a similarly designed research into the mentoring that is taking place in secondary schools.

Bibliography: pages 88-95. / The aim of the investigation is to assess the extent to which various initiatives aimed at improving the status of a technical subject like Home Economics (H/E), have helped to transform the attitudes and perceptions of teachers and students in a school in Zimbabwe. The study was carried out at Rusununguko Secondary School in Zimbabwe, where H/E was one of the technical subjects within a curriculum mainly dominated by academic subjects. Students and teachers' attitudes and perceptions towards H/E were assessed along the following dimensions: 1. The extent to which H/E is subjected to gender stereotyping; 2. The extent to which H/E is viewed as suitable for slow learners and low-achieving students; 3. The extent to which the subject suffers from subject choice constraints; 4. The extent to which H/E is viewed in terms of low academic and occupational expectations; 5. The extent to which the subject is perceived as offering low-status knowledge when compared to other subjects.

This study explored teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of multicultural education in Zimbabwean primary schools. The sample consisted of twenty teachers (10 male and 10 female) selected through purposive sampling technique. Teachers in the sample had a minimum of five years post qualifying experience. The study focused on five selected primary schools in Chegutu district. Qualitative research was chosen as the research method with phenomenology as the research design. Data collection instruments consisted of unstructured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Interviews were conducted with the teachers at their respective schools. Focus Group Discussions were also conducted with the teachers soon after the unstructured interviews at their schools. Data analysis consisted of a thematic approach where common themes were identified in participants’ responses. A number of findings emanated from this study. Teachers were found to have a narrow focus in terms of their conceptualisation of multicultural education. The study revealed that multicultural education is being implemented at a superficial level as the participants felt that it is being implemented to a limited extent. Some school textbooks particularly those in the Languages, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education and Environmental Science were seen as reflecting the multicultural character of Zimbabwe. In terms of the language policy, the teaching of marginalised indigenous languages such as Tonga, Nambya, Kalanga and others was seen as a way of addressing the needs of learners in a linguistically diverse nation. The study found out that parental participation in school activities involves parents from culturally diverse backgrounds. The study recommends that multicultural education should be part of the curriculum in initial teacher education. Seminars and workshops should be hosted by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to conscientise teachers on the practice of multicultural education. Book publishers should liaise closely with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education so as to ensure that the content of textbooks is multicultural in every respect. There is need to consider the teaching of Chewa particularly in those communities where it is commonly spoken. A policy framework regulating the practice of multicultural education needs to be put in place. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Critical pedagogy asserts that in education there is regressive politics of knowledge that is inculcated as “infallible” information to passive students through all kinds of texts that conceal the power, inequality and injustice in human relationships. Education has thus degenerated into becoming techinicist and consequently oppressive. Techinicist education aims at maintaining the status quo. The creators of texts that are used in oppressive education systems and society in general focus on the question, “How do we best get knowledge that serves our interests into the heads of our young people?” Thus critical literacy which encourages consumers of texts to read, reflect and react is now indispensable to learners who nowadays are exposed to various texts with hidden agendas. This research focused on perceptions of critical literacy of teacher education students in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. The research participants were third year diploma students in their final residential phase of teacher education. The mixed methodology was employed bearing in mind its principal role that it provides strengths that offset the weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative research. The research instruments used were the questionnaire and the interview guide. The questionnaire was administered to convenience samples of one hundred teacher education students per each of the three institutions studied and the interview guide was used to generate data from ten participants per college. The research findings reveal that there are some socio-cultural and political influences on perceptions of critical literacy of the teacher education students. In this thesis it is recommended that the teacher education curriculum in Zimbabwe should have a formal programme for the promotion of critical literacy in teacher education students. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This study explored teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of multicultural education in Zimbabwean primary schools. The sample consisted of twenty teachers (10 male and 10 female) selected through purposive sampling technique. Teachers in the sample had a minimum of five years post qualifying experience. The study focused on five selected primary schools in Chegutu district. Qualitative research was chosen as the research method with phenomenology as the research design. Data collection instruments consisted of unstructured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Interviews were conducted with the teachers at their respective schools. Focus Group Discussions were also conducted with the teachers soon after the unstructured interviews at their schools. Data analysis consisted of a thematic approach where common themes were identified in participants’ responses. A number of findings emanated from this study. Teachers were found to have a narrow focus in terms of their conceptualisation of multicultural education. The study revealed that multicultural education is being implemented at a superficial level as the participants felt that it is being implemented to a limited extent. Some school textbooks particularly those in the Languages, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education and Environmental Science were seen as reflecting the multicultural character of Zimbabwe. In terms of the language policy, the teaching of marginalised indigenous languages such as Tonga, Nambya, Kalanga and others was seen as a way of addressing the needs of learners in a linguistically diverse nation. The study found out that parental participation in school activities involves parents from culturally diverse backgrounds. The study recommends that multicultural education should be part of the curriculum in initial teacher education. Seminars and workshops should be hosted by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to conscientise teachers on the practice of multicultural education. Book publishers should liaise closely with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education so as to ensure that the content of textbooks is multicultural in every respect. There is need to consider the teaching of Chewa particularly in those communities where it is commonly spoken. A policy framework regulating the practice of multicultural education needs to be put in place. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Critical pedagogy asserts that in education there is regressive politics of knowledge that is inculcated as “infallible” information to passive students through all kinds of texts that conceal the power, inequality and injustice in human relationships. Education has thus degenerated into becoming techinicist and consequently oppressive. Techinicist education aims at maintaining the status quo. The creators of texts that are used in oppressive education systems and society in general focus on the question, “How do we best get knowledge that serves our interests into the heads of our young people?” Thus critical literacy which encourages consumers of texts to read, reflect and react is now indispensable to learners who nowadays are exposed to various texts with hidden agendas. This research focused on perceptions of critical literacy of teacher education students in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. The research participants were third year diploma students in their final residential phase of teacher education. The mixed methodology was employed bearing in mind its principal role that it provides strengths that offset the weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative research. The research instruments used were the questionnaire and the interview guide. The questionnaire was administered to convenience samples of one hundred teacher education students per each of the three institutions studied and the interview guide was used to generate data from ten participants per college. The research findings reveal that there are some socio-cultural and political influences on perceptions of critical literacy of the teacher education students. In this thesis it is recommended that the teacher education curriculum in Zimbabwe should have a formal programme for the promotion of critical literacy in teacher education students. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)