Primary school teaching and learning, and indeed the whole teaching profession continue to
be shaped by the ever – changing knowledge economy and global educational trends. To this
end, professional teacher development in Zimbabwean primary schools has become an
important focus area in terms of how it can facilitate and contribute to effective teaching and
learning in line with the new educational developments. There is consensus among primary
school stakeholders that the success of teaching and learning is dependent on promoting an
efficient and student - needs driven in – service programme. The purpose of the study was to
explore the influence of the university B.Ed (primary) in – service teacher development
programme in its mandate to fulfill the critical function to develop primary school teachers
with knowledge, skills and competencies for the Zimbabwean primary education system. The
imperative has been for the university in – service programme to offer competences and skills
that are needed by primary school teachers and for these teachers to upgrade and update their
skills for effective teaching and student learning. The theoretical approach that informed the
study was Vygotsky’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) with its main perspective
being that knowledge is socially constructed and takes place in real contexts.
The study ontology was interpretivism in which the qualitative single case study design was
employed. The data were collected through semi - structured interviews with the Chairperson
and five lecturers of the Curriculum Studies Department and focus group discussion in
respect of ten B.Ed (primary) in – service student teachers. The participants were
purposefully sampled taking into account their knowledge and experience with the in –
service programme and primary school teaching - learning contexts.
The study found that the B.Ed (primary) in – service programme had minimal influence on
primary school teachers’ teaching and learning needs. The programme had not fully
addressed the primary school teachers’ expectations in terms of imparting knowledge and
skills useful for classroom teaching and learning. One of the major contributory factors was
that there were curriculum design frailties of the programme which were as a result of lack of
dialogue, engagement and consultation between and among important primary school
education stakeholders especially in – service teachers. As a result, the programme had not
adequately raised the teachers’ knowledge and skills in the critical areas of their practice, yet
this was the core function of the programme. From the findings, the study recommends that
the University sets up a strong Curriculum Development Department funded and staffed with
experts in research and curriculum design and development. These should manage the
designing and preparation of curriculum documents by involving primary school
stakeholders, especially primary school teachers. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / Ph. D. (Curriculum and Instructional Studies)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/27212 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Mufanechiya, Albert |
| Contributors | Taole, M. J. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiv, 257 leaves) : illustrations (chiefly color), application/pdf |
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