Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Education – Curricula – Zimbabwe"

This study offers an explanation of enabling and / or constraining factors in Zimbabwe‘s 3-3-3 secondary teacher education model for Post ‗O‘ Level Science. It is a theory driven study that derives its theoretical foundation from Roy Bhaskar‘s critical realism and Margaret Archer‘s morphogenetic approach to reality. The study therefore offers explanations about structural, cultural and agential influences that facilitate and / or hinder the 3-year program for Post ‗O‘ Level Science. This was a qualitative case study of one secondary teacher education college in Zimbabwe. Qualitative data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. One official from the Department of Teacher Education(DTE) at the University of Zimbabwe(UZ),the Principal, the Vice Principal and 10 lecturers from the studied college,3 Heads of Science department in secondary schools,3mentors and 5 groups of 10 and 11eleven student teachers participated in the study. The DTE Handbook (2012), vision and mission statements and core values of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development (MHTESTD),DTE and the studied college, syllabuses, teaching practice reports, policy documents, external examining reports, College Academic Board (CAB) minutes, admission records, mark profiles and pass lists among other relevant documents complemented interview data. As a theory driven study, structural, cultural and agential influences were found to be enabling and / or constraining the model. The acute shortage of Science teachers in secondary schools and the few Post ‗A‘ Level Science graduates led to the re-introduction of the 3- year Post ‗O‘ Level Science program in secondary teacher education colleges. The bureaucratic structures in educational institutions, the In-Out-In structure, institutional structures such as the family, the University, the studied college, secondary schools, infrastructural facilities, material and financial resources, transport facilities and utilities such as water, electricity and the internet were established as some among other structural factors affecting the 3-3-3 model. Discourses held about the teaching profession, the vision, mission and core values of the MHTESTD,DTE and the studied college, beliefs about what Science teachers should learn, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values they should acquire and how they should be taught were established as cultural factors enabling and / or constraining the 3-3-3 model. Agential influences offering causal explanation for enablers and / or constrainers of the model were established as the decision by the Principal and the CAB to re-introduce the 3- year Post ‗O‘ Level Science program, the decision by the students to enroll for the program, the recruitment of under qualified students, the use of various teaching methods, conducting staff development and mentorship workshops and failure to increase staff establishment. The study has put forth recommendations for the improvement on constraining factors in pre-service teacher education programs. With the understanding that agency has power to reinforce or transform structures and cultures, it should not be seen to be reinforcing disadvantaged structural positions and cultures; instead, after having identified structural and cultural constrainers, it should engage in communicative and meta-reflexivity to come up with the best possible solutions to the hindrances. Courses of action should then be taken accordingly.

This study presents a description of the roles District Education Officers in the implementation of the Guidance and Counselling curriculum in Zimbabwe. The roles of the District Education Officers were researched through the literature study and empirical research. It was found that although their professional contribution is vital in successful implementation, there are other obstacles namely, financial constraints, very high workload, lack of government support and inferior appointment procedures for District Education Officers which tend to hamper them to fulfil their duties.

This study uses a systems thinking perspective to explore the role and meaning of participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the Zimbabwe Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep). Since there was no consistent critical reflection upon the different assumptions that underpin these important aspects of St²eep in the original project design, this study aims to articulate a theoretical framework for guiding the project. St2eep is a donorfunded project, located in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education in Zimbabwe that seeks to integrate environmental education across the curriculum of secondary teacher education. The study first develops a theoretical framework drawing on systems thinking. In particular it uses the holistic and constructivist perspectives embedded in systems thinking to describe a number of analytic frameworks that are used as a guide to investigate participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the St²eep case study. The research methodology comprises a qualitative case study approach, which contains elements of an instrumental, evaluative and critical case study. Data-collection methods include document analysis, focus group discussions, focus group interviews, semi-structured face-to-face interviews and participant observation. Data analysis follows the constant comparative method of coding and categorising data as outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The outcomes of this research show that participation processes in St²eep evolve around the interactions between a political dimension and a learning dimension. The political dimension relates to giving the project stakeholders a critical voice, allowing them to shape the project and involving them in the decision-making process. This approach has fostered an ongoing learning process in a small team of committed stakeholders based on the principles of collaborative learning, team learning and action research. Participation was shown to enhance capacity-development processes at individual and institutional level by the provision of support through learning teams, and by the renegotiation of responsibilities and power relations between lecturers involved in St²eep, donor representatives and college administrations. The strong operational role of the donor organisation was seen as a serious threat towards individual and institutional capacity development since it creates a functional but artificial and independent project system within the college system and takes over any local institutional support structure that it might seek to develop. Fostering continuous learning and capacity development, St²eep’s participatory approach was shown to contribute to a better understanding of the interconnectedness of factors that influence future sustainability of the project and the implementation of environmental education. This has assisted in the development of different scenarios on the sustainability of the project. The research shows that the project-ustainability planning process draws directly from St²eep’s ongoing learning process, with individual and institutional capacity development featuring strongly in the different scenarios, and with the external context such as the economic situation and the low priority of environmental education being recognised as important factors that need to be considered. Drawing on the findings from the case study, this study makes a tentative recommendation that donor organisations should focus more on capacity-development initiatives and avoid taking on a strong operational role in project activities. The research also recommends that there is need for a deliberate focus on both the political and learning dimensions of the participation process in order to foster local ownership. Making the learning aspect much more central in St²eep is presented as a possible strategy for motivating a larger number of college lecturers to become involved in the project and the implementation of environmental education. The study also urges St²eep to combine the different scenarios that have emerged during the project sustainability planning process and to focus on the benefits that stakeholders want to see sustained.

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.

The introduction of Technical Vocational Education (TVE) has been marred by a myriad of challenges, and this has not spared universities. The incompetency of lecturers, the perceptions of both lecturers and students, the relationship between universities and the world of work as well as support strategies have been the most contested issues in TVE. The researcher used the mixed method design which is rooted in the post-positivist research paradigm that integrates concurrent procedures in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data. Post-positivist research paradigm attempts to enhance one’s understanding of the way certain phenomena are and that objectivity is an ideal that can never be achieved. The sample of the study comprised two Heads of Department (HODs) from the universities under study, 18 lecturers for the interviews, 18 lecturers who responded to the questionnaire, 24 students formed the 4 focus groups for both universities with 6 students each. Two industrial personnel were also interviewed. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data while qualitative data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions, observations and document analysis. The researcher employed the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) to summarise, compile tables and graphs on quantitative data and qualitative data was analysed using content analysis through emerging themes. The study established that lecturers were not competent enough to deliver CT curriculum in universities and this was as a result of the type of training lecturers received which was no longer congruent with the technological advancement which have taken place in the textile industry. It was also instituted that universities were producing students who lacked the hands-on skills necessary for them to be acceptable in the world of work. There was a stern shortage of equipment and machinery in CT departments in universities. The machinery and equipment in the departments were too old and broken. Furthermore, the study established that there was no collaboration between universities and industries. Industrial personnel lamented that universities were not willing to put into consideration all the suggestions they gave them and that time for Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) or placement was too short for them to impart all the requisite skills to students. It was also established that students were discontented by the teaching methods that lecturers were using and the way they were being assessed. Students conveyed their desire for the industry to be involved in assessing them whilst they were in universities. Based on the above findings, the study concluded that lecturers were incapacitated to deliver CT due to the training they received in colleges and universities which was no longer congruent with the dynamics of technology. The study also concluded that the shortage of machinery and equipment also demotivated lecturers and incapacitated them. It was also concluded that the lack of collaboration between universities and industries posed serious challenges to both lecturers and students. The study recommends that the quality of the existing lecturing force must be improved mainly through extensive staff development training programmes.There is need for lecturers to be staff developed through training workshops in order to improve on competence. There should be collaboration among University management, lecturers and the industry during curriculum design, implementation and monitoring to improve their attachment and sense of ownership of CT programmes. To improve on students’ acquisition of skills, the study recommends that time for Work-Integrated Learning should be lengthened so that students leave the industry well equipped with relevant skills and knowledge.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The environmental education (EE)-sustainable development (SD) nexus has generated much research and debate at local, national and global levels (Fien, 1993). Although the term EE is quite old, dating back to 1948 in Paris (Palmer, 1998), during the last three decades, it has regained global currency due to numerous environmental challenges that are confronting our planet Earth, including: climate change, land degradation, desertification, and de-forestation, pollution and ozone depletion. The Rio Earth Summit of 1992 generated a new zeal in the provision of EE throughout the world. Since then, many countries have adopted it as a remedial strategy to address these environmental challenges. In Zimbabwe, EE dates back to 1954 during the colonial era when it was provided in the form of conservation education among farmers and in schools and colleges (Chikunda, 2007). The Natural Resources Board (NRB), a department in the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture (which was established in 1941) played a key role in both research and the dissemination of EE (Whitlow, 1988). However, throughout the colonial era and up to the end of the millennium, the country did not have a written EE policy document. Consequently, various government departments and organisations, which provided EE, did so individually. However, this fragmented approach proved to be ineffective and had to be abandoned through the promulgation of the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) of 2002. This development led to the establishment of an environmental management agency (EMA), which harmonised the provision of EE at local and national levels. This study based on information that was collected between 2011 and 2014, examines Zimbabwe‟s EE programme and its implications for sustainable development. It employed a mixed methods research design which enabled the researcher to employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection, interpretation and analysis. Derived from the pragmatic school of thought, this research design allows researchers to triangulate with different methods without provoking epistemological conflicts from other schools of thought. The study shows that nearly 84% of the EE in the country is provided by the formal education sector (which includes schools, colleges and universities) while the remaining 16% is derived from non-formal and informal education sources such as: EMA, some government ministries and departments, and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs). However, the bulk of the EE provided in Zimbabwe is biophysical in nature and is geared at transmitting facts about rather than for the environment (Fien, 1993; Chikunda, 2007 and Mapira, 2012a). Consequently, it does not instil a sense of environmental stewardship among ordinary citizens as reflected by increasing cases of environmental crimes including: land degradation, veldt fire outbreaks, deforestation, and the poaching of elephants, rhinos, and other wildlife resources. Furthermore, most people lack a deep knowledge of basic concepts such as EE, SD and ESD, indicating the weakness of the country‟s EE efforts. The study makes several recommendations for the improvement of the country‟s EE programme, including: more funding of EMA and its partners so that they can execute their mandate more efficiently, and revising school and college curricula with a view to infusing EE in courses and syllabi. Other recommendations are that EE should be made compulsory in all formal educational institutions while the state should take environmental issues more seriously than it has done in the past. For example, top government officials should refrain from the poaching of endangered wildlife resources like elephants and rhinos if their country‟s EE policies have to be taken seriously at the grass roots level. Stiffer penalties should be meted out to those found guilty by courts of law while ordinary citizens need more educational campaigns if they have to develop environmental sensitivity and a sense of stewardship, which are necessary ingredients for the success of any country‟s EE programme. Furthermore, alternatives of making a living should be created for villagers and peasants so that they do not have to damage their environment in order to survive. Finally, this study argues that if all the above challenges are fully addressed, Zimbabwe‟s EE programme can achieve its goals in the long run.

The aim of the study was to evaluate school children’s attitudes towards Physical Education in selected Mutare city schools. In order for the children to benefit from the Physical Education program, the study hypothesized that children must develop the right attitudes towards Physical Education. This observation has also been emphasized in other studies that children, who possess the right attitude towards Physical Education, develop positive attitudes towards physical activities. This suggestion has also been reported by Portman, (2003) and McKenzie (2003) that one of the benefits of Physical Education is sustained participation in physical activities outside the school. This study involved 400 children from Mutare Junior, Chancellor, Zamba, Dangamvura, Sakubva, Chikanga, Mutanda and Murahwa Primary Schools in Mutare city. The children’s age ranged between 12 - 14 years old. The primary data were collected from questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions, while secondary data were based on related literature review. The results indicated that the teacher, curriculum content and delivery, the learning environment, siblings, type of school, location of residences, proximity of facilities and support from parents were some of the factors associated with children’s attitudes towards Physical Education and Physical Activity at school and home respectively. In many ways, these factors affected children’s sustainable participation in physical activities after school.

Up to 2005 early childhood education in Zimbabwe was organised, directed and run by non-governmental organisations, churches and private individuals. Such an arrangement meant that the curriculum, personnel and strategies used to implement the programme were varied. In 2004 the Ministry of Education directed that all primary schools attach two classes of children aged between 3 and 5 years with effect from 2006, thus effectively making early childhood education part of the formal primary school structure. The research presented in this thesis focuses on teachers' perceptions of primary schools' state of readiness for the introduction of early childhood education in Zimbabwe. Located in the interpretive paradigm of qualitative research the study draws on a wide range of research methods. In particular a multiple case study was used to explore teachers' perceptions of primary schools' state of readiness for the introduction of grade zero/early childhood education in a former government group B school, a church run school, a rural school, a former government group A school and, a council run school. Some of the key findings of the study are: • School heads who are the principal gate keepers in primary schools were not provided with any preparation for the introduction of grade zero/early childhood education. • School reliance on fees and levies, without direct Ministry of Education financial assistance, meant that resource conditions - hence state of readiness - greatly differed from one school to another. • No ongoing support was provided to school heads, teachers-in-charge and early childhood education teachers. • The quality of teaching and learning at the early childhood education level, in the multiple case study, depended on the nature of teacher preparation, availability of appropriate resources, adequacy and appropriateness of teacher support, and teacher state of preparedness. The study recommends interventions that curriculum policy planners and implementers can use to create conditions that enable schools to be ready for installing, implementing and institutionalising the early childhood education innovation.

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.

The purpose of this study is to analyse and discuss current trends in the construction and development of home economics subjects in South Africa and Zimbabwe, trends that reflect the direction that home economics is taking in the new millennium. Practical/pre-vocational subjects were introduced in secondary school curriculum for both general education and labour market reasons, that is, for the preparation of pupils to 'enter employment' and/or for 'self employment'. Over the years national education planners have debated over the future of practical/vocational subjects on the school curriculum. Many writers note that the concern of these groups is related to the challenges of technology and globalisation and general concerns for youth employment and poverty alleviation. As a result, far from phasing out from the secondary school education scene in Africa, technical and vocational subjects (correctly termed pre-vocational education) are offered along with academic subjects. They have undergone change in an attempt to better meet the needs of the labour market and the challenges that technology and globalization bring.