A Changing World and a Changing Teaching Practice Model for Zimbabwe in a Post Covid-19 Context

Abstract

The advent of Covid-19 in March 2020 and its declaration by WHO as a global pandemic led to a closure of schools which, in turn, affected the Teaching Practice (TP) component of the 3-3-3 teacher education model. This research sets out to establish alternative TP models when face to face interaction is impossible. In doing so, the study analyses Zimbabwean teacher education TP policy with regard to how it might remain relevant in the post Covid-19 context without compromising its quality. The study was carried out at a teachers’ college in the Midlands Province. It utilises online focus group discussion, interviews, and document analysis to generate data. Through the lens of content and discourse analysis, the study unpacks the professional arguments presented by college lecturers who forged onwards and redirected teacher education in the post Covid-19 context. It emerges that a TP model which accommodates supervision and assessment based on video recorded lessons is a good alternative to traditional face to face supervision. College lecturers certainly regard the TP component of teacher education as crucial and, therefore, not simply to be left in the hands of school-based supervisors. Furthermore, online supervision and assessment is possible regardless of internet access challenges. The study recommends that colleges utilise both traditional and online based supervision where applicable. Student teachers are encouraged to video record lessons during the periods they have learners, so that the video recorded lessons could be used for their supervision and assessment when learners are unavailable. Further studies could consider the feasibility of a larger scale online TP supervision model.