An Analysis of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Lecturers’ Competencies and Skills for Inclusion in 2 Selected Teachers’ Colleges of Zimbabwe; A Contextual Approach

Abstract

The concept ‘Education for All ‘calls for all children to be afforded the chance to go to school, with an emphasis on ECD as their main driver of diverse elementary and formative learning experiences in the classroom. This inclusion movement concept was passed at the Jomtien Conference in 1990 and reaffirmed by the Salamanca statement in 1994.The Salamanca statement. Many governments, including Zimbabwe have developed interest in embracing inclusive education. There has not been emboldened research to establish the extent to which transformation in lecturer’s competencies and skills been matched by a paradigm shift in their preparation of ECD teachers for diverse ECD settings. This qualitative case-study therefore was conducted in order to establish the knowledge, skills and competencies that ECD lecturers possess in the context of inclusivity in education. The study was informed by both the transformative paradigm and Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Ten (n=10) lecturers who train pre-service ECD teachers were purposively sampled from two teacher education colleges to participate in this study. Data was collected through interviews and analysis of documents and narratively presented to address the main research questions that were used for the study. Major findings of the study were that ECD lecturers were not competent enough to adequately prepare their products for inclusive teaching and were experiencing challenges during the training process. Thus, both andragogic and pedagogic issues of inclusivity and ICT skills were a major cause for concern. The study findings showed that the lecturers have a limited understanding of the concept of inclusion. Furthermore the findings indicated that most lecturers lack competencies, skills and confidence in imparting relevant knowledge. Research findings also highlighted that there are still challenges in the execution of the pre-service ECD teacher training hence the trainee teachers are not given quality time, which compromises the quality. Finally the study highlighted a need for a holistic approach encompassing all the relevant stakeholders. Hence the study recommended that inclusion should form the core of the teacher education curriculum with specialist professionals roped in to assist teach content/bodies of knowledge and inform practice on inclusive education. Serving ECD lecturers should be upgraded and equipped with inclusive teaching strategies through workshops and in-service training. Inclusive education practices should be practiced in colleges for transformation of both lecturers