Abstract

The study sought to investigate the readiness of mainstream early childhood development centres to actualize the updated preschool curriculum in Zimbabwe. The curriculum is one of the basic and central components of powerful educating and learning. Curriculum change assumes a significant role in rebranding instructive practices to make them receptive to contemporary national and individual needs. Keeping that in mind, a curriculum review process in Zimbabwe that was initiated in November 2014 culminated in another curriculum whose implementation started in January 2017. In this examination, a subjective structure was utilized. School heads and early childhood development (ECD) teachers who were interviewed were purposively sampled from four centres in mainstream primary schools. Discoveries from the study uncovered that school heads and teachers were putting forth deliberate attempts to concentrate on the new dispensation. Notwithstanding, discoveries additionally uncovered that the ECD teachers and school heads needed satisfactory conceptualisation of the updated curriculum, and resources like textbooks and other fundamental materials explicit to the new curriculum which were not yet set up. The investigation prescribed increasingly decentralized and comprehensive dissemination workshops to explain the origin, segments, and substance of the updated curriculum; as well as progressively vigorous resources activation procedures to address the content of the updated curriculum. Key words: Updated curriculum, dissemination, implementation, early childhood development, centres, resources.

Highlights

  • Curriculum change has become a global trend as a result of globalisation (Waks, 2003; Yin, 2013; Sparapani et al, 2014)

  • This study explored the extent to which schools were ready to implement the updated curriculum in terms of conceptualisation, availability of resources, curriculum dissemination, and implementation

  • The study explored the condition of preparation of early childhood development (ECD) centres to implement the updated curriculum

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Summary

Introduction

Curriculum change has become a global trend as a result of globalisation (Waks, 2003; Yin, 2013; Sparapani et al, 2014). The report of the Nziramasanga Commission which was tasked to look into education found that education in Zimbabwe was too academic and recommended a comprehensive review of the school curriculum to make it responsive to the needs of learners and the nation (Nziramasanga, 1999). It is against this background that early childhood education in Zimbabwe was moved to the education ministry and became part of the primary school system through Secretary’s Circular Number 14 of 2004. This study explored the extent to which schools were ready to implement the updated curriculum in terms of conceptualisation, availability of resources, curriculum dissemination, and implementation

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